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Besides students from J&K, the returnees include those who had gone to the neighbouring country to meet their relatives or pay obeisance at religious shrines.
Amritsar: As many as 114 Indians and 82 Pakistani nationals, who
have been stranded in Pakistan and India, respectively returned to their native
countries via the Attari-Wagah border on 9th July 2020.
Of the 114 Indians returned on Thursday, 35 were from Jammu and Kashmir, while the rest were from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
SOCIAL DISTANCING MAINTAINED
A Land Port
Authority of India (LPAI) official at the integrated check post (ICP) in
Attari, which facilitates India’s trade with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the
movement of passengers from India to Pakistan and vice-versa, said, “A special
team of doctors conducted thermal
screening of all those going back to Pakistan, and returning to India, as per
guidelines of the health department to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Special arrangements had been made to follow the social distancing norms.”
Besides students from J&K, the returnees included those who
had gone to the neighboring country to meet their relatives or pay obeisance at
religious shrines.
On March
14, India had suspended cross-border movement of passengers through the
Attari-Wagah border as a precautionary measure to check the spread of Covid-19.
But diplomats, officials of the United Nations (UN) and other international
organisations, and employment and project visa-holders were excluded from the
ban. On March 19, Pakistan too closed its borders. Since then, hundreds of
Pakistani nationals have been stranded in India and Indians in Pakistan.
SHEIKHUPURA:The initial investigation report on a tragic
collision between a Sikh passenger coaster and a train has declared the
deceased coaster driver, Muhammad Ali, responsible for the accident.
According to sources, a case has been
registered and the Railways divisional engineer has been cleared of charges.
The initial investigation report said that around 100 Sikh community members
had reached Sheikhupura in three vehicles from Peshawar on July 3 to offer
condolences on the death of a community member.
All three vehicles were on
their way back when the accident took place. Two vehicles crossed the gated
level crossing safely, while the driver of ill-fated vehicle attempted to cross
the railway line from an unmanned level crossing, and was hit by a train.
Twenty-two members of the Sikh community were killed in the accident.
Covid-19
patients being taken to Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala on Thursday
Despite being one of the worst hit districts, Patiala has made the
most progress in the state;while Amritsar and Ludhiana are lagging behind in
the door-to-door Covid-19 survey.
As per the state health department, Patiala had surveyed 6,25,930
people till July 6 while Ludhiana had reached out to 3,90,864 people and
Amritsar had examined 3,87,984 people.Jalandhar has surveyed 2,07,097 people
while Sangrur has examined 4,50,314 patients.
Limited Resourses
Despite limited resources and only 1,321 ASHA, anganwadi workers
and volunteers Patiala has managed to make the most headway.
Under the directions of Patiala civil surgeon Dr Harish Malhotra,
ASHA and anganwadi workers and volunteers have reached out to 6,25,930 persons
in just 25 days as house-to-house survey began in Punjab on June 11.
As per the health department, Ludhiana district had recorded 1,182
Covid-19 positive patients, Amritsar 976, Jalandhar 941, Sangrur 588 and
Patiala 440 till July 7.
CIVIL SURGEON LEADS FROM THE FRONT
Dr Malhotra says,
“I am personally involved in conducting and monitoring the survey.”
“The survey will help us contain further spread of Covid-19 and
provide treatment to people. We are also collecting data about TB, diabetic and
patients of hypotension.”
State Covid-19
nodel officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said, “We have fixed July 20 to complete the
house-to-house survey and directed all district to survey each person in their
respective districts.”
Members walk
over a thousand miles to help the NHS
A Sikh community group have raised more
than £25,000 for a new heart-monitoring machine at Ealing Hospital.
Ten people from the Pingalwara
Charitable Society (PAC) collectively cycled, ran and walked 1,000 miles over a
month in recognition of the National Health Service and its work during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
It included PAC’s president
Jagraj Singh Sran who walked up to five miles a day after work to meet his
individual target of 100 miles.
Mr Sran said: “It’s the least
we could do for the NHS, especially in recent months when so many people have
been putting their own health on the line to help others. We all have a
responsibility to help one another.
“The NHS is always there for
us, so we should be there for the NHS.”
The cheque was presented to
cardiologists Dr Harmandeep Singh and Professor Jaspal Kooner and will be used
to help treat the thousands of people treated for heart conditions at the
hospital ever year.
In another unfortunate incident that occurred on July 6, a “mentally
upset” youth named Jagdev vandalized two holy saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in village 24 BD of Tehsil Khajuwala in Bikaner district (Rajasthan). He put
one holy saroop on fire during the evening hours on July 6 while desecrating
another holy saroop.
However, the villagers
kept this information hidden for more than 24 hours. Sources have informed that
even the police come to know about this sacrilege incident after 28
hours.A wave of outrage spread among the Sikhs residing in Rajasthan and they started gathering at village 24 BD i.e. where this incident occurred. Sikh
activists of Eknoor Khalsa Fauj, Sikh Advisory Committee, Sikh Students
Federation, and several other organizations also reached on spot today.
