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Friday, February 28, 2014
Sikh bus driver wins right to wear turban in Finland
London : A Sikh bus driver in Finland has won his fight to wear a turban while at work.
Gill Sukhdarshan Singh has been in dispute with his employer, Veolia Transport in the city of Vantaa, for more than a year for his right to wear turban at work, Yle, the Finnish public broadcasting company,reported Tuesday.
His year-long dispute with the Veolia bus company was resolved after an agreement between the transport workers union (AKT) and the employers’ organisation (ALT).
Now, after this development, Sikhs would be able to wear either their own turban or one provided by their employer, the report said.
“It feels nice,” Gill was quoted as saying. “I can wear my turban at work now and that’s the important thing,” he added.
With thanks : Mizonews : LINK
Sunday, February 23, 2014
No Sikh farmer will have to leave Gujarat: Narendra Modi
BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday said no Sikh farmer settled in Gujarat's Kutch region will have to leave the state.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Sunday said no Sikh farmer settled in Gujarat's Kutch region will have to leave the state.
Addressing a rally in Punjab's Jagraon town, over 40 km from Ludhiana, Modi said "misinformation" was being spread that Sikh farmers, who were cultivating the land for decades, were being uprooted from the Kutch area by the Gujarat government.
"Let me assure you that no Sikh farmer will be forced to leave Gujarat. Instead, if any officer has done anything wrong (in this regard), he will have to go," the Gujarat chief minister said.
Thousands of Sikh and Punjabi families settled in Kutch area of Gujarat in the 1960s and are cultivating land there.
The Modi government in Gujarat came in for criticism for passing an order under which farmers from other states re-settled in Kutch were to be dispossessed of their land.
The issue had become embarrassing for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government in Punjab since Gujarat also has a BJP government.
with thanks : DNA : LINK
Sikh honoured in Singapore for voluntary service
IANS
Singapore, Feb 23: An elderly Sikh in Singapore has been honoured for his outstanding volunteer services.
Surjan Singh, 82, received the Ministry of Social and Family Development Volunteers Award for helping some 60 boys, mostly involved in petty crimes such as theft, the Straits Times reported.
Singh, a retired teacher, worked for Community Probation Service, a voluntary service, for 42 years.
With thanks : IANS : LINK
UK to change work law on turbans for Sikhs
Britain is close to changing employment laws to remove an anomaly that meant Sikhs were exempt from wearing head protection in a high hazard industry such as construction, but were required to do so in lower hazard workplaces.
Following the completion of a consultation process carried out by the health and safety executive, the David Cameron government is expected to shortly place an amendment to the De-regulation Bill currently before parliament.
The forthcoming change takes forward British rules and legislation relevant to the Sikh community that were first challenged in 1969, when bus driver Sohan Singh Jolly succeeded in his campaign to overturn a local ban on bus drivers wearing turbans in Wolverhampton.
Minister of state for health and safety Mike Penning told HT: "I've listened to the arguments and I'm supportive of the Sikh Council's desire to extend the exemption. That is why I'm personally intervening to change the law".
He added: "It's about restoring a common sense approach to health and safety to get rid an anomaly which means turban-wearing Sikhs are exempt from wearing hard hats on construction sites be made to wear them in lower hazards workplaces."
Official sources said the wording of the amendment is still subject to discussion and approval but the initial proposal is to replace the phrase "on a construction site" with "in a workplace" in the Employment Act 1989.
Representations to the government by the Sikh community, especially the Sikh Council UK, had identified problems experienced due to the limitations of the current exemption. They pointed out that limiting the exemption to an industry which has a high risk of head injuries, and not to other lower risk industries, was an anomaly.
Members of the Sikh community have faced disciplinary hearings and dismissal for refusing to wear head protection, while some were unable to follow their chosen professions because of the insistence of the need to wear head protection.
In a recent debate in the House of Commons, Penning said: "As the law currently stands, turban-wearing Sikhs are exempt from wearing head protection in a high hazard industry, construction, but may be required to wear it in lower hazard workplaces".
He added: "I am seeking to table an amendment to the De-regulation Bill, which is currently before Parliament, to extend this exemption to all workplaces, including industrial premises. The amendment will also extend the limitation on liability for employers to any work situation where a turban-wearing Sikh chooses not to wear head protection".
There may be very limited exceptions, such as specific roles in the emergency services or armed forces, Penning said.
With thanks : Hindustan Times : LINK
Sikh youth in Italy fined Rs. 19.5 lakh for not removing kirpan
Manpreet Singh is highly disappointed with the Italy court's decision .
