SikhsIndia - Online Sikh News Channel : A wake up call for the Sikh Community with Sikh news, views, images, videos for the sikhs around the world. Links are being provided at the bottom of each news item with sole aim to generate awareness on SIKH ISSUES.
A body found floating in the Bay has been identified as missing motorist Jagmeet Singh Sidhu, 25, of Union City. Sidhu was last heard from sometime after 1 a.m. Dec. 19 when he made a cell phone call to a friend saying his car was breaking down on the San Mateo Bridge, said Sidhu's brother, Jasmeet Sidhu.
On Saturday, fishermen reported seeing a body in the water in the San Leandro Channel. A Coast Guard utility boat then recovered the badly decomposed corpse and took it to the San Leandro Marina where it was turned over to the Alameda County Coroner's Office.The cause of death has not been determined, coroner's office supervisor Dan Apperson said.
A high-level delegation from the University of Cambridge, comprising Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dame Sandra Dawson and Michael O’Sullivan of Cambridge Overseas Trust, has shown interest in joining hands with Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University (SGGSWU) coming up in Fatehgarh Sahib near here. The delegation, presently visiting Punjab on the invitation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), showed interest during an interaction with SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar on Thursday.
A CATERER who supplied a dessert containing eggs at a Sikh wedding was today ordered to pay £415,000 damages to the Oxford widow of a man who died after eating it.
Kuldip Singh Bhamra, 49, was allergic to eggs but believed he was safe, because the wedding banquet was held at the Ramgarhia Sikh Temple in Forest Gate, London, in 2003, and followers of the religion do not eat eggs.
The caterer, Prem Dubb, himself a Sikh, appealed against a decision at Oxford County Court in November 2008, when the damages were awarded after a finding of negligence.
But judges at the Appeal Court in London upheld the ruling today and ordered the damages to be paid, plus £36,000 interest.
Lawyers for Mr Bhamra’s widow, Amarjit, of Elms Drive, Marston, said the company, Lucky Caterers, was negligent for supplying a dish called ras malai, which allegedly contained the egg.
Lord Justice Moore-Bick said Mr Bhamra would not have expected there to be any egg in ras malai served at a Sikh wedding and would therefore have felt quite safe in eating it.
A special event has been organised as concerns over the amount of alcohol consumed by the Sikh community continues to grow.
The problem of unsupervised drinking especially at Sikh weddings is an increasing anxiety.
Parminder Kaur Dhillion Chief Executive of Drug and Alcohol Action, will be leading an event where there will be opportunity to discuss the growing apprehension over the consumption of alcohol by the Sikh community.
An action day is planned for January 30, in Southall, this event is supported by the Gurdwaras in Southall.
With thanks Source : http://www.emgonline.co.uk/news.php?news=8542
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - UNITED SIKHS' volunteers arrived Port-au-Prince Saturday for beginning major humanitarian relief work in capital city of Haiti. Retired Lt. Col. Gurbachan Singh, along with other volunteers, reached Santo Domingo airport and drove into Haiti, crossing Jamini border.
The Sikh Aid team's first hand assessment of the situation shows an urgent need for Medical supplies, food, water, and shelter for the survivors. The Sikh Aid team is working to overcome serious obstacles due to lack of infrastructure and logistic challenges.
Countless survivors with serious injuries, crushed limbs, broken legs need immediate medical treatment. More doctors are joining Sikh Aid team this week to further aid in the humanitarian relief.
" Every building on the road side that we are driving by is severely damaged. Concrete roofs are fallen, crushing people, household goods, and vehicles. There are dead bodies lying on the ground," said Retd. Lt Col Gurbachan Singh, UNITED SIKHS Humanitarian Director. Gurbachansingh2.jpg CampHaiti.jpg
A UNITED SIKHS shipment carrying imperishable food, water, cloths and medicines will be arriving to Haiti next week by sea from Miami. UNITED SIKHS is requesting donors to contact us for more details about shipping food, water and supplies.
We urgently need doctors who can afford time and travel to volunteer for the relief effort.
At the United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination (UNDAC) Emergency Response Team briefing today, it was said that the places that have been badly affected are Carrafour, Gressier, Leogane, Jazmel and Petit Grove where 60 to 90 percent of homes have been destroyed. These places have mass burials and in some parts the search and the rescue operations are still in progress.
