That Santa-Banta joke you just read on the Internet could be among the last as the Supreme Court is on its way to decide if such jokes offend the Sikh community or are just in good humour.

Community-based humour is not uncommon in a country where every state and community breeds a stereotype. By putting up such humour on the Internet, money is being made.

On 30 October last year, a lawyer identifying herself to be from the Sikh community, filed a public interest litigation before the apex court seeking a ban on websites carrying ‘sardar jokes’ as they make money by portraying the Sikh community as ‘persons of low intellect’.

A bench led by chief justice of India T.S. Thakur heard the lawyer who explained how derogatory the jokes are for her community. Her own kids did not want to be identified with traditional Sikh surnames, she said, as they feared they would be ridiculed.

The bench, however, was more interested to know, like everyone else in the courtroom, if the matter needed the attention of the court at all. After deliberating for half an hour, the judges decided to admit the plea and give it a fair hearing.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (DGPC) also moved a petition seeking a ban on such jokes as they violate human rights of members of the Sikh community. To be fair, judges have said during the hearing that the friends they have from the Sikh community are quite jovial and tolerant and do not get offended by such jokes.

On 4 January, a three-judge bench asked if the petitioner would prefer the case being heard by a judge from the Sikh community. When the bench sought the personal views of additional solicitor general PS Patwalia, a Sikh himself, he answered that the community views the issue “seriously”.

Complex legal issues surrounding freedom of speech and expression and reasonable restrictions on the same have not yet cropped up in the court hearing. Banning websites without a second consideration is another story. The government in August last year banned 857 websites containing pornography only to do reverse the decision quickly.

As the law stands, the Supreme Court in 1989, giving a liberal interpretation of freedom of speech in the S. Rangarajan case had said, “It is the duty of the State to protect the freedom of expression since it is a liberty guaranteed against the State. The State cannot plead its inability to handle the hostile audience problem.”

Gautam Bhatia, a Delhi-based lawyer and author of Offend, Shock, and Disturb- Free speech under the Indian Constitution doubts if the plea is legally sustainable. “The only possible legal provision that could be applicable is section 153A of the Indian Penal code, which penalises stirring up enmity or hostility between groups or communities,” he said.

“However, the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that there need to be two communities between whom the hostility/enmity is being created. If I, as an individual, crack jokes about Sardars, it isn’t illegal.”

~ Source- Livemint.com

A Sikh-American attorney has been appointed as the top prosecutor in the most populous county in New Jersey, becoming the first South Asian to occupy the post in the state.

Gurbir Grewal, 42 was sworn in as acting Bergen County prosecutor on January 4, succeeding John Molinelli whose 14-year long tenure has ended.

A report in news website NorthJersey.com said Mr Grewal, a former federal prosecutor, has fought major white-collar crimes for the US Attorney’s Office and most recently served as chief of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

The report quoted Mr Grewal as saying that he hopes to work to build on the reputation of his office and enhance it.

He told the gathering at his swearing-in that he “cares deeply” about the county and is “deeply committed to public service.”

“I want to spend my time here just seeing how I can make this an even better place,” he said.

Mr Grewal described his appointment as an “honour and privilege” and said the office of the Bergen County prosecutor is in “many real ways sets the standard for other prosecutor’s offices throughout the state.”

Mr Grewal was also sworn in as an assistant attorney general in Trenton by acting state Attorney General John Hoffman.

He said he intends to meet other law enforcement personnel over the next several weeks to know their challenges and resource issues.

“I hope to prove to you over the next several years, and maybe more, that I’m a quick learner, I’m a hard worker, and I will always be straightforward,” the report quoted him as saying.

~ Source: NDTV

Chandigarh can be easily summed up in three words: perfect, pristine, and Punjabi!

Since its inception, we have known there is no better place to live in than Chandigarh. Neatly planned and divided symmetrically, Chandigarh is nothing short of a utopia. And BBC agrees, for they have just named it the most perfect, ‘remarkable ideal’ city in the world.

In a story that the BBC ran, ‘Is this the perfect city?’, writer Jonathan Glancey takes us down its history and bares open its soul. He discusses how the planning, infrastructure, neighbourhood and the amalgam of tradition and modernity makes Chandigarh a flawless metropolis.

