Golden gate of history

The holy city of Amritsar (meaning pond of nectar), derived its name from the sarovar that surrounds the beautiful Golden Temple.

The town, which can undoubtedly be mistaken for a dusty small city by first-time visitors, is amongst the most popular pilgrim centres for Sikhs. Not only does it attract the local Indian travellers but it is certainly a part of the ‘places to visit’ list of foreign tourists also.

The sense of purity that one experiences inside the gurudwara premises is unforgettable. The magnificent Golden Temple and other gurudwaras situated in various corners of this small town gives it an apt name — Guru ki nagari.

This historic city was once known as Ramdaspur after the name of the fourth Sikh Guru who founded the city. In 1947, after the Partition, the state of Punjab was one of the worst hit areas and was divided into parts out of which few went to Pakistan and the rest remained with India making Amritsar a border city.

Amritsar is a mix of old heritage and recently developed township areas. As soon as the name of the city comes into one’s mind, what people are reminded of is the world heritage site of Harminder Sahib. The clean water, the pure surroundings and the beautiful carvings on the top of the main hall are most attractive features of the gurudwara.

with thanks : asianage : link in the headline above for detailed news.

Sikhs being targeted deliberately in Italy-Harsimrat

CHANDIGARH: Member Parliament from Bathinda ,Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Thursday that Sikhs were being deliberately targeted in the airports of Italy repeatedly and Government of India owes an explanation to the country for its complete failure to safeguard the interests of Sikhs despite various hollow assurances.

Registering a strong protest in a communiqué to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Harsimrat said that she on behalf of entire Sikh community was lodging a protest over intolerable way Sikhs are treated at airports in Italy and other countries of the world. She also moved adjournment motion over recent incident of forcible removal of turban of Commander of Jet Airways at Milan airport thereby hurting the sentiments of Sikh community and government’s utter failure to ensure dignity of Sikhs. 

 

Pointing to the total failure of Congress led UPA government in pressurizing Italy government, she referred to the latest incident that happened with Ravijodh Singh Dhupia, a commander of Jet Airways, who was forced to remove his turban at Milan Airport. She said that it was intolerable and unfortunate that the officials deployed on international airports harass Sikhs again and again by removing their turbans under security check excuses. She said that repeated incidents in the Italy have proved that the Union Government has failed to convey to the Italian Government and other foreign governments not to remove the turbans of Sikhs. She said that to ask a Sikh to remove his turban was in fact an atrocity on him and all over the world Sikhs in one voice have stood up to call this an act of great violence and cruelty on Sikhs.

with thanks : PunjabNewsLine : link in headline above for detailed news.

Proud to be Sikh

As the film 'I Am Singh' releases today, some prominent Sikhs speak to DT about how 9/11 changed the world's perception towards them

A turban is the honour and pride of all Sikhs. It is very important for each Sikh and when, because of mistaken identity, they are asked to remove their pagdis, then everyone should unite to fight it. This film is to educate the West about the difference between the Arabs and Sikhs. Innocent people were targetted across the world after 9/11, because of mistaken identity,"- Ajit Pal Singh (former Indian ockey captain and winner of Hockey World Cup, 1975)

Sikhs are treated as the irrelevant minority. "I Am Singh" is a voice that echoes a sentiment of Sikhs across the world, who stand for universal brotherhood. The Sikhs are the survivors. They stand for truth and are martial. "Iss film ko dekhna mere liye mazhab hai, iss film ko support karna mera dharm hai" - Navjot Singh Siddhu (cricket and TV personality) .

with thanks : TIMES OF INDIA : link in headline above for detailed news.

 

Amitabh pleads innocence in 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Amritsar, Dec 1 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has pleaded his innocence in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in various parts of the country in which thousands of Sikhs were massacred, a top Sikh religious leader said.

In a letter to jathedar (chief) Gurcharan Singh of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikh religion, Amitabh stated that he had no role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The letter was delivered to the Akal Takht head by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member from Mumbai, Gurinder Singh Bawa.

with thanks : thaindian : link in the headline above for detailed news.

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After memorials on Sikh history, Punjab to erect one for freedom fighters, martyrs

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday announced that a memorial — to be named Jang-e-Azadi — will be built to showcase the rich contribution of Punjabi freedom fighters and martyrs to the country’s struggle for freedom.

Speaking after inaugurating and dedicating \Wadda Ghallughara Ghallughara Martyrs’ Memorial to the people and Khalsa Panth, Badal announced that the Jang-e-Azadi will be set up in Doaba. “We will spend Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore on the memorial,” he said, adding that the nitty-gritty of the project will be finalised in next cabinet meeting.

Underlining the sacrifices made by Punjabis in the freedom struggle, Badal said that despite constituting a mere two and a half percent of the country’s population, Punjabis had made 80 per cent sacrifices in the freedom struggle. He added that the memorial will showcase how Punjabis fought against the British Rule.

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

Centre ready for certain amendments in Anand Marriage Act: Salman Khurshid

MALERKOTLA: Punjab Congress presidentAmarinder Singh will have his say in making amendments to the century-old Anand Marriage Act, being hotly debated in Sikh circles. 

Amarinder will discuss the modalities of amendments to be made with Union home minister and the report prepared after Amarinder' deliberations with home ministry would be put before the Union cabinet for approval. Revealing this here on Wednesday, Union law and justice and minorities minister Salman Khurshid said Union government is ready to make certain amendments or to frame new act altogether. 

