Celebration of martyrdom day of Guru Arjun Dev ji in Liege Gurudwara,Belgium

PM asks Sikh community in Canada to remain united

On Board PM's Special Aircraft, Jun 29 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked the five lakh (rpt) five lakh strong Sikh community in Canada to remain united and not to allow the "divisive" politics of the Indian subcontinent to derail their cohesiveness.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

with thanks : source : PTI News

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Manmohan Singh apologizes 'on behalf of government" for 1984 anti-Sikh disturbances

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday apologized 'on behalf of the Government of India' for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying that it should have never happened.

Addressing a function organized by Punjabi Canadian lawmakers in Toronto, Dr. Singh said: "I promise you that after going back home I will set up some mechanism to deliberate on all these issues that have been raised here or that have been raised elsewhere in the Indo-Canadian communities."

"With regard to the events of 1984, these are horrible crimes. They should have never happened. I have on behalf of the Government of India apologized on behalf of the nation for what had happened in 1984," he added.

The Prime Minister further said that there are "visible weakness" in the country's judicial system.

"There are concerns that those who perpetrated these crimes must be brought to book, there are visible weakness in Indian judicial system, just as weakness in the Canadian legal system. We are trying to address those issues," Dr. Singh said.

"One cannot offer any compensation to those who have lost there near and dear one in these tragic circumstances, but our government in the first UPA opened up all cases of so-called compensation," he added.

He also said that the government is looking for more options to provide relief to the victims and their relatives.

"I don't see there can be adequate compensation at all, but we have opened up what more can be done to provide relief to the victims and their relatives, so that they can once again lead a life of dignity and self respect," Dr. Singh said.

"Communities and nation, it is futile on my part to say to forget past. The past is there, we cannot get away our past, but the challenge is how to move ahead in the world, which is increasingly globalised, which is increasingly becoming an integrated one world," he added.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

with thanks : source : ONEINDIA

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People listen when Indian PM speaks: Obama

US President Barack Obama rated Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh as an extraordinary world leader. He praised his knowledge of economic activities which could be service to the G-20 Summit. Obama’s statement assumes significance since the G-20 Summit was focused on finding a way out of the economic crisis.

President Obama and Dr Manmohan Singh held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

“I want to express my pleasure having the opportunity to meet once again with my good friend, Prime Minister Singh. I said before and I continue to believe that the extraordinary leadership that Prime Minister Singh has provided not just to India, but to the world, has helped us navigate through some very difficult times” said the US President in his speech to mark the G-20 Summit.

“And I can tell you that here at the G-20, when the Prime Minister speaks, people listen, particularly because of his deep knowledge of economic issues, as well as the fact that he understands that as India rises as a world power, not just a regional power, that it also has enormous responsibilities to work with the rest of the world community around issues of peace and prosperity,” he added.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Tribune

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India reviewing blacklist of Sikhs abroad

India is reviewing the lists of Sikhs abroad who were blacklisted for their anti-Indian activities, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said Sunday.

Interacting with the media after the G-20 summit here, she said: 'The matter is under consideration of the government. We are aware of the issues raised by some people.'

'The ministry of external affairs has taken up the issue with the ministry of home affairs and the whole case is under review.'

Rao added that the government has also begun a series of meetings 'to look at the whole issue in depth'.

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with thanks : source : SIFY

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Manmohan Singh says 1984 should never have happened

PTI

Toronto: The 1984 anti-Sikh riots should never have happened, a concerned prime minister Manmohan Singh said today but at the same time appealed to the Sikh community to "move on" to let the wounds of the tragedy heal.

Speaking to the community members here after paying homage to the victims of the 1985 Kanishka bombing at the Air India Memorial here, Singh reminded them that he had apologised to the nation for the carnage that ensued the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

"The 1984 anti-Skih riots should never have happened. I have apologised to the nation... all possible steps will be taken to provide succour and comfort," he said.

Singh, the first Sikh to ascend to the post of the prime minister of India, said "by constantly reminding of the 1984 riots, sometimes you unwittingly vitiate the creative thinking of the Sikh community".

"We need to move on," he said.

PLEASE READ THE DETAILED NEWS FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

with thanks : source : DNA INDIA

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Canada toughens immigration laws

Amritsar, Punjab: Within hours of the G-20 Summit in Huntsville in Ontario, Canada virtually slammed its doors on prospective immigrants from India limiting their annual intake to 20,000 besides reducing the number of trades in the demand list.

Incidentally, announcement of the new immigration rules has coincided with the visit of Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to Canada.

Some of the new occupations included by Canada in its demand list are primary production managers (except agriculture), adjusters and claims examiners, biologists and related scientists, architects, dentists, pharmacists, social workers. Many of the existing trades have been omitted. The new rules that have become effective immediately require all federal skilled worker applicants to have experience in one of 29 in demand occupations or have a job offer to be eligible to apply for permanent residency (PR).

Moreover, Canada will now accept only 20,000 applications with a maximum of 1,000 applications per occupation for processing for those applying under the occupation list. The cap of 1,000 applications in each occupation has been introduced to manage the intake. For these applications, once the cap is reached, will be sent back and their processing fees will be refunded. But the applications with a job offer are not restricted to this 20,000 cap.

In addition, all Federal skilled worker and Canadian experience class applicants will now be required to send a complete and comprehensive file, including IELTS result to the Central Intake Unit (CIU) at the time of filing the application to promptly get into the processing queue.

After introduction of the new rules that limit annual global intake to 80,000, they push India from its second top immigrant source to seventh slot.

BS Sandhu, Chairman and Managing Director, WorldWide Immigration Consultancy Services Ltd. (WWICS), told The Tribune that “all cases filed on or before June 25 will not be affected by the changes. Pendency of cases filed in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 will now be cleared on top priority. Once the backlog is cleared, I anticipate the Canadian immigration intake will increase again making 1 per cent of the Canadian population. But clearing of this backlog of 3,80,000 applications may take another two-three years. People keen to immigrate to Canada will have some other options as well.”

“The federal investor immigrant programme has been suspended awaiting new changes in the eligibility criteria. Until the changes in network and investment are finalised, the Government will stop accepting new investor applications,” said BS Sandhu.

“In the past, 30,000 families used to immigrate to Canada under Skilled Worker Programme from India and India has been the second highest immigrant source country. But with the changed scenario, Australia will soon become the number one destination for Indians seeking immigration abroad,” he added.

With thanks : source : SIKHSANGAT

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