In a copy to a punjabi daily , Manpreet Singh who is a resident of village Tanda in Hoshiarpur, now residing at Vicentino in Vicenza province of Italy,said that almost a year ago, on February 2 , 2013 while working in the Italian city of Tarvisio, he had been the victim of a road accident. At that time, he was admitted in the hospital of Tarvisio for treatment, where a team of young doctors asked Manpreet Singh to remove his kirpan.
Manpreet Singh explained to the doctors the importance of the kirpan and the reason he cannot remove it. On Manpreet Singh's refusal, doctors informed the police, wherein he was accused of wearing an 18 centimeters long ( kirpan )- more than what is allowed- and considering it a crime to keep weapons, registered a case under Section 110 of the Italian Constitution Act 4.
Manpreet Singh's lawyer, Baso Jasepe continued defending the case, but on January 22, 2014, through his lawyer he received a notice from the court of Tarvisio, according to which the court fined him Rs. 19.5 lakh.
In the case the fine is not paid, a three month prison sentence will be awarded. Although against this decision, Manpreet Singh's expert lawyer Agrona has begun the legal process.
With thanks : Hindustan Times : Link
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Sikh American drives away with victory in Minnesota
Washington: A Sikh American in Minnesota drove away with a victory when he won the right for the community in the US State to wear their turbans in driver’s licence photos.
Last month when Blaine resident Jatinder Singh went to the local Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) office to get his licence renewed, he was told his turban was not allowed in his driver’s license photo.
He then went to the Sikh American Legal Defence and Educational Fund (SALDEF), a community organisation, which pointed DVS officials to the department’s explicit policy on religious accommodation.
In fact, the department’s own guidance material shows examples of compliant photographs, including a full-face photo of a Sikh American man wearing a turban.
Following SALDEF’s intervention, Singh was able to get his licence with his articles of faith intact.
Apologising for the incident, DVS director, Patricia McCormick, pledged to work with SALDEF on religious accommodation training of DVS staff “specifically, related to accommodating the Sikh turban” as needed.
Jasjit Singh, executive director of SALDEF commended “Jatinder Singh for identifying an opportunity to make change, for the benefit of Sikh Americans in Minnesota and elsewhere, who now see a shining example of a fair policy properly enforced”.
North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) chairman Dalwinder Singh Dhoot also expressed the Indian American community’s “satisfaction and happiness on the significant victory” of Jatinder Singh.
With Thanks : Mizo News : LINK
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Efforts to rescue abducted Pak Sikhs intensify
Pakistan (February 17, 2014): It is learnt that Pakistan Sikh leaders has been holding meeting with the Pakistan leadership, including the so-called ‘hardliners’, to save the two Sikh who were abducted near Deraban area of Dera Ismail Khan last week.
The abductors though released the other two men, who along with two Pakistani Sikhs were kidnapped, but the other captives, who were identified as Pawinder Singh and Nand Singh, resident of Mohallaj Jogan Shah, Peshawar, and deal in natural medicines, remain untraceable.
As per information member provincial assembly of Imran Khan’s Pakistan According to media reports Sadar Singh father of Pawinder Singh and uncle of Nand Singh has registered a case with the Deraban Police station under Pakistan Penal Code against abductors.
“We had meeting with Maulana Sami ul Haq, the head of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP), Jamaat e Islami KPK Ameer Prof M Ibrahim Khan, Maulana Atta Ur Rehman , vice presedent Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and so on to make early and safe release of the Pawinder Singh and Nand Singh”, Swarn Singh reportedly told news-agency ANI.
Sikh leaders in Pakistan and India have also shown their concern for the safety and security of minorities living in Pakistan.
Sham Singh, President of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (PSGPC), has urged the federal government to make sure the two Sikhs are released.
Whereas Avtar Singh Makkar President Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC), the premier body of the Sikhs that have been looking after the religious affairs, appealed to the Pakistan government to find out the whereabouts of two Pakistani Sikhs.
with thanks : SikhSiyaasat
This Bearded Woman Says “I feel more feminine with my beard”
The woman suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, and she grew her first beard at age 11. Since then, the hair has spread to her chest and arms, making her an easy target for jeers and bullies. She says she has received several death threats from strangers on the internet.
Miss Kaur has however decided now to stop cutting her hair since she became a Sikh – the Sikh religion doesn’t permit the cutting of body hair.
The bearded woman, who had engaged in self-harming acts and considered suicide when she was younger, says “I would never ever go back now and remove my facial hair because it's the way God made me and I'm happy with the way I am.I feel more feminine, more sexy (sic) and I think I look it too. I've learned to love myself for who I am nothing can shake me now.’
with thanks : Nigerianbulletin : LINK
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