Calendar row: Jathedar slams Vedanti for airing views, spreading doubt

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh today said his predecessor Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti should show restraint on the subject of Nanakshahi Calendar. Gurbachan Singh took exception to Vedanti’s remarks about the calendar made on Monday. 

The Jathedar said Vedanti himself had been on the supreme ‘temporal seat of Sikhs’ for long and must be well-versed in the Sikh Maryada (code of conduct) and should abide by the same. 

In a written statement issued here, Jathedar Gurbachan Singh said Jathedar Vedanti had violated the Maryada by releasing the Calendar in defiance of the Takht, which does not behove him. “You had been on the post for eight long years and know about the Sikh Maryada,” wrote Jathedar Gurbachan Singh, adding that no arbitrary ‘amendments’ were made in the calendar, only some ‘improvements’ were made as per the wishes of the Sikh Sangat. 

with thanks : IndianExpress : link above for detailed news.

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"No proof hair was cut by fellow trainees"

PUTRAJAYA (Jan 18, 2011): Preliminary investigation has shown there was no proof that the unshorn hair of a Sikh trainee has been cut by his fellow trainees in the Sungai Bakap camp in Kedah on Sunday.

However, National Service Training Department (JLKN) director-general Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil said the case was now under the second phase of investigation by the department.

"The camp commandant in his investigation has tried to locate the hair that was said to have been cut but the trainee could not provide it.

"He has also investigated the dorm where the trainee has been staying but could not find any traces of hair, or scissors, or knives there," he told a press conference here today.

 

 

with thanks : thesundaily : link above for detailed news.

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DO YOU THINK SGPC, DSGMC, OTHER GURDWARA COMMITTEES ARE WORKING FOR THE UPLIFTMENT OF POOR SIKHS ?

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Dera clash: Sikh leaders meet injured

Balwant Singh Nandgarh, Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, along with preacher Baljit Singh Daduwal, visited Faridkot on Monday to meet the activists — who were injured in a clash with the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda — near Sadhanwala village on Sunday. 

The two leaders held a meeting at the local gurdwara. Jathedar Nandgarh slammed the state government for showering patronage on the deras. “Because of the current regime, the deras are prospering in Punjab. This is evident from the fact that the police, instead of taking action against the dera followers, prefer to sit quietly,” he said. 

with thanks : Indian Express : link above for detailed news.

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Tension in Punjab district after clash

Faridkot (Punjab) , Jan 16 (IANS) Tension prevailed in this Punjab district Sunday after followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect clashed with some members of Sikh community, police said.

According to police, some followers of the Haryana-based Sacha Sauda indulged in heated arguments with members of the Sikh community over a religious issue here Sunday afternoon. This was followed by minor clash between the members of two groups.

with thanks : sify : link above for detailed news.

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Mass cheek swabbing takes over Sikh temple

 

Hundreds of people in Edmonton's south Asian community answered the call to help a 13-year-old boy battle a rare form of leukemia Sunday, doing a simple test to see if they are a match for a bone marrow transplant.

A mass cheek swabbing event took over the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha in Mill Woods, with the hope someone will prove a viable donor for Brampton Ontario's Noor Deol. An operation is the best bet for the teenager because a chromosome abnormality makes for high chances of the cancer returning, even if he enters remission.

The challenge is his community make up only 2.6 per cent of Canada's stem cell registry. Since those with shared ethnicity have the highest chance of proving a match, his family is rallying to the cause, asking healthy individuals between the ages of 17 to 50 to come out and get tested.

"What we need to do is get more people involved," argued Noor's uncle Raminder Gill, who organized the Edmonton event.

"You can't expect them to come to your fight - you have to bring it to them sometimes…One thing with our community, there's a lack of knowledge of the situation, but once you bring it out there they're more than willing to come out."

The clinic was organized after 2,300 Canadians of South Asians descent turned out to a December cheek swabbing event in Toronto, with none proving a match.

At least 500 people turned out on Sunday, hoping there is strength in numbers.

"If it saves someone's life, why not do it?" argued Ravi Sangh. "I'm a Sikh, I should be helping the community and the people, right? It's my responsibility… I'm going to tell my friends and they're going to tell their friends."

with thanks : edmonton : link above for detailed news.

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Sikh devotees take holy dip on 'Maghi Mela'

Muktsar :

Braving winter chill, a large number of devotees today took a holy dip in the 'sarovars' of the various Gurdwaras in and around the town on the occasion of Maghi Mela. 

Maghi is observed in the memory of the 40 'Muktas' (the redeemed ones) who sacrificed their lives while fighting the Mughals in the last battle of the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh in 1705. According to the legend, the Guru personally cremated the martyrs on the day following the festival of Lohri. 

Despite the biting cold, devotees came in droves from Punjab and neighbouring areas, including Haryana and Rajasthan, to pay obeisance at Gurdwaras here. 

with thanks : Indian Express : link above for detailed news.

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Sarna's new muse: 111 verses of Zafarnama in English

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Diplomat-author Navtej Sarna has always felt a creative kinship with exiles. This time round, he has penned an English translation of Zafarnama - 111 spiritually resonant Persian verses of impassioned plea for justice composed by Guru Gobind Singh, the last Sikh guru, while on the run from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's soldiers in the early 18th century.

'It's a blistering indictment of Aurangzeb's policies and statecraft, the lack of morality in governance and war during his tenure,' Sarna, who is at present India's ambassador to Israel, told IANS in an interview here before he heads to the Jaipur Literary Festival later this week.


'At the same time, it is a stirring praise to true god. Guru Gobind Singh was a prophetic poet, writer, a warrior poet and a polyglot who was well versed in Persian, Sanskrit and Brijbhasha,' said Sarna, who also served as spokesperson of India's Foreign Office for six long years.

with thanks : SIFY : link above for detailed news.

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Burglars steal £42k of Sikh jewellery in Portsmouth

 

Sikh jewellery worth more than £42,000 has been stolen from a house in Hampshire.

More than £17,000 in cash was also lost when burglars removed a safe from the property in Goldsmith Avenue, Portsmouth, at the weekend.

Police said someone got in through the back door of the property between 2345 GMT on Saturday and 0320 GMT on Sunday.

With thanks : BBC News : link above for detailed news.

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Sikhs warned of additional screening of turbans at US airports

Washington, Jan 14 (PTI) Already peeved by securitypat downs, Sikhs in the US have been warned that they couldnow face 100 per cent screening of their turbans at Americanairports as the new imaging technology cannot see throughtheir ''pagris''.

In a mass email alert to the community members, SikhCoalition, an advocacy group, told them that they should beready for additional screening at all the airports.

"Sikhs should now expect to be secondarily screened 100per cent of the time at American airports, even after passing through so-called Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines,"it said.

Although the Transport and Security Administration (TSA)publicly asserts on its website that its newest machines cansee through "layers of clothing," the TSA has made clear inboth word and practice that such machines are not powerfulenough to see through Sikh turbans.

 

with thanks : oneindia : link above for detailed news.

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Lohri Celebration in Chandigarh: Dr.Kitty Singh