Be a part of Sikh celebration in Leamington

Bollywood and bhangra dance, storytelling and Indian-inspired art will bring the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi to Leamington on Saturday (April 26).

The Pump Room, working the the Sikh Community Centre in Leamington, Birmingham-based south Asian arts organisation Sampad and Warwick District Council, is hosting a celebration to mark the religious festival - which is the start of the Sikh new year and harvest festival and commemorates the year Sikhism was establised as a collective faith. It is celebrated across northern India and is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calender.

Starting at noon, the celebrations will include Bollywood and Bhangra dance performances and workshops and a theatrical storytelling about the birth of the Sikh religion and the story of the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Gobind and his escape from prison.

with thanks : kenilworthweeklynews : LINK : for detailed news

Sutter County Sikh told he can't serve on Jury with Ceremonial Knife

LINK WITH THANKS

'84 sting: shocking claims by former cops

Never gave clean chit to Tytler: Amarinder

IANS

Amritsar, April 21 (IANS) Facing criticism from the ruling Akali Dal and other Sikh groups for defending Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Monday said he had not given a clean chit to the Congress leader.

Amarinder Singh, who is the Congress candidate from the Amritsar Lok Sabha consituency and faces Bharatiya Janata Party's Arun Jaitley, said: "I am nobody to give clean chit to anyone, including Jagdish Tytler, as it is for the courts to decide."

"I had only stated what I had heard from the people immediately after the riots broke out in New Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984."

The former chief minister is facing criticism for his remarks to a news channel in which he said that while other Congress leaders were involved in the anti-Sikh riots, Tytler was not.

Describing the riots as "most tragic and gruesome", Amarinder Singh said he had gone around many camps of Sikh refugees in Delhi for four days when riots broke out but nobody had mentioned Jagdish Tytler's name during the visit.

with thanks : IANS : LINK : for detailed news.

Delhi cops against Sikhs in 1984: Cobrapost

A sting operation carried out by a news portal on Tuesday claimed that the government had failed to take action to stop the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and senior police officers “colluded” with the then government to teach Sikhs a “lesson.”

 

In an undercover investigation, Cobrapost interviewed eight officers of Delhi police, some of them admitting to their failure as a force, while others confessing that the top brass of the police force colluded with the then Congress government to teach Sikhs 'a lesson'.

 

The policemen interviewed include the then Kalyanpuri station house officer (SHO) Shoorveer Singh Tyagi; Rohtas Singh (SHO Delhi Cantonment); SN Bhaskar (SHO Krishna Nagar); OP Yadav (SHO Srinivaspuri); and Jaipal Singh (SHO Mehrauli).

with thanks : Hindustan Times : LINK : for detailed news.

Protest news : Hindustan Times

with thanks : Hindustan Times

Pritty Kaur : Campaign for Federal Election,2014 (Belgium)

Pritty Kaur :"Don’t read the headlines for success. Be your own headline".

www.flourishingproperty.com

Sikh community gets gift-of-life plea at Vaisakhi Parade

The streets of Surrey, B.C., were lined with tens of thousands of people for the city's Vaisakhi Parade Saturday, and amid the the day's food booths and other festivities, one group was trying to reach the South Asian community with a serious message.

Instead of giving things away in the tradition of Vaisakhi, volunteers with the Amar Karma Organ Donation Society spent the day asking people to sign up to give life.

The not-for-profit group is trying to raise awareness among South Asians about the need for organ donation. It is a community in which superstitions about the practice remain.

"It's our preconceived ideas about how organ donations work," said campaign manager Loveen Kaur Gill. "People even think, if I sign up, what will happen in my next birth?"

Gill says the participation rate in the South Asian community is among the lowest in Canada when it comes to registering for organ donation.

with thanks : Yahoo News : LINK : for detailed news story.

Sikh body opposes proposal to make helmets compulsory for women in Delhi : Jagran Post

Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has already given a green signal to the proposal that makes it compulsory for women to wear a helmet while riding on a two-wheeler. Since the Model Code of Conduct is in place in the capital, a go-ahead from the Election Commission has been sought by the Delhi transport department to take into account the recommendations and grievances of the common public in this regard.

After getting permission from the Election Commission, the opinion of the common public in this matter would be duly mulled over upon.

Necessary amendments would be then made in the Delhi Motor Vehicle Act to make it obligatory for every woman to put on helmet while driving or sitting on a two-wheeler.

According to the Central Motor Vehicle Act, all the two-wheeler riders and pillions are obliged to put on helmets while driving. Only Sikhs with uncut hairs do not come under this rule.

In 1993, during the tenure of Sahib Singh-led BJP government in Delhi, Sikh women were given permission to ride on a two-wheeler without a helmet following strong protests from the Sikh community at that time.

Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (DSGPC) president Manjit Singh GK has written a letter to Jung, urging him to allow Sikh women to drive or sit on a two-wheeler without the obligation of wearing a helmet.

In his letter to Jung, GK also referred to amendments made by Sahib Singh Verma-led government in the Delhi Motor Vehicle Act in 1993.

The DSGPC president also urged Jung to allow only elected representatives of the public to make any kind of amendments in this act. He added the basic principles of the Sikh religion does not approve of any kind of cap.

Several Baptist Sikh women wear ‘dumaalas’ (religious turban) on their heads and their heads have to be covered with heavy ‘chunni’  everytime, therefore it is not possible for them to put on helmets, GK wrote in his letter.

GK added that the decision to wear a helmet or not should be left on a Sikh woman’s prerogative.

with thanks : Jagran : LINK