The three heritage structures on Hill Road, Bandra, portions of which were to be acquired by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its road-widening project, may find the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) coming to their aid. MHCC chairman Sharad Upasani told DNA that the BMC has not yet sought its permission: a pre-requisite for… Continue reading BMC has no permit, says heritage panel
Category: Issues
Parsi apex body seeks universal franchise
By Nauzer Bharucha MUMBAI: Parsis may be one of the most literate and progressive communities in the country. But for the past 350 years, a vast majority of them in Mumbai had no stake in appointing trustees to the powerful apex body–the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP)–that has a corpus of Rs 85 crore, controls 4,500… Continue reading Parsi apex body seeks universal franchise
Strife over death at Parsi meet
Punchayet will form panel to decide alternative ways to dispose dead The body disposal issue reared its head last month when Dhun Baria clandestinely shot a video and took photographs of Tower of Silence Sorab Ghaswalla Mumbai A MEETING of eminent city Parsis convened on Thursday by the Bombay Parsee Punchayet (BPP) to debate the… Continue reading Strife over death at Parsi meet
Breeding revives fortunes of India’s rare vultures
Indian conservationists have successfully bred a rare species of vulture, brought near to extinction by a drug used to treat cattle but which is highly toxic to the scavenging birds. Eighteen slender-billed vultures, the rarest of three endangered species living in India, were caught in Assam and used to start breeding programmes late last year… Continue reading Breeding revives fortunes of India’s rare vultures
Ancient religions clash in modern Iran
It’s one of the world’s oldest religions, but Zoroastrianism is treated with suspicion by Iran’s Islamic state, writes Robert Tait The village of Chak Chak consists of a shrine perched beneath a towering cliff face. Photograph: Robert Tait. The boisterous scenes of wine, unveiled women and song confounded the popular stereotype of religious worship in… Continue reading Ancient religions clash in modern Iran
Iran’s last Zoroastrians worried by youth exodus
TEHRAN: Flicking through photographs of immigrant Zoroastrian friends in sunny California, 40-year-old Farzad Dehnavizadeh sighs and wishes the young people of his faith stopped leaving Iran for the West. His 40,000-strong Zoroastrian community has survived centuries of conquest, oppression and forced conversion to keep their 3,200-year-old monotheistic faith alive and guard ancient traditions in Shiite… Continue reading Iran’s last Zoroastrians worried by youth exodus
Biologists to help breed vultures
The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology aims to rescue the ancient Zoroastrian practice of corpse disposal (writes Ashling O’Connor). Biologists are to inseminate artificially the Oriental white-backed vulture at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. The vultures once cleared carcases from the land. Numbers have fallen to a few thousand, which has led to… Continue reading Biologists to help breed vultures
