New Zealand to soon have gurdwara to preach Sikhism

Wellington: A new gurdwara will soon be constructed near Hamilton city in New Zealand to inform people about the Sikh religion in an interactive way, the media reported.

Sant Kapoor Singh, a Sikh high priest from India, last weekend visited New Zealand for the opening of ‘Babe Ke Huntly’, the Sikh shrine project, Stuff.co.nz news portal reported on Wednesday.

A decade ago, Sant Nahar Singh wanted to build Babe Ke Bhagat’s shrine and was searching for a holy plot for it.

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

Fearless Sikhs Set Up A 'Langar' In The ISIS Territory Of Syria To Feed Refugees

Large-hearted Sikhs have taken their traditional community kitchen to one of the most dangerous places on earth today – Syria. Giving a twist to the concept of langar, a group of Punjabi NRIs has collaborated with locals to provide fresh bread to nearly 14,000 refugees daily in the strife-torn region for several months now. Langar Aid, an extension of UK-based NGO Khalsa Aid, is located in the Pesh Harbour area, about 35km from the Kurdish city of Duhok and 10km from the Syrian border. Almost 70 percent of the members of Langar Aid have Punjabi roots, besides some European volunteers as well.

Instead of the classic kitchen, Langar Aid set up a bakery because IS fighters were destroying any food coming in for the Yazidis. While Khalsa Aid provided the machinery and Joint Help for Kurdistan gave a new building to house the bakery , the local government in Duhok is providing free power. Some time back, we told you how Khalsa Aid was helping Syrian refugees in Serbia . This time they are bringing help directly to the war-torn area. 

UK-based Indy Hothi, a 27-year-old economist-cum volunteer of Indian origin said, "We set up a bakery at a refugee camp for Yazidi people to provide a self-sustaining solution. Support in the form of food for distressed people has been there for over a year now and organizations from Sweden are helping run the bakeries. Help is also pouring in from Serbia and Greece."

"Refugees often mistake us for IS because of our appearance," said Ravi Singh, CEO of Khalsa Aid, but that not deterred this unique force. "I was there about two months back and it was a very overwhelming experience. It was poignant to meet a family that had fled from their homes with their 10-monthold child and they were pleasantly surprised to find aid in the middle of nowhere. Then there was an elderly lady who still wanted to return to her village she had built after years of hard work. The situation will get more challenging as winter sets in."

On the other side of Syria, on the Lebanon-Syrian border, the organization is helping refugees by running a school for 5,000 local children. "The idea is to take the langar outside the walls of the gurdwara and share food with people who need it the most," added Hothi.

Link :http://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/27938-these-fearless-sikhs-have-set-up-a-langar-in-the-isis-territory-of-syria-to-feed-refugees.html

JOTI JOT PURAB OF GURU NANAK DEV JI

With Thanks : Media DSGMC

10,000 Amritsar students dance in world record bid

Amritsar, Oct 3: Over 10,000 students in this Sikh holy city on Saturday staked their claim in the Guinness World Records with the largest dance performance in one place. Organisers said the students at the historic Khalsa College campus here in Punjab also took a pledge against drug abuse.

“Shake your legs, Keep away from drugs” was the theme of the dance performance, organised by the Sun Foundation and the Amritsar district administration.

with thanks : india.com : LINK : for detailed news report.

US Sikh group raises USD 210,000 for needy Punjab students

Washington, Oct 6 :  The Sikh Human Development Foundation, a Washington-based philanthropic organisation has raised over $210,000 for its scholarship programme for underprivileged children in Punjab who wish to pursue higher education. Over 350 guests from metropolitan Washington area came to support the Foundation at a gala, featuring pop singer Jaz Dhami, here Sunday. 

SHDF has been giving scholarships to bright but poor students in Punjab and surrounding areas since 2001. Inviting all to donate, SHDF chairman Gajinder Singh Ahuja said: “We need your help. They (students) need your help.”

with thanks : india.com : LINK : for detailed news.

Takht Kesgarh Sahib jathedar Giani Mal Singh attacked

Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib jathedar Giani Mal Singh was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon by a pathi outside his residence at Anandpur Sahib on Tuesday.

As per reports, the incident took place around 11.40 am, when Giani Mal Singh was coming out of the manager’s office and going towards his residence .A temporary pathi of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Joga Singh (25) attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon. Giani Mal Singh sustained minor injury on his right thigh in the attack.

The security guards of the jathedar immediately overpowered the assailant, who was beaten up by the SGPC employees. Later on, he was handed over to the police.

Senior police officials including Rupnagar senior superintendent of Police (SSP) Varinder Paul Singh also reached the spot.

It may be mentioned here that the security of the Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib jathedar had been increased after the exoneration to Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by the Sikh high priests, including Giani Mal Singh.

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

MUST READ : Wedding between Sikh bride and non-Sikh groom stopped by 'thugs' at London temple

Members of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara said a group of around 20 men opposed the 'mixed marriage' and forced it to be stopped on Friday

A group of men have stormed a Sikh temple in London to stop an inter-faith marriage, forcing the couple to cancel their wedding day.