Some of the less known facts about this city beautiful

• Named after Goddess Chandi, Chandigarh houses the ancient temple of the warrior deity in district Panchkula.
• A union territory, Chandigarh is capital to both Punjab and Haryana.
• The city was designed by French architect, Le Corbusier. It is the first planned city of India post-independence.
• Chandigarh was also home to the Harappan civilisation.
• The city’s official emblem, ‘Open Hand’ is a symbol for peace and reconciliation.
• Chandigarh is both the cleanest and the happiest city in India, according to two different surveys conducted in 2010 and 2015 respectively.
• It is also the first smoke-free city in the country.

There are a million more reasons that make Chandigarh a paradise on planet earth. Share your thoughts in the comment box below!

~ Source: Indiatimes.com

The sequel of the record breaking animation film ‘Chaar Sahibzaade’ is underway and the next film in the series ‘Rise of Banda Singh Bahadur’ is set to release in the summer of 2016 according to a recent media report.

The producer of the film Harry Baweja started to make the sequel soon after the tremendous success of the film. The film received worldwide praise and broke over 2 dozen records.

The sequel of the film will show the journey of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji from Machiwara to Nanded Maharasthra. The film will show the story of how Baba Banda Singh Bahadur met Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and his journey of establishing the first Sikh rule in Punjab.

The unofficial date for the release of the film is in June 2016.

~ Source: DailySikhUpdates

Standing at the junction of Lorong Bachok and Lorong 19 in Geylang is a striking 1929 shophouse. Its elaborate facade depicts classic Chinese myths and legends.

But a closer look at the pillars at the entrance reveals two carvings of Sikh “jagas” (Malay for guards), designed to “watch over” the building.

Other locations in Singapore that highlight the links between the Sikhs and local history are documented in a Sikh Heritage Trail mobile application. It was developed by Mr Ishvinder Singh, 28, and three others, and launched last month.

He embarked on the project last year almost by accident. Initially nonchalant about the tussle between civil society groups and the Government over the fate of the Bukit Brown Cemetery, his curiosity was piqued when he came across Internet images depicting statues of Sikh guards at Chinese tombs.

The Sikhs came to Singapore in the 19th century as soldiers and policemen serving the British. After World War II, many sought work as guards.

They became so indispensable that their statues were placed before their employers’ tombs to continue guarding them.

The mobile app project, which cost about $10,000, received funding from the National Heritage Board and from Mr Singh’s contacts within the Sikh community.

He spent every weekend over five months documenting places of interest that had a link to Sikh heritage, with his research partner, Ms Vithya Subramaniam, 26.

The app includes a heritage trail that traces sites linked to the Indian sepoys working for the British military in the Outram area, and locates nearby Sikh temples, war memorials or gravestones that bear Sikh imagery.

These visual markers of heritage are important not only to provide the “initial draw”, but also to reveal the stories beyond the image.
Mr Singh said “That’s when the concept of a shared heritage comes in. It’s about seeing it from the lens of the other community. Why did the Chinese adopt these symbols and take them into the afterlife?”

Ms Subramaniam, a South Asian Studies graduate student at Columbia University, has learnt through her work that the history of the community’s settlement in Singapore is different from that of other Sikh diasporic communities. She hopes that Sikhs in Singapore will recognise and celebrate their historical role.

Future projects that Mr Singh plans to organise under Sherdil Labs, a firm that he founded last year to promote Sikh heritage, include a heritage centre at the Silat Road Sikh Temple and an exhibition on Sikh identity.

It is up to younger Singaporeans to pass on these shared narratives from different cultures, he said.

“If these stories are not created in our social studies textbooks, then I want to create them myself. Let us take the lead and search for our own answers, instead of expecting a handout.”

Source- news.asiaone.com

The Delhi Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (DGPC) pitching for a ban on jokes ridiculing the Sikh community, the Supreme Court on Monday said it would examine with all seriousness the petitions that allege that such jokes were serious violation of human rights of the community members.

The first petition in the nature of a public interest litigation was filed by advocate Harvinder Chowdhury who had said the jokes on Sardars were being circulated with impunity in the cyber world presenting the members of the Sikh community as persons of “low intellect”.

Such is the ferocity of the jokes and severity of its taunts that many members of Sikh community have changed their names to escape public humiliation. “This is an example of gross human rights violation as a person because of his birth in a community was being treated discriminately,” she argued.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, asked whether “Singh” surname made one get subjected to such ridicule? “If that is so, then I too have a ‘Singh’ in my name,” the CJI said in an attempt to inject some lighter moments during the high-pitched emotional arguments advanced by Chowdhury.

Justice Thakur said: “Isn’t it true that members of the Sikh community are large-hearted and the only community which has the capacity to laugh at itself?”

