April 17, 2014: Conference organisers of the 1st Fiji National Hindu Community Conference are quite satisfied by the response received so far. This conference is neither a religious nor philosophical conference, but a community conference.

Many organisations such as TISI Sangam, Gujarati Samaj, Arya Samaj Pritinithi Sabha of Fiji, Fiji Sevashram Sangha, Sathya Sai Service Organisation, Art of Living Foundation, Brahma Kumaris, ISKCON, student associations, and some social and cultural organisations have shown interest in participating.

People working in a number of educational institutes including all three universities in Fiji are participating in the conference.

This conference, which is a historic event for the Hindu community in Fiji, was held in Nadi on Saturday, 12 April and Sunday, 13 April 2014.

The theme of the conference is “The contribution of Hindu community in strengthening and building Fiji“. It will cover the economic, health, environmental, social and cultural aspects.

This conference provides a platform for all the Hindu organizations/ temples/ like-minded groups to showcase their contributions to the Fijian society in general and Hindu society in particular.

Conference programme will have oral presentations – both invited and volunteer papers. A conference booklet with a number of interesting and useful articles is being published and the copies will be available to the government agencies and community workers, and also to all participants of the conference.

The number of delegates to the conference will be limited, to a maximum of 200. The delegates are expected to be the office bearers of different Hindu organisations/ institutions, Samaj & Society, and active Hindu workers and who wish to work for the preservation, promotion of Hindu civilization and community. Following invitation, we expect participation from various government agencies, professionals, university staff, business leaders, and youth leaders.

The following are the conference sessions: 1. Hindu contribution by organisations; 2. Hindu Youth Development and Women Empowerment; 3. Social and cultural; 4. Networking among Hindu organisations/institutions; 5. Working with Government agency of Fiji; 6. Hindu culture, identity and role; and 7. Hindu contributions in general.

In addition to a number of speakers from Fiji, we also have speakers from overseas: Mrs Akila Ramarathinam from Australia, Ms Pritika Sharma from New Zealand, and Swami Vigyananand from India. For those who are interested, we also have a special workshop on Meditation and Healing run by Mr G N Mahalingam from India.

This conference is organized by Vishva Hindu Parishad of Fiji (World Hindu Council – Fiji chapter).