Members of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, in Southall, said the final preparations were underway on Friday when the men arrived.

Sohan Singh Sumra, vice-president of the temple, told The Independent a group of up to 22 people arrived shortly after 8am.

“They were all thugs,” he added. “None of them were recognised by any of the Sikh groups here.

“It was because it was a mixed marriage…they just came here to spoil it and intimidate us.”

Mr Sumra said police were called to remove the “threatening” men and that the gurdwara, which was inaugurated by Prince Charles, is now considering hiring private security.

He said the men had threatened to stop the wedding (Anand Karaj), between a Sikh woman and her white, non-Sikh, fiancé in a phone call the night before.

Members of the Havelock Road gurdwara contacted the bride’s family and they chose to go ahead, he said, but they could not continue after the temple was stormed on the wedding day.

“I've been in this temple since 1994 and I've never seen this sort of thing,” Mr Sumra said. “We will always listen to people’s suggestions but there was no reasoning with them. It was a sad day.”

Mr Sumra said he had attended many marriages between couples of different religions and races, and that the vast majority of the Sikh community had no issue with it.

with thanks : independent.co.uk : LINK : for detailed news report. MUST READ.

MUST READ : The British Sikh men trying to stop women marrying outside their religion

Britain’s Sikhs, long seen as a minority success story, are plagued by a faction of young men ‘defending’ their vision of the culture – and seeking to impose their views by attacking the nuptials of women who marry ‘out’

It was meant to be the happiest day of their lives – a celebration of modern multicultural Britain at the biggest Sikh gurdwara (temple) in the Western world. On 7 August 2015, in west London, a British Sikh bride and her Polish Christian groom sat together and absorbed the religious blessings at their wedding ceremony. She wore a cream and red dress, while he wore a red turban, in keeping with Sikh traditions.

But that morning, 20 uninvited men were determined to put a stop to the wedding. They stormed upstairs to the main hall and demanded that the priests end the ceremony, hurling insults at people who objected. One of them told a priest that, if their demands weren’t met, he would get 1,000 of his friends to come to the temple within the hour. The police were called and eventually the couple were forced to proceed into a hurried ceremony, while the protesters watched and took pictures of them to publish online.

This was not an isolated incident. The next weekend an interfaith wedding in Lozells, Birmingham, nearly turned into a mass brawl after protesters tried to stop it and, again, the police had to be called. The following weekend, another wedding in Coventry only managed to go ahead after some negotiations with the disrupters. In each case, the bride was a Sikh woman and the groom a non-Sikh man.

with thanks : Independent.co.uk : LINK : for detailed news story. MUST READ.

Southampton Sikhs to hand out meals for Langar week

HAMPSHIRE’S Sikh community will be opening their hearts to hundreds of people by dishing out free meals.

Members of the faith will be reaching out to residents in Southampton next week by distributing vegetarian curry to shoppers and people on their way home from work.

The huge operation is part of an international drive where Sikhs worldwide tackle world hunger and fostering unity between communities.

The Langar Week celebrations are based on the faith’s ancient Langar system nurturing equality by encouraging people of all backgrounds to share food together, regardless of faith, gender, age or status.

The system was launched by the first Sikh Guru Nanak and also marks his birthday.

with thanks : dailyecho : LINK : for detailed news.

6th Annual Sikh awards held in Delhi

Details can be viewed at : LINK

80-yr-old Sikh NRI to walk across India for charity

London, October 4

An 80-year-old NRI philanthropist in the UK will undertake a 4,160-km long walk from Kanyakumari to New Delhi in six months to raise 1.5 million pounds for various charities.

Balwant Grewal, who is the chairman of India Association, will commence his marathon walk from Kanyakumari on October 25 and finish in New Delhi on April 4 next year.

The London-based NRI, known to his friends as Bobby, would cover Madurai, Pondicherry, Chennai, Nellore, Guntur, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Asansol, Ranchi, Gaya, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow and Noida.

During the charity walk, a four-day Mobile Cancer Screening camp will be held in Patna from February 26 and one in Delhi in April where about 400 to 500 patients will be screened every day, Joint Secretary of the India Association Rajan Bhanot told PTI.

The funds he would raise would go to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Children's Charity and the British Asian Trust in the UK and deserving causes in India.

Bobby had earlier walked from Amritsar to Kanyakumari and Edinburgh to London to raise funds for charitable causes and cancer research in UK and India.

From the funds raised so far, the Indian Association donated 80,000 pounds to St Marks Hospital (Harrow) for Bowel Cancer Research in 2009, 50,000 pounds to the Northwick Park Hospital for Cancer Research in 2007, 45,000 pounds to Northwick Park Hospital and Oxford University for HIV research in 2007, 2,000 pounds to Earthquake Relief in Gujarat and House building in Bhuj in 2005, 25,000 pounds to Haiti Earthquake.

with thanks : Tribune : LINK : for detailed news.