Chowdhury compared the jokes with “bullying” and said there should be an enactment to stop this rampant violation of human rights of the members of Sikh community.

Jokes on Sardars and the late Khuswant Singh are inseparable as the author published books compiling jokes on Sikh community members. When his name cropped up, Chowdhury said he might be a friend of the CJI but the jokes were certainly not appreciable as they were cracked at someone else’s expense.

The CJI was quick to clarify that Kushwant Singh was a client of his when he was practising in J&K High Court. “Khuswant Singh had allegedly made a statement that lawyers were more interested in making money than justice. So, an advocate had filed a complaint against him for which he was summoned from Mumbai. In that connection he had consulted me.”

The bench directed the registry to list Chowdhury’s petition along with the one filed by the Delhi Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.

~ Source: Times Of India

A Sikh American physician is recipient of Nils Rosénvon Rosenstein Medal which is world’s most prestigious honour in the field of pediatrics. Kanwaljeet Singh Anand completed his undergraduate and medical training at University
of Indore (India). He was a Rhodes Scholar at University of Oxford (U.K.), where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.). He completed post-doctoral fellowship in Anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School, followed by Pediatric Residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Training at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Anand has received numerous awards for his research, and was awarded the Nils Rosén von Rosenstein Medal from the Swedish Academy of Medicine and Swedish Pediatric Society (the highest international award given to pediatricians every 5 years). For community service activities, he received the Father Joseph Biltz Award (2007) and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Salute to Greatness” Individual Award (2008).

He has published 150 peer-reviewed articles, edited multiple books and journal issues on neonatal pain and stress, the long-term effects of early adverse experiences in infancy, and pain system development. Dr. Anand was the inaugural holder of the Morris & Hettie Oakley Chair in Critical Care Medicine at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (2001-2009) and currently holds the St. Jude Chair of Pediatric Critical Care

Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. The first was a series of studies by Kanwaljeet Singh Anand as a PhD student at Oxford University.With support from a RhodesScholarship and the John Radcliffe Hospital, Anand began one of the first research programmes on pain in neonates. Anand developed Sophisticated methods of measuring hormonal stress responses using very small samples of blood ( Anand et al.,
1985). He then demonstrated in clinical series and well-controlled, randomized trials, that term and preterm neonates mounted a major stress response following surgery for patent ductus repair.

Anand’s research was well received in the academic community. Anand won the 1986 Dr Michael Blacow prize for the best paper by a trainee at the annual meeting of the BritishPaediatric Society (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, n.d.).

~ Source: facebook

GURDWARA SHRI TAHLIANA SAHIB is situated in the Raikot city of Ludhiana Distt. GURU SAHIB came here all the from MACHIWARA SAHIB via Alamgeer Sahib. When SHRI GURU GOBIND SINGH JI came to this place at that time, Paali Noora Maahi of Rai Kalle used to graze cattle. GURU SAHIB asked him to provide milk to which Noora requested that he had just milked the buffaloes. Then GURU SAHIB pointed towards one of the buffaloes & asked him to milk that buffalo to which Noora replied that he doesn’t have a utensil. GURU SAHIB then & there gave him Ganga Sagar around which there were 288 holes. Noora tied the buffalo to one Karaunda shrub & was astonished to see that when the buffalo gave milk, inspite of the 288 holes in the Ganga Sagar, the milk did not come out. On seeing this miracle, Noora was very happy & told the whole story to Rai Kalle following which all the people came to have glimpse of GURU SAHIB.

Sitting at this place GURU SAHIB asked Rai Kalle to provide some horse riders, so that he could send them to Sirhind to get news about Mata Gujri Ji & younger Sahibjada’s. Rai Kalle accepted the service at once & sent Noora to Sirhind to get news about Mata Gujri & younger Sahibjada’s as Noora’s sister Nooran was married at Sirhind. Noora accepted the order & went to his sister in Sirhind. On hearing about Mata Gujri & Sahibjada’s, he came back to Raikot & told the whole story to GURU SAHIB that younger Sahibjada’s had been martyred by bricking them alive as the Sahibjada’s didn’t accept Islam. On hearing the news, GURU SAHIB dug out the root of Kaahi’s plant with the help of his arrow & declared that Mughal rule roots have been dug. At that time, Rai Kalle requested that he is also a Turkish. GURU SAHIB was very pleased with Rai Kalle’s service so GURU SAHIB presented him a Sword (Khanda), Ganga Sagar (with 288 holes) & a Rehal & said that till the time you keep good care of these things, nothing would happen to your rule.

Source- HistoricalGurdwaras