Sources have informed
that the villagers of 24 BD are claiming that the guilty youth Jagdev is
mentally upset but their claim is not going down well with the Sikh Community. The
Sikh Community has strongly condemned this claim while arguing that why he didn’t
put his house on fire if he doesn’t know what he has done.
Speaking to Sikh24
from village 24 BD, Tejinderpal Singh Timma informed that the guilty youth has
been arrested by the local police. “After primary interrogation, police cops
are claiming that Jagdev’s family members used to take him to a superstitious
place where someone fed his mind with hate against Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji,”
he added
“We demand a thorough
probe into this incident and urge the administration to bring forth the
elements behind this sacrilege incident,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is
learned that the desecrated saroops have been sent to Goindwal Sahib for
cremation. The authorities of Sri Akal Takht Sahib have also been informed
about this.
Volunteers from the
Australian chapter of United Sikhs preparing free meals for Wyndham residents.
Volunteers from the Australian chapter of United Sikhs are
providing hundreds of hot meals to Wyndham residents, who have been affected by
the COVID-19 pandemic, every week.
Since May 23, the volunteers have been
preparing and distributing meals at Jamieson Way Community Centre in Point
Cook, Wyndham Park Kindergarten, the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency and
Wungurril Dhurrung Community Centre in Wyndham Vale.
The volunteers have also been
giving out 35 bags of groceries every week.
The United Sikhs Australian
director, Gurvinder Singh, said the project was officially titled Guru Nanak’s
Free Community Kitchen and Food Pantry in Australia.
Mr Singh said the Wyndham residents who
have received the free meals and groceries have shown the “deepest gratitude”.
“We saw people overwhelmed
with joy and tears in their eyes when they were provided with food and milk for
their hungry children,” he said.
“They were amazed to see how
one could come forward to help someone, who belongs to an entirely different
religion or belief.”
The project coordinator Amritvir Singh
said that the pandemic has had an “astounding” impact upon families in Wyndham.
“Many people are now without
jobs and have a lot of uncertainties of what the future may hold for them, so
by having a few hot meals and essential groceries provided, it reduces some of
the pressure placed on individuals and families,” he said.
As a model pupil I never got into trouble with the
teachers and prided myself on never getting summoned to the headmaster’s office
for punishment – apart from that one time in 1977 when I was 15 years old
because of an incident in a classroom.
Bullying and racism even back in the 1970’s wasn’t the
exclusive domain of boys as some girls could be equally as unpleasant and
nasty. I had to endure a small group of girls in my class who would call
me Paki, towelhead, badhead and other racist names.
I pretty
much kept out of their way but then on particular day as we returned to the
classroom from lunch one of these girls came up behind me and ripped my turban
off my head and ran to the window which she tried to open so she could throw it
out of the window. As I sprinted towards her to get my turban back, one
of her gang tripped me so I fell forward face first bashing my face on the
floor. I had been bought up never to hit girls but as I was now in pain,
and with other pupils laughing at me, my anger got the better of me, so I
lashed out. I picked up the nearest thing to me, a chair and threw it at
the girl holding my turban, it hit her on the arm and she dropped my turban on
the floor so I was able to pick it up. She swore at me and ran towards me
but in her haste she tripped over the chair and went sprawling to the ground
just as I had done. By now the furore hadn’t gone unnoticed and a teacher
stepped in to separate us as once she was off the floor she and her friends
started physically attacking me.
Given the
opportunity to retie my turban, both she and I were marched to the headmaster’s
office and told to explain ourselves. As the girl was incandescent with
rage, she was sent outside to calm down while I was spoken to.
Unbeknownst to me or the headmaster she’d phoned her father from the call box
in reception and he arrived a short while later. As I left the
headmaster’s office to go and wait in reception after explaining myself, the girl
pointed me out to her father who immediately started threatening me. He
was calmed down by staff and then he and his daughter went into the
headmaster’s office so she could have her say.
Deljit Singh
I had
thought about calling my father too but I felt so ashamed of myself for getting
into trouble, getting him involved would only add to my shame so I decided
against it. I was only waiting about fifteen minutes but it felt like a
lifetime especially when the headmaster came out of his office and disappeared
into another room and then back to his office and gave me no eye contact.
I was fearing the worst when I was called back into his office and stood to one
side away from the girl and her father, who was now calmer but staring at me
with malicious intent...
.Before
the girl and her father had time to reply ;he asked her father how he would
have felt if a boy, any boy had put their hands on his daughter in what would
be a sexual assault, and whether or not he’d report it to the police. The
father nodded his head and shrank back into his chair.
The
headmaster then announced that if it was left up to him his decision would be
to expel the girl from school for her racist assault, but with that said he
wasn’t the one that had been assaulted, so it shouldn’t be down to him. I
was taken aback when he turned to me and said; “Well, Deljit, what do you think should happen?”
