Mumbai’s historic Parsi Tower of Silence cemetery on Malabar Hill, established in 1672, has been honored with a...
Bombay Parsi Panchayat Articles
Century-Old Visitors’ Pavilion At Doongarwadi – Tower Of Silence In Malabar Hill Restored
The Panday Pavilion, named after the family that originally built it, is one of the two seating areas in the cemetery...
Parsis urge leaders to drop case against ‘rebel’ priests
Bombay Parsi Punchayet, which has already spent Rs 3 crore on litigation, insists on pursuing the case even though many in the community feel the issue could easily be settled out of court. The...
FIR against Bombay Parsi punchayet head in cheating case
The MRA Marg police have registered a case against the head of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet on a three-month old complaint of misappropriation of funds. By Ashutosh Shukla | DNA India A first...
BPP chief Dinshaw Mehta threatens complaining trustees with Rs50cr defamation
Days after dna reported that Yazdi Desai, Khojeste Mistree, Jimmy Mistry and Arnavaz Mistry the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) had filed a complaint against trust chairman Dinshaw...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustees cry Rs 45 lakh swindle, put chief in a spot
Four trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) on Wednesday filed a complaint with the joint commissioner of police against their chairman, Dinshaw Mehta, for misappropriation of funds, cheating...
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet and Housing Woes
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet is one of the largest landlords in the city of Mumbai. And it has been in the crossfire in recent years because of an inconsistent and sometimes ad-hoc policy of allotment...
Parsi punchayet greens see red
Zoroastrian scholar Khojeste Mistree, who was in charge of forestation at Doongerwadi, quits citing undue interference from Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman Dinshaw Mehta. Author: Tinaz Nooshian...
No dignity for some even in death
The death of an 86-year old woman living in a trust-run housing colony in Colaba recently made news in the Parsi newspapers – not because she was a notable member of the community, but because...
Registration Opens for 10th World Zoroastrian Congress 2013
The registration is now open for the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress hosted by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet in Mumbai at the end of the year. Early Bird registration is open till July 31, 2013. Indian...
Parsi Punchayet dangles carrots to lure children into priesthood
The title of the article by DNA India sets a very negative tone. That’s our opinion here at Parsi Khabar. To save the community’s rituals from becoming extinct, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet...
Lonely Community Elders Beware: BPP Press Release
We were all told in our youth that relationships are pre decided in heaven and that we are born in a family and continue in that family till our very end. Unfortunately today we are facing a...
NDTV Looks at the Poor Parsi Controversy
This is a NDTV segment with panelists Alyque Padamsee, Dinshaw Mehta, Rustom Marshall and Jehangir Patel. UPDATE: The full 21 minutes segment is on NDTV’s website:...
Parsis lead the way on charity housing
The city’s biggest private landlord, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), on Tuesday explained how it had fixed a monthly income of Rs 90,000 as the upper eligibility limit for getting new...
Poor Parsi redefined: One who earns up to Rs 90,000 per month
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) on Monday told the Bombay high court that it had revised the definition of a poor Parsi as one who earns up to Rs 90,000 a month, in order to be eligible for a...
BPP Trustee Yazdi Desai Clarifies against Charges of Defamation
The following email is circulated via email… CLARIFICATION BY YAZDI DESAI, BPP TRUSTEE An article was published in the Parsi Times dated 19th May 2012, and subsequently circulated widely on...
BPP Trustee Yazdi Desai & Anahita Desai Arrested & Released on Bail in Defamation Case
Yazdi Desai, BPP and WAPIZ Trustee and his wife Anahita Desai as well as Mr. Shashikant Jadhav, publisher of The Afternoon – Despatch & Courier newspaper were released on bail of Rs....
Punchayet to provide house to divorced Parsi
A man — embroiled in tenancy dispute with his wife over a flat a sprawling flat at Cusrow Baug in Colaba in south Mumbai — has got accommodation, thanks to the Parsi Punchayet. By Urvi Mahajani...
Bombay HC asks Parsi Panchayat for help
Taking a sympathetic view, the Bombay High Court has asked the Parsi Panchayat whether it could provide temporary accommodation to a man who is in a custody dispute with his wife. By Urvi Mahajani |...
Bombay High Court: Go by income criteria for house allotment to Parsis
Go by the income criteria that defines the eligibility for a Parsi to get a flat allotted at subsidized rate at Panthaky Baug in Andheri, the Bombay HC told Bombay Parsi Punchayet on Tuesday. By...
Should Parsis promote funeral alternatives?
The discovery of a desiccated human body part in the garden of a fire temple on Napean Sea Road last week caused a lot of distress and deliberation among the city’s Parsi-Zoroastrians. By Manoj Nair...
BPP Chairman Dinshaw Mehta Clarifies BPP’s stand on the Global Working Group Initiative.
In recent times there has been a new initiative by Zoroastrian bodies around the world. Called the Global Working Group or GWG, it has brought the leaders of Zoroastrian Federations from the USA and...
Bachi Karkaria: Readymoney vs Parsimoney
Rustom Readymoney switched off the engine of his Tata Indica, swung out his pale hairy legs and locked the door, going round the car thrice to check that all the doors were indeed secure. At...
A poor Parsi: One who doesn’t earn Rs 50,000 per month
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet on Friday told the Bombay High Court that it considers a Parsi who earns under Rs 50,000 a month to be “poor” and hence eligible for allotment of a flat at...
Judge appointed to resolve Parsi Punchayet dispute
Justice (retired) BN Shrikrishna was appointed by the Bombay high court as mediator for the resolution of a dispute between the Parsi Punchayet Trust and Properties and some members of the community...
