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The Hindu covers #BanSikhJokes

Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal Signs Petition on Ban Sikh Jokes

A petition seeking a ban ‘Sikh jokes’ has received about 40,000 signatures online and off, with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal being among those who have supported the cause.

The petition, which was started on Change.org at the beginning of the month, had received 20,866 signatures as of Friday evening.

A physical copy of the petition was circulated at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj on Wednesday when Guru Nanak Jayanti was celebrated.

It was there that Mr. Kejriwal signed a hard copy of the petition that wants websites that host jokes at the expense of the Sikh community taken down. After signing, he said: “We should not be making jokes on religious and caste lines.”

With the Aam Aadmi Party planning on contesting elections in Punjab, it can’t be a coincidence that Mr. Kejriwal lent his support to the petition and that his government on Friday decided to give a restricted holiday on the martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur on December 16.

Meanwhile, R.P.S. Kohli, who started the petition, said 17,000 to 20,000 people signed the physical copy of the petition at the gurdwara. “We are still in the process of counting the signatures, but we were overwhelmed by the support,” said Mr. Kohli, a businessman from West Delhi.

He said he decided to start the petition after his own experience of being bullied while growing up in Odisha.

“There were very few Sikhs living in Odisha so I was subject to jokes on my religion. Even after moving to Delhi, my sons faced similar jibes,” said Mr.Kohli.

Jokes based on stereotypical exaggerations of the Sikh community should be banned, ask the petitioners. But, more than that, Mr. Kohli said there was a need for an anti-bullying legislation as well as guidelines on how to deal with hate speech.

“Racist humour should be defined as hate speech and there should be appropriate laws to deal with it,” he said.

The Supreme Court is also hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by lawyer Harvinder Chowdhury that seeks a similar ban.

The next hearing of that case will be January 4, when activists and members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee are expected to hand in the petitions.

With AAP to contest elections in Punjab, it can’t be a coincidence that he lent his support

Source- Hindu

Vikramjeet Singh recounts how he used his Gatka skills to stop a robbery in a shop in the UK:

Yesterday I got bravery award for showing courageous effort by catching thief who jumped inside shop and looted money from the shop and stole some other items and that time I was delivering newspaper in my van.

Thief tried to flee away by hitting shop owner with the wooden stick but at the same time I was on the main gate and he ran towards me with the stick in order to get me out there but his bad luck, he was unaware that I was trained in Sikh martial arts(Gatka) so as he approached me I quickly sat down in fair position and grabbed him with my arm from back of neck which didn’t allow him to move and shop owners wife quickly called police and till the police arrived.

I kept hold of him till the time police came and took thief to their custody. He was sentenced for 24 months by Derby Crown Court.

For this effort I was invited by High Sheriff Oliver Stephenson for award ceremony held for bravery and courage and I was awarded a certificate of bravery and 500£ cheque.

Thanks to High sheriff Mr Oliver Stephenson, Judges of crown court and Mayor of Derbyshire.

It’s was a proud moment and feel blessed everytime I recall it.

~Source: Daily Sikh Updates

The application helps people to summarise any lengthy document/matter without loosing its essence

“SUCCESS comes to those who will and dare”, and this found truth in the remarkable feat of Harshdeep Singh Hura.

In his twenties Singh has man-aged to make learning easier for many in the nation by launching an application that will ‘Turn long paragraphs to short one-liners’ as is suggested by the tag line of his app ‘WrapItUp’.

Hura, hails from Sambalpur and did his schooling from Raipur. It was in his Xlth standard that while studying a chapter of Business Studies which he found increasingly tough, he thought of a brilliant idea and developed it into an app.

Initially Hura craft-ed the blueprint of his app by making flowcharts and learning programming

Finally he reached a breakthrough in his project and four years down after coming up with the idea he was successful in developing the app which he aptly named “WrapItUp”.

The app was launched on July 25 this year. Talking about the app, the app is presently available to only IOS users. The application helps people to summarise any lengthy document/matter without loosing its essence. It works in a simple manner where you copy the matter you want to shorten and paste it on the app and choose your preference of shortening the ‘matter from 10%-90%.

And in a matter of few seconds you will have shortened version of the matter but its relevance will not be hampered at all. Till date the app receives over 200 views each day and has produced 51,000 summaries.

While talking to him over telephone he said that he plans on making the app available to the users of android, chrome and windows operating systems by the next year.

