How ‘The Bachelorette’ showed millions a different side of the Sikh faith

What happens when America’s best-known dating show meets one of its most-misunderstood religions?

“The Bachelorette” brought Sikhs into the spotlight Monday night. One of the finalists took Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay home to meet his estranged dad, a yogi and convert to the minority faith. People who identify as Sikh make up just a fraction of 1 percent of the population.

Sikh fans were nervous about the portrayal, which was teased in promotions as part of the drama between contestant Dean Unglert and his father, who he says emotionally abandoned him and became “eccentric” after his mother died. Before the episode, Dean took to Instagram with a heartfelt call for religious understanding.

“I’m asking for a favor: when I said my father was eccentric, I was not referring to his Sikh faith or the turban he wears on his head,” he wrote. “I’m not asking you to spare his feelings (or mine) but instead to be cognizant and accepting of the millions of people that belong to the Sikh community.”

with thanks : washingtonpost : LINK : for detailed News Story. Must read.

Happy Gurupurab !

Sd Param Jit Singh Sarna with Capt Amrinder Singh, CM Punjab & a massive gathering at Delhi

GST Impact: After Activa, Honda Gives Big Discount on Amaze, City, Breo, WR-V up to Rs 1.31 lakh

New Delhi, July 3: Days after Honda reduced the prices of its two-wheelers, the Japanese company has also given massive discounts on its cars sold in India. The company has announced a massive discount on Amaze, WR-V, City and Breo. The company has entered the list of car companies reducing prices of their products.

According to reports, Honda has reduced its price of hatchback Honda Brio by up to Rs 12,279. The prices of Amaze has been decreased by Rs 14,825. The prices of Jazz has been reduced by Rs 10,031.

The company has also decreased prices of its car in luxury segments. WR-V’s price has been slashed by Rs 10,064. Honda City’s prices have been reduced by Rs 16,510. BR-V’s price has been decreased by Rs 30,387. It has decreased the price of its premium SUV CR-V by Rs 1,31,663. Toyota had decreased the price of Fortuner by a whopping Rs 2 lakh. Maruti has also decreased the prices of all its cars by 3 per cent. Maruti Suzuki Baleno has a price drop of Rs 6600 to Rs 13100. There is a price drop of Rs 8100 to Rs 15100 for Maruti Suzuki Dezire.

The company Honda had on Sunday decreased the prices of its two-wheelers by Rs 2,500.

with thanks : Yahoo News : LINK

GST : List of items in the 28% slab

List of items in 28% slab of Goods and Services Tax (GST):

• Sugar and sugar confectionery
• Cocoa and cocoa preparations
• Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk; pastrycooks’ products
• Miscellaneous edible preparations
• Pan masala
• Beverages, spirit and vinegar
• Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes
• Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement
• Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes
• Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins and their derivatives; dyes, pigments and other colouring matter; paints and varnishes; putty and other mastics; inks.
• Essential oils and resinoids, perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations
• Soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations
• Artificial waxes, prepared waxes, polishing or scouring preparations
• Explosives; pyrotechnic products; matches; pyrophoric alloys; certain combustible preparations
• Chemical products
• Plastics and articles thereof
• Rubber and articles thereof
• Articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silk-worm gut)
• Furskin and artificial fur
• Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal
• Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard
• Headgear and parts thereof
• Prepared feathers and down and articles made of feather or of down – artificial flowers; articles of human hair
• Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar material
• Ceramic products
• Glass and glassware
• Articles of iron or steel
• Copper and articles thereof
• Aluminium and articles thereof
• Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks of base metal; parts thereof of base metal
• Miscellaneous articles of base metal
• Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof
• Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and re-producers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles
• Vehicles other than railway or tramway rollingstocks, and parts and accessories thereof
• Aircraft; spacecraft and parts thereof
• Ships, boats and floating structures
• Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof
• Clocks and watches and parts thereof
• Musical instruments; parts and accessories of such articles
• Arms and ammunition; parts and accessories
• Furniture; bedding, mattresses, mattress supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishings; lamps and lighting fittings, not elsewhere specified or included; illuminated signs, illuminated name-plates and the like; prefabricated buildings
• Toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof
• Miscellaneous manufactured articles
• Project imports, laboratory chemicals, passengers’ baggage, personal importation, ship stores.