So now it was down to me to play Solomon and do the
right thing. As the girl was now tearing up and her father was ashen
faced I turned to the headmaster and replied. “I don’t want to ruin anyone’s
life, so can she stay in school if she and her friends who I know don’t like me
just leave me alone, and I’ll stay away from them too. If they do that then I’d
rather not take this any further, is that alright?”
The room fell silent as he looked down at his desk and
he looked at the girl and asked; “Are you willing to do that or not?”.
She nodded and her father promised she would and even mouthed the words thank
you in my direction. The headmaster agreed to honour my decision and
warned the girl if she, her friends or anyone else did anything like this he
would take more drastic action.
After the girl and her father left, the headmaster
turned to me and said, “I’m sorry I put you on the spot but I know how you are
and I knew you’d do the right thing for all concerned. After all Sikhism talks about the welfare of all”. I
replied, “Yes, sir, Sarbat Ka Bhalla, is what
we say to do right by everyone”. “What you did in forgiving her makes you
a credit to the Sikh faith Deljit, I’m very proud of you young man”...
Del Singh's Speech at Black Lives Matter Protest Event in Peterborough
Sarabjeet Singh, an entrepreneur, founder & developer of Ooraa Foundation
Sarabjeet Singh, an entrepreneur, founder & developer of Ooraa Foundation,
developed a Gurmukhi learning app called ‘Ooraa
Gurmukhi’, which is one of the best Gurmukhi Punjabi learning apps available
today, that gives kids a balance learning of Gurmukhi & Sikhi.
Having born and brought up far away from
Punjab, in Aurangabad Maharashtra, where Marathi and Hindi are the primary languages,
Sarabjeet Singh struggled to learn fluent punjabi until the age of 24. The
struggle continued even after 10 years when he wanted to teach Gurmukhi to his
kids. He found enormous content online but nothing helped him to make the
process of learning Gurmukhi easily. That was when he realised that not only
him but many Sikhs and Punjabi who live in and out of India, keen to learn
Gurmukhi have to struggle a lot to learn it.
‘OORAA GURMUKHI’ is not only an
app, but an initiative to save & conserve Gurmukhi Lipi & Maa Boli
Punjabi. It’s an effort to revive the roots of our coming generations with
Punjabi, So that our Maa Boli gets more respect & recognition in upcoming
2021 Census worldwide. On behalf of team OORAA we request all communities
worldwide to come forward, share & support this project to save Maa-Boli and reconnect ourselves with the Golden heritage.
‘OORAA GURMUKHI’ is a free app
specially designed for learning Gurmukhi & Sikhi for kids and family. The
190mb app contains features like Gurmukhi Varnmala, Muharni, Lagaa Matravan,
Ginti, Words, Writing, Picture learning, Punjabi Class, etc. Also it includes
Sikh Varnamala and Sikhi sections which gives pictorial info about Sikhism,
Sikh Gurus and inspirational Sikh personalities giving a balance learning to
Gurmukhi and Sikhi. The graphics and content are so creative, colorful &
interactive that everyone will love to learn GURMUKHI. The App is available for
free on the App Store and Play Store.
'Langar on Wheels':Langar Sewa done in Gazipur and Inderpuri,New Delhi on 8th July 2020 Dr. Gurdeep Kaur Associate Professor Sri Guru Nank Dev Khalsa College, University of Delhi Dev Nagar
The SGPC had recently
allotted tender for desi ghee to be used at over 85 gurdwaras in Punjab and
Haryana to this company as it had quoted the lowest price.
After
allotment of Rs 60-crore tender for desi ghee to a Pune-based company, Sanoi
Dairy, by the SGPC for preparing karah parshad and langar at various gurdwaras
across the Punjab and Haryana, the state government has urged the Sikh body to
reconsider its decision in the interest of state’s 3.5 lakh milk producers, 99
per cent of whom are Sikhs.
In a letter to SGPC chief
Gobind Singh Longowal, Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa
has said that the state’s farmers donate tons of food grains to SGPC for
distribution as langar and the religious body’s allotment of tender to a
company outside Punjab would create livelihood problems for these farmers.
Quoting former SGPC chief
Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Randhawa wrote that “he (Tohra) would often say that
SGPC is not a business establishment. He used to say that every decision of
SGPC should be made after taking into consideration the welfare of the Sikh
Community. He used to believe that he would not rent out a SGPC shop outside
Golden Temple to an atheist for 10 times the normal rent and would rather give
it to a poor Sikh selling ‘kakkars’ (symbols of Sikhism).”
In the
letter, Randhawa has also raised questions over quality of the Desi Ghee that
the company would be supplying to SGPC at a much cheaper price than quoted by Milked.
He writes, “Milked helps the
farmers by procuring milk from them at certain price so that they do not suffer
losses. At the same time it provides its consumers premium products by not
comprising on quality. This does not leave room for the Milked to quote a price
which is lesser than quoted earlier. If we reduce the price, the farmers will
have to bear the brunt.”
Meanwhile, Sonai Dairy, the
Pune-based private cooperative firm connected with 75,000 farmers from
Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka, has said that it will supply best quality
product to the SGPC.
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