Salman Khurshid on the sidelines of a Congress rally said, "the union law ministry is thinking of making certain amendments to the act wherein the marriages solemnized under Anand Karaj Act could be registered in the deaths and birth act and these will be certified.Or a separate act for registration of marriages could be made incorporating Anand Marriage Act wherein marriages solemnized under Sikh Act could be accommodated and the Nikahnama by Muslims too could be taken up".

with thanks : Times of India : link in headline above for detailed news.

It’s cool to be a Sikh

It has become fashionable to play a Sardar on screen. Akshay Kumar did it in Singh Is Kinng. 

Ajay Devgn in The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Saif Ali Khan in Love Aaj Kal and Ranbir Kapoor in Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year. And the latest actor to cash in on the trend of playing a Sikh character on screen is debutant Gulzar Chahal, who takes pride playing a Sardar in his very first venture - I Am Singh. 

Says the actor, "I am a Jat Sardar and thus the character's portryal in I Am Singh came very naturally to me. It takes immense guts to play this kind of character that too in your very first film because the turban and the beard make your looks go through a complete transformation. The audience has accepted our main actors in Sardar roles and I hope to make a mark, too." 

with thanks : Times of India : link in headline above for detailed news.

Pilot told to take off turban at Milan airport

A Sikh senior commander with Jet Airways on Tuesday was asked to take off his turban during security check for his Flight 141 to Delhi from the Milan airport.

The incident happened just six months after the Italian government’s promise against continuation of such a practice.

After an uproar over the humiliation caused to golfer Jeev Milkha Singh’s coach Amritinder Singh, who was made to take off his turban at the same airport in March this year, Italy had announced in June that Sikhs travelling to the country will no longer have to remove their turbans at the airports during security screening.

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

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Rang De Basanti - Video

A net between Italy and Punjab :SEVA Association in Lombardy,Italy

A group of men and women of Punjabi origin living in Italy for several years from both India & Pakistan developed a desire to build some organisation together with two main goals to set:How to hold together this desire without forgetting their roots,without forgetting place where they grew up /and how to build this organisation to work with/for the community with whom they have strong links ?

They realised that it is important for their growing children to know /see contribution of their family elders in the construction of community in which they live. Even though it is impossible to forget where they came from but at the same time it is also worth to make an effort to renew this relationship and open a platform for interfaith dialogue !

To fulfill their dream ,they all joined hands together and constituted a SEVA Association of Punjabi migrants .It provided them a concrete way in opening a dialogue between Italians & Punjabi. They presented a project together with ACRA ( A lay foundation of Milan which works with groups and immigrant organisations active in Lombardy in order to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and in order to develop strong ties between Italy and other countries of origin) and with the FEM ( An organisation which works to promote self-development of communities of developing countries and recognise the full rights of citizenship to its non-Italian clients through activities of cultural mediation).

Aims of SEVA Association in Lombardy :
Realise cultural activities
Offer services to its associates.
Choose and realize -development activities
Aiming at improving life conditions of the poorest in Punjab.

Various Activities of SEVA Association:
Exchange meetings with ACRA's team
Form Constitution of the Cultural Association of Punjabi migrants
Free Italian Language Courses
Free Training courses on administrative management of association activities
Free Training courses on communication and intercultural education to plan and implement activities of local promotion
Involvement of Local Authorities and peoples
Raising awareness through activities and events on the issues of migration
Organise Social Activities to support migrants
Construction of a network between migrants and other bodies to achieve co-development activities in Punjab

With thanks to SEVA Association Team Members :
Swarn Singh(President),Sukhwinder Kaur( Vice-President),Kuldip Singh( Secretary),Munir Choudary( Consultant ),Laura Molinai( Founder ACRA) & Prof.Barbara Bertolani ( University of Molise ).

Dr. Gurdeep Kaur
University of Milan
Italy

Associate Professor
University of Delhi
INDIA

Tallest victory tower to bring alive the velour of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur

CHANDIGARH: Punjab is all set to perpetuate the memory of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur at Chappar Chiri, the famous battle ground-5 km from here from where he defeated the Mughal king of Sirhind Wazir Khan establishing first Sikh Raj in India in 1711. The most fitting tribute, the warrior would get would be by over 20000 decorated ex-servicemen, 300 Lt Generals and Generals, all gallantry award winners of Punjab, who would be led by former army chief Gen. J.J. Singh, first Sikh Army chief of India, who would recall his velour and vow to carry forward his marital traditions.

 

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is all set to dedicate to humanity victory tower, 328 feet high, tallest religious tower in the country, to the humanity on Wednesday. Briefing the media KJS Cheema, Special Principal Secretary to CM said that the height of the victory tower is 328 feet. There are three decks at 20.4 Metre, 35.40 Metre and 66.00 Metre.

On the top of this Victory Tower, there is a dome having the spire of Khanda in stainless steel.  The 8 sides of Victory tower having beautiful arches in increasing order towards the Sikh side depicting (Chardi Kala) “ON THE RISE”. The internal core shell of victory tower rising vertically high up to 82.40 Metres. and the curvilinear side walls sloping upwards with arches on each side.

 

He said that in this structure, a special EPDM membrane has been used which has already been used in many landmark buildings and canals. The reflected image of the tower in the water body can be easily visible during the day light and is approachable for people to get panoramic view of the area. 

with thanks : punjabnewsline : link in headline for detailed news.