PM Shri Narendra Modi meets the pair from 'The Elephant Whisperers' Bellie & Bomman

April 9, Mudumalai (Tamil Nadu), India: The Bomman and Bellie duo, who starred in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Elephant Whisperers," were introduced to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

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He established the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) in Karnataka with the intention of reducing poaching and illegal wildlife trading. The "Commemoration of 50 Years of Project Tiger" was also launched by PM Modi. He published "Amrit Kaal Ka Vision for Tiger Conservation," a study summarising the fifth cycle of Management And Assessment of Tiger Reserves, during the programme. He also made available an All India Tiger Estimate summary report (5th cycle). On the occasion of Project Tiger's 50th anniversary, PM Modi also unveiled a commemorative coin.

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Modi visited Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka where he interacted with frontline field staff and self-help groups involved in conservation efforts, as part of programmes to mark 50 years of 'Project Tiger'. PM Modi also visited the Theppakadu Elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on Sunday where he interacted with mahouts and kavadis.

Talking about the Bomman and Bellie featured in 'The Elephant Whisperers', which recently won the Best Documentary Short winner at the 95th Academy Awards. Helmed by debutant Kartiki Gonsalves, the 41-minute short documentary movie explores the tentative yet precious bond between Raghu, an orphaned baby elephant, and his caretakers - a mahout couple named Bomman and Bellie - who devote their lives to protect him from poachers and raise him. The project, which is backed by Guneet's banner Sikhya Entertainment, beat four other contenders to clinch the statuette in the Best Documentary Short Category, making it the first Indian documentary and one of only two Indian productions to win an Oscar (the other one being 'RRR').

'The Elephant Whisperers' was nominated against 'Haul Out,' 'How Do You Measure A Year?', 'The Martha Mitchell Effect,' and 'Stranger At The Gate'. This is the second Oscar win for Guneet. She had previously served as an executive producer on 'Period. End of Sentence', which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

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Milind Soman thanks to PM Narendra Modi for encouraging citizens for Yoga & Ayurveda

Mumbai [India], August 24: Fitness guru and style icon Milind Soman, on Wednesday, shared a couple of pictures with our honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and thanked him for encouraging people to take up Yoga and Ayurveda across the country.

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Taking to Instagram, Milind shared a couple of pictures which he captioned, "Was so happy to meet Hon PM @narendramodi after the #UnityRun and discover a mutual interest in ancient Indian traditions of sport, health & fitness :) I thanked him for all he is doing to encourage people to take up Yoga and Ayurveda across the country, and gifted him a Balakrishna that @ankita_earthy brought from Vrindavan during Janmashtami @fitindiaoff #JaiHind."

In the first picture, Milind could be seen standing and posing with the prime minister. In another picture, he can be seen gifting a small sculpture of Lord Balakrishna to Modi with joined hands.

Soon after Milind, dropped these pictures, fans congratulated the fitness icon for the second edition of his unity run on 75 years of India's independence and for his meeting with the PM. "Wow...great Sir. You will always remain my fitness idol as you were. Keep up the great work sir," a fan commented.

The 450 km-long unity run started off on Independence Day from the Jhansi Fort in Rajasthan and concluded a week later at Delhi's Red Fort, which Milind covered barefooted. Through the Unity run, he celebrated the Azadi ka Amrit Mohatsav, to spread the message of unity, peace and harmony.

Milind Soman is known to inspire many through his workout videos and photos on Instagram. He had been a part of many big Bollywood films including Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Bajirao Mastani', '16 December', 'Jurm', 'Bheja Fry' etc.

He made his comeback with a party track titled 'Shringaar'. The song has been recorded by Akasa Sing and Aastha Gill. Written by Vayu, the dance song also featured rapper Raftar and received a positive response from the netizens.

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Prime Minister will participate in the "Shilanyas” ceremony for the construction of a unique centre

Lumbini [Nepal], May 15: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will participate in the "Shilanyas” ceremony for the construction of a unique centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in Lumbini on the occasion of Vaishakha Buddha Purnima tomorrow.

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Lumbini, birthplace of Lord Buddha

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will participate in the "Shilanyas” ceremony for the construction of a unique centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage within the Lumbini Monastic Zoneduring his official visit to Lumbini on 16th May 2022 on the occasion of VaishakhaBuddha Purnima. At Lumbini, Prime Minister will visit the sacred Mayadevi temple to offer prayers. Prime Minister will also deliver an address at a Buddha Jayanti event organized by the Lumbini Development Trust under the aegis of the Government of Nepal.

The construction of the unique ‘India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage’ with a universal appeal will be undertaken by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), India under the auspices of the Lumbini Development Trust with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. International Buddhist Confederation, is a grantee body under the Ministry of Culture . The Buddhist Centre will be the first ‘Net Zero Emission’ building in Nepal . Also, on the occasion, the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) is hosting a colorful programme for the Vaishakha Buddha Purnima Divas celebrations in New Delhi. The highlight will be the screening of a film on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foundation- stone laying ceremony, earlier in the day for the Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage at Lumbini, Nepal.

The event will start at 2:00 pm with Chanting from various Buddhist sites played on the screen.

The Chief Guest, for the event will be Shri Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Law and Justice, Government of India, while the Guest of Honour will be Shri G. Kishan Reddy, Minister for Culture, Tourism and DoNER, Government of India with Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Culture as special guest.

The significance of the timing of Prime Minister’s visit to Nepal is to coincide the inauguration of Lumbini Buddhist Centre with the Holy Vaishakha Buddha Purnima Divas. The day is recognized as the thrice blessed day that marks the Birth, Enlightenment and Mahaparinirvana of Lord Buddha. While Buddha was born in Lumbiniin Nepal, he attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya in Bihar, preached his first sermon at Sarnath and attained Nirvana in Kushinagar, in Uttar Pradesh.

Lumbini is the holy place where according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mahamayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama at around 623 B.C. Lord Buddha, was born in the famous gardens of Lumbini, which soon became a place of pilgrimage.

Among the pilgrims was the Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected one of his commemorative pillars there. The site is now being developed as a Buddhist pilgrimage centre, where the archaeological remains associated with the birth of the Lord Buddha form a central feature.

Some of the other Viharas and Monasteries in the area are the Myanmar’s Golden Temple, Tara Foundation Temple, The Sri Lanka Monastery, the Korean Temple (Dae Sung Shakya), the Cambodian Monastery and the Vietnamese Phat QuocTu Temple.

Lumbini is one of the holiest and most important places in Nepal as a result of which it was included in the list of World Heritage areas by UNESCO.

The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), India- with its headquarters in New Delhi, was formed in 2013 as an international Buddhist umbrella body to serve as a common platform for Buddhists worldwide. It has the honour of being instituted under the patronage of the Supreme Buddhist religious hierarchy. The aim is to create a platform for various Buddhist organisations and traditions worldwide to preserve, propagate and promote shared Buddhist values and principles. The objective is also to find shared solutions to global problems.

The IBC has been actively involved in engaging Buddhist organisations in Nepal and has a strong relationship with several senior Buddhist monks. The Prime Minister’s visit and the building of an Indian Centre within the Lumbini Monastic complex will further strengthen the bonds through a shared Buddhist heritage and legacy.

The programme will be available at the following links of IBC from 8.00am onwards on 16th May, 2022:

"Virtual Vaishakha Buddha Purnima Divas" will be Live stream at on the following links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ibcworld.org

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/c/IBCWorld

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