Your donation of any amount could help save lives by providing food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support to people in need.
Issued by: Kuldip Singh Director UNITED SIKHS email: sikhaid@unitedsikhs.org Ph: 1-888-243-1690 or 1-646-688-3525
New Delhi, India: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition requesting a separate religious identity for Sikhs. The petition filed by J S Sethi said the community which is issued birth certificates under the Hindu law faces an uphill task to explain to the immigration authorities across the globe that the community is different from the Hindus.
“It is very difficult to convince the people abroad, especially the immigration authorities, that though they are given birth certificate under the Hindu Marriage Act, they are Sikh by religion,” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, counsel for the petitioner, told a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.
He was appearing for Sethi, a Sikh, who filed the PIL seeking suitable amendment in the Constitution to declare the community out of the purview of the Act.
The plea sought directions for amendment to Article 25 of the Constitution for implementing the recommendation of a commission headed by Justice M N Venkatachaliah to delink Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism from the Hindu Marriage Act.
The Bench, also comprising Justices R V Raveendran and Deepak Verma, said though it was in agreement with the issues raised in the petition, it could not entertain the subject as it had to be looked into by an appropriate authority in the government.
A Surrey Sikh Gurdwara raised $100,000 for relief efforts in Haiti on the first day of donations.
Even before the launch of the fund raising campaign, phone calls, emails and text messages overwhelmed volunteers at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on Scott Road, near 70 Avenue.
All day long a steady flow of Sikhs from all walks of life and all ages, flowed through the Scot Road Gurdwara, donating to this cause. A planned Radio-thon on local South Asian Radio Stations, Red FM and Shere Punjab was started a day earlier and put in half a day of on the air collections.
The end result of the first day of effort, was approximately $100,000 in donations being pledged. As the community gears up for day two of the fundraising event, many volunteers have taken vacation time off work, to come volunteer at the Gurdwara Sahib and the local Radio stations, collecting donations.
"The local Sikh community has always shown its support for humanitarian relief efforts, in any part of the world," according to Gurdwara president Bikramjit Singh Sandhar. "No matter what our background, where we live, we're all equal and each and every one of us should do their utmost to help a fellow human being."
With thanks Source : http://www.emgonline.co.uk/news.php?news=8518
A city court Monday asked a complainant in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case if she still wants to pursue the matter in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a closure report.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar issued notice to Harbinder Kaur, who lost her doctor-husband Iqbal Singh Chadda in the riots sparked by the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, to appear before the court Feb 23.
The court asked Kaur if she still wants to pursue the case. According to court procedures, the complainant is asked this question before a case is closed.
As the proceedings were on in the Karkardooma court, around 250 Sikhs staged a protest outside, torching an effigy of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who is accused of taking part in the 1984 riots that left thousands dead. The police used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Last week, the CBI filed two chargesheets in two riot cases of Delhi Cantonment and Sultanpuri areas against Sajjan Kumar and others. They were charged with murder, riot, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.
The CBI also filed a closure report pertaining to the death of Chadda in the riots in Mangolpuri area.
In its closure report, the CBI said the complainant could not give any information as to where, when and who killed her husband Chadda and burnt his body.
The CBI said that several witnesses of the killing had expired. Several others had shifted residence and were not traceable.
Meanwhile, the court has put the other two chargesheets - filed in Sultanpuri and Delhi Cantonment cases - for further consideration Feb 1.
With thanks source : http://sify.com/news/Complainant-in-1984-riots-asked-if-she-wants-to-pursue-case-news-kbsqEchdgeh.html
London: A controversial BBC film about the Indian Army storming Golden Temple in 1984, which depicts late Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale "in a similar way to Osama Bin Laden", has provoked a furious response from many members of the community in Britain, a media report said.
A number of Sikhs have condemned the documentary, 1984: A Sikh Story, which they see as nothing but a slur on Bhindranwale, who was killed during the 'Operation Blue Star' ordered by the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, the Daily Mail reported.
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with thanks : source : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bbc-documentary-provokes-furious-response-from-sikhs_1335824
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