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

GST : List of items in the 18% slab

List of items in the 18% slab

The list of items in the 18% slab will be divided into two sections. The first section is the goods section and will name the various items that will be in this slab. However, the second section shall include the names of the various services that will be affected and has been put in the 18% slab.

Goods

The products under the 18% slab are:

• Trademark
• Bidi Patta
• Goodwill
• Software
• Biscuits (all categories)
• flavoured refined sugar
• pasta
• pastries and cakes
• preserved vegetables
• jams and sauces
• soups
• ice cream
• instant food mixes
• mineral water
• tissues
• envelopes
• tampons
• notebooks
• steel products
• printed circuits
• camera
• speakers and monitors
• Kajal pencil sticks
• Headgear and parts thereof,
• Aluminium foil,
• Weighing Machinery [other than electric or electronic weighing machinery],
• Printers [other than multifunction printers],
• Electrical Transformer,
• CCTV,
• Optical Fiber,
• Bamboo furniture
• Swimming pools and padding pools
• Curry paste;
• mayonnaise
• salad dressings;
• mixed condiments and
• mixed seasonings
• Footwear costing more than RS. 500

Now coming to the Services part, the top service to be taxed in accordance with the 18 percent slab are:

• AC hotels that serve alcohol
• telecom services
• IT services
• branded garments
• financial services

Notably, Rooms with tariff between Rs 2,500 and Rs 7,500 will attract 18 percent of GST, while restaurants in Five-star hotels will also be charged according to the 18 percent slab.

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

Palbinder K. Shergill Of B.C. Supreme Court Becomes 1st Turbaned Sikh Judge In Canada

By any standards, Palbinder Kaur Shergill is an accomplished woman: a trial lawyer with her own firm and a mother of three who speaks three languages (on her way to four).

Last week, Shergill was appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, becoming the first turbaned judge in Canada.

"It's ... especially inspiring given that she's a woman and mostly the turban is associated with Sikh men," Balpreet Singh of the World Sikh Organization told CBC News.

with thanks : huffingtonpostCA : LINK : for detailed news.

Man's Racist Snapchat Story Targets Sleeping Sikh On Plane Flight

Sleeping on a plane is hard enough. It’s worse when a fellow passenger mocks you on Snapchat the whole time and suggests you’re a terrorist.

That’s what a Sikh worshipper en route to Indianapolis had to endure last week. Screenshots of the posts are sparking outrage on Twitter.

The prejudiced posts were made by an unidentified man, but were captured for posterity by Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, an assistant professor in the religion department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

with thanks : huffingtonpost : LINK : for detailed news story

British Sikh couple take legal action after being advised not to adopt

Sandeep and Reena Mander say they were told they were unlikely to succeed as the only children in need were white

A British Sikh couple are bringing a legal case, claiming they were advised by an adoption agency not to apply because of their “cultural heritage”.

Sandeep and Reena Mander said they had wanted to adopt a child of any ethnic background.

But they were told that, as only white children were in need, white British or European applicants would be given preference, meaning they were unlikely to be selected.

Instead, the Berkshire-based couple allege, they were advised to try to adopt from India – a country with which they have no close links.

“Giving an adopted child – no matter what race – the security of a loving home was all we wanted to do,” Sandeep Mander said.

“What we didn’t expect was a refusal for us to even apply for adoption, not because of our incapability to adopt, but because our cultural heritage was defined as ‘Indian/Pakistani’,” he told the Times.

with thanks : theguardian : LINK : for detailed news

Asean India meet

Asean India meet and Keynote address by EAM Sushma Swaraj with delegates from USA, Canada, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Nigeria etc.

Happy Gurupurab : Lakh Lakh Vadhaaiyaan