On asking him about his future endeavours he replied,”I have always had an aptitude for technology and computers and WrapItUp is one of my early publishing tools and I am definitely looking forward on developing many such tools. Presently I am working on developing a few apps that will assist people better in their regular activities.”

Share & Spread his achievement all across!

~ Source: Wrappitup

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement today to mark the anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, founder of the Sikh faith:

“Sophie and I offer our warmest of wishes to everyone in Canada – and around the world – celebrating the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

“The values of the faith he taught – love, compassion, serving humanity and the community – are evident every day in Sikh families and communities across Canada.

“I have been fortunate enough to visit many communities from coast to coast to coast, and I have seen first-hand just how much Sikh Canadians continue to contribute to Canada’s rich culture and heritage. Their story, and the story of Guru Nanak, serve as an important reminder that we are stronger not in spite of our differences, but because of them.

“Once again I wish all those celebrating the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji a peaceful and joyous day.”

~ Source: Daily Sikh update

Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal signed an offline petition parallel to an online petition on change.org for #BanSikhJokes during his visit to Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib on the occasion of the Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev ji, founder of Sikhism.

It was a sight to watch the CM enter the Gurdwara complex on foot like any other citizen and without any screaming sirens or security. Amidst jostling crowds CM Arvind Kejriwal smilingly made his way first to the main Gurdwara Hall and then to Lakhi Shah Vanjara Hall wherein Gurbani ​kirtan ​was being played.

The organisers of an online petition against Sikh jokes had to handle a massive unprecedented crowd thronging to sign the offline petition. Sikh men, women and children alike were vociferous in demanding a ban on Sikh Jokes and all Racial jokes. It is said that 20,000 online signatures and around 15,000 hardcopy signatures were received by the end of the day.

On his way back after paying obeisance, the CM was asked for his opinion on racial humor targeting Sikhs. He gladly agreed to sign the petition and told the accompanying media “Jokes should not be made to target any religion or caste”.

~ Tapasleen Kaur
~ New Delhi, 27th Nov ’15

Students studying in around 18 Guru Harkrishan Public Schools New Delhi generate support for the online petition, banning Sikh jokes.

The campaign for banning Sikh jokes started few days back, and the online petition has so far received over 13,000 signatures in the ten days since the launch of the Change.org website.

The petition is gathering momentum, and what we’re seeing from the nearly 13000 comments, is that people from various sections of society, including non-Sikhs, have welcomed the chance to protest against these jokes which hurt the feeling of Sikhs and shows them in poor light.

DSGMC president Manjit Singh G.K said, “It was decided to start the online petition by the student community and to actively involve around 25000 students studying in Sikh minority education institutions in the “Ban Sikh Jokes”

Movement under the aegis of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee after a sikh women advocate Mrs. Harvinder Choudhary had filed a petition in the supreme Court seeking a ban on sikh jokes for hurting religious sentiments of the community.”

Manjit Singh G.K further said that both teachers and students have been asked to meet the target of one lakh online signatures within the timeline of four weeks. He said that the DSGMC will provide all technical and logistic support to the schools for facilitating the signature drive.

He added that the committee has also given options to school teachers to get signatures on separate sheets of paper for students who do not have e-mail ids and do not use online accounts for one reason or the other.

He said that students will also be encouraged to get the signatures of their parents and also the signatures of non-sikh students so to as to generate mass support among all sections of society.

He said the DSGMC will also provide publicity material like posters,visiting cards that will be displayed in each classroom to generate awareness among students about the movement so as to emotionally integrate and involve them with the cause. Manjit Singh GK exhorted both parents and teachers to be positive and get involved in constructive community service for the country.

“It is generally seen that ignorants are bullying Sikh children with ’12 baj gaye’ and other taunts. Our children should use positive dialogue like Guru Nanak used five centuries ago, and remind them of the historic significance of ’12 baj gaye’ when Sikhs at this time freed thousands of Indian girls and women from the clutches of Ahmed Shah Abdali,” he said.

“We all have to be proud Indian citizens with a global outlook. We should seek and mobilise support on all social media platforms for this campaign. The need of the hour is to let Indian society know that we love humour but not racism. We are proud Indians and the country has benefitted from our contributions in almost every field. It is time that Sikh children should not face bullying or insults in the name of casual fun,” he said.

Enthused children took a pledge to generate support for the petition from all quarters and bring an end to the bullying and taunts that they are subjected to.

~ Source- Asianage.com