BPP Chairman Clarifies Doongerwadi Film Shooting Issue
CHAIRMAN CLARIFIES ABOUT DOONGERWADI FEASTING & FILM SHOOTING Sir, The Khareghat Colony “film shooting” is over but the guns are still firing away. So many different versions are circulating...
The Movie Shooting Controversey and Doongerwadi: An Open Letter.
The below is an open letter by Arzan J. Ghadially, regular reader of Parsi Khabar, on the recent incidents about the movie shooting at Khareghat Colony and the subsequent parking of vehicles, etc at...
High priests to run affairs of Doongerwadi
Affairs at the Doongerwadi or Tower of Silence will soon be under the direct purview of the high priests of the Parsi community. The decision was taken at a meeting of the trust on July 19. For the...
Will Bombay Parsi Panchayat Go The Karachi Way
A recent decision by the Karachi’s apex Parsi trust to give children of women married to non-Zoroastrians the right to adopt their mother’s religion has generated interest in Mumbai where the...
Dokhmenashini Controversey
Noshir H. Dadrawala’s take on the Dokhmenashini controversey. Thanks for provoking me to respond on the latest controversy surrounding ?Dokhmenashini. I believe this controversy has a time cycle of...
Has the genteel Mr Taraporewalla turned tapori?
The Parsis reeled from another dirty (and cyber) election war. Bachi Kakaria reports from the sidelines of the Inbox Insurgency Munchi Cama is not just the new replacement Trustee of the Bombay...
BPP Bypolls In the Aftermath: An Overview
The below is an Op-Ed by Mickie Sorabjee, regular contributor to Parsi Khabar and a good friend and well-wisher of the website. The moving hand writes and having written, moves on. The Fravashis of...
Mumbai Samachar MD wins Parsi elections
Muncherji Cama, the managing director of Asia’s oldest newspaper ‘Bombay Samachar’ has won the fiercely contested elections to choose a trustee in the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP). By Manoj R Nair |...
Muncherji Cama Wins BPP Bypolls
Muncherji Cama has been elected in the Bombay Parsi Punchayat bypolls to fill the seat left vacant on the resignation of one trustee. This result has been reported in various forums. At the end of...
High stakes at an ill-tempered Parsi election
Universal adult franchise may seem a grand term to attach to 8,000 voters. But apply this figure to the diminutive Parsi community, and it looks significant. Over the past two weeks, Parsis have...
Violence at Election Time: Unbecoming of a Parsi
UPDATE 02: Find below an email from Viraf Mehta, son of Trustee Dinshaw Mehta, giving a detailed account of what transpired. It also contains the scans of the NC filed with the Byculla Police...
Campaign frenzy at its peak for Parsi punchayet by-polls
With the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) by-elections set to begin next week, the four candidates vying for the vacant seat on the board of trustees are aggressively wooing the community. In the past...
BPP Candidature: Advocacy over Meritocracy
It is with regret that I have to mention that the BPP is heading in the wrong direction. I say this after I read articles in Free Press and Jame Jamshed proposing Anahita Desai for BPP Trusteeship...
Dr. Mehroo Bengalee Cries Foul Over Endorsing Candidate for BPP Elections
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) elections always seem to have some talking point. And this time, it is a letter one rival group is using to bring down the other. By Ashutosh Shukla | DNA India The...
Parsi election to be an expensive affair
The election for a single vacant seat for the position of trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) is set to be an expensive affair. With no code of conduct in place, estimates are that the poll...
BPP or Desai Mistry Mistree & Associates
The below is an Op-Ed by regular reader and good friend of Parsi Khabar, Mickie Sorabjee. After baiting and rubbing him the wrong way during the watershed 2008 Bombay Parsee Punchayet elections and...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet bypolls from June 19
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) will hold its by-elections for filling an empty position on its six-member board of trustees on the weekends between June 19 and July 3. The position has been vacant...
The Parsi Punchayet case: The imperative of inclusiveness
The judgement of the Bombay High Court in Jamsheed Kanga versus Parsi Punchayet Funds and Properties, has raised a big controversy within the Parsi community. Much of the controversy is due to...
Parsi Punchayet Looks For Trustee
Parsi-Zoroastrians are preparing to elect a new member to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the community’s main representative body, to replace the trustee who resigned last month. But many members...
‘Priestly’ battle continues to rage
The dispute in the Parsi-Zoroastrian community over the bar on two priests accused of ‘irreligious’ activities has moved to the Supreme Court, which will hear an appeal later this month against the...
Resolve issue through mediation, court tells Parsis
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Parsi community to resolve a dispute relating to performing prayers or religious ceremonies at Doongerwadi (the Towers of Silence) in Mumbai and at two...
Parsi punchayet moves Supreme Court for ban on priests
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court’s quashing of its ban. The Punchayet had banned two priests from performing religious ceremonies in...
BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala quits over ‘differences’
Over two years after the historic elections to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, one of the trustees put in his papers on Thursday morning. "Serious differences” with the other trustees was the...
The ZYNG 2011 Calendar
The Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation has come out with a calendar for 2011. This calendar has 12 Parsi models posing exclusively for the camera. This calendar has caused an unnecessary...
Parsi Punchayat gets SC nod to build on Panthaki Baug Plot
After almost three decades of litigation, the Bombay Parsi Punchayat is free to construct at least a hundred flats at Punthaky Baug in Andheri. Last Friday, the Supreme Court cleared the decks for...
High Court Relief for Bombay Parsi Punchayat
In a reprieve to the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP), the HC on Friday stayed an order passed by the assistant charity commissioner. The commissioner had directed the punchayat to furnish documents...
Hey, I got a flat
The only time one can be ecstatic about getting a flat is when it is a house in the city, not a tyre that one is talking about. The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) is one of the largest land owners in...