MW Bro. Harcharan Singh Ranauta takes over as 16th Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India
By Deepak Arora
 NEW DELHI, Nov 28:
MW Bro. Harcharan Singh Ranauta on Saturday took over as the 16the Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India, the parent body of over 26,000 Freemasons in India, for a term of three years. He took over the reins of the prestigious organisation from MW Bro. Vasudev Jamnabihar Masurekar.
MW Bro. Ranauta, who is a recipient of the Order of Service to Masonry (OSM), was installed as the Grand Master on Saturday in a glittering ceremony attended by over 2,000 Freemasons from India and 156 Freemasons from 35 countries including the United Kingdom, Scotland, the USA, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Mauritius.
This year the attendence of freemasons attending the annual grand festival from India and abroad have set a new record.
There are over 5 million Freemasons in the world. Freemasonry is one of the world's largest and oldest secular fraternal organizations with Charity as one of its principal objectives.
Freemasonry is an international organisation which teaches the principles of fraternity, kindness and good values. It teaches one to be charitable, to be kind to people and also to be a better man and practise good values in life.
 The Grand Lodge of India (GLI) is the main governing body of Freemasonry within India, it was officially constituted on November, 24, 1961.
MW Bro. Ranauta was born on November 28, 1961 in Nairobi, Kenya. He shifted to Chandigarh in 1975 and after graduation established himself in business.
Today he is an industrialist of repute having business interests in India and abroad.
MW Bro. Ranauta said that it has been over 35 years since his father R. W. Bro. Iqbal Singh Ranauta initiated him into freemasonry.
"It has been a marvelous journey of life, where I have learnt so much about life. I acknowledge a deep sense of gratitude to everyone, who have been a part of this journey. First of all to my parents, late Mr. Iqbal Singh Ranauta and my respected mother Mrs. Surjit Kaur Ranauta, who could not make it today."
Masonry has been a marvelous journey of life, where I have learnt so much about life.
MW Bro. Ranauta, who was the Regional Grand Master of the Regional Grand Lodge of Northern Region before assuming charge as the Grand Master of India, said that charity projects of over Rs 27 crore were taken up during the last 31 months in the Northern Region in association with Grand Lodge of India.
 He informed that plans are underway to set up a charitable Masonic 200-bed multi-speciality hospital in Mohali in Punjab spread over 25 acres of land with an investment of Rs 25 crore.
There is also a proposal to construct a large Convention Centre in Mohali spread over 7 acres of land with a seating capacity of over 1,200 people with an investment of another Rs 25 crore.
There is also a proposal to construct a large Convention Centre in Mohali spread over 7 acres of land with a seating capacity of over 1,200 people with an investment of another Rs 25 crore.
Construction of these projects will begin sometime during 2016.
These projects are proposed to be funded by the
Regional Grand Lodge of India in association with Grand Lodge of India.
 Some of the prominent charity projects taken up by the Regional Grand Lodge of Northern India include reconstruction of two senior secondary schools in Srinagar and two inter colleges in Uttarakhand which were heavily damaged in floods.
He has also been instrumental in sending relief to earthquake victims of Kathmandu, Nepal and in starting construction of a Masonic polyclinic building and 100 houses for affected people of Nepal.
He also started many new projects like Jail Project (Day care center for children of female prisoners) in Punjab; limb donation project; expansion of a Masonic Spastic School in Noida and a second Masonic
Public School in New Delhi.
MW Bro. Ranauta said the Regional Grand Lodge of Northern India (RGLNI) – with a membership of over 5,600 Freemasons -- is presently running seven charitable polyclinics and diagnostic centres.
These are in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Agra, Ludhiana, Kalka and Roorkee under the banner of General Williams Masonic Polyclinic.
 Polyclinics and diagnostic centres are also being set up in six other cities in the northern region.
RGLNI has also donated to nearly 850 artificial limbs, 450 wheel chairs and over 50 hearing-aids to physically challenged persons.
The Grand Master also called upon all the freemasons to help increase the membership of the fraternal organisation and gave a slogan "each one, bring one".
He also wanted young people to join the organisation.
"First and formost all of us need to walk together to increase our members. Current membership is about 25,000 and with the help of new initiatives we can easily achieve the growth of 25 per cent in membership."
He said "we will also be working for a permanent project for every region and independent project for each and every lodge.
 This will be a great help in creating public awareness. It will be highly instrumental in attaching more people to our institute."
He also desired that the Grand Lodge of India should become the number one Grand Lodge of the world.
"God willing, I can assure that this Grand Lodge will be number one in the world," he said to a loud applause.
RW Bro. Ranauta also announced plans to host a conference of Masons of Indian Diaspora in November next year.
"The main purpose of their conference is to honour people who are working for freemasonry under any constitution and to inform them about our good work in India."
He said "this conference will bring Freemasons of India and Freemasons of Indian-origin from all over the world on a common platform to exchange views and ideas in the running of the Lodges in the country and the Charity work being undertaken on a massive scale for the weaker sections of the society."
The Grand Lodge of India will host the conference.
 He informed "there are 5 million masons around the Globe And out of this, 2 lakh are of India origin. Of these two lakhs, 26,000 are in India and rest are spread across the world. There are 30,000 from East Africa."
He said "We need to appoint ambassadors in each country for this purpose. I have a list of countries where ambanadors have already been appointed. They are Kenya, the UK, Tanzania, Uganda, Far east, Middle east, Canada and Australia. Meeting has already been done with them."
Two books titled "Freemasons Orations 50+" and "Games Freemasons Play" were also released on the occasion.
The annual Grand festival concluded with the singing of a National Anthem.
Aamir Khan: Proud to be Indian, don’t need anyone’s endorsement
 MUMBAI, Nov 25: Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who is under fire for his comments over growing intolerance in India, said on Wednesday neither he or his wife have any intention of leaving the country.
“We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying,” Khan said in a statement released to the media.
The 50-year-old actor is facing ire of the BJP and other Hindu groups for revealing his wife, Kiran Rao, had suggested moving abroad following a spate of communal incidents in the country.
Hindu activists staged protests outside his house in Mumbai as well as Patna by painting his posters with black ink before setting them on fire.
“To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone’s permission nor endorsement for that. To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point,” he added.
Khan thanked everyone who stood by him saying, “We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it’s concept of ekantavada, it’s love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.”
A complaint has also been registered at a police station in New Delhi against Khan who made his comments over intolerance at a media awards event in the city on Monday.
“Kiran and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India? That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet,” Khan had said.
Here is the actor’s statement in its entirety:
“First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.
Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.
To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone’s permission nor endorsement for that.
To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.
To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it’s concept of ekantavada, it’s love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.
I would like to end my statement with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it’s a prayer really :
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments,
by narrow domestic walls,
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection,
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,
Where the mind is led forward by thee,
Into ever-widening thought and action,
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.
Jai Hind.
Aamir Khan.” |
