News & Update

Tuesday 26th August 2014, sees the launch of a national campaign which aims to create a permanent memorial in the memory of Indians who fought during World War One.

The “WW1 Sikh Memorial” is the first of its kind. A statue commemorating the 130,000 Sikh soldiers who fought in the Great War will be unveiled in a ceremony at the National Memorial Arboretum. The Sikh contribution is remarkable, as despite being only 1% of the Indian population at the time, they constituted 20% of the British Indian Army and were represented in over a third of the regiments at the time.

The campaign is led by filmmaker and activist Jay Singh-Sohal, who describes its importance: “This centenary anniversary of the start of World War One is an ideal time to remember all those who fought in the conflict – the Sikh story is only now finding prominence with exhibitions, films and research. We want to ensure that our community has a lasting legacy of remembrance for those who fought – a memorial will ensure that their service is never forgotten and that in future people remember their heroism.”

The memorial is supported by serving military personnel. Captain Makand Singh MBE from the British Armed Forces Sikh Association states: “This is a fitting memorial to our forefathers and will no doubt inspire those Indians serving now and into the future. Whether you are a soldier or a civilian we should all be grateful for the sacrifices made by such a small distinct group such as the Sikhs – and be encouraged that their contribution has made it easier for successive generations in Britain to integrate and be key players in society.”

The project has the backing of British Sikh professionals. Speaking about creating a lasting legacy of remembrance, Wolverhampton MP Paul Uppal says: “As the only Sikh MP in the House of Commons, I am proud to be able to support a memorial commemorating the Sikh soldiers who fought in the Great War. The valour and courage of Sikh soldiers is something that was quite rightly commended by British Generals – as a nation we should recognise this by building a lasting tribute to the sacrifice of these often forgotten heroes.”

At the centre of the campaign is the involvement of grassroot participants who by donating to the memorials Kickstarter crowd funding campaign will become stakeholders in the monument. The campaigners believe this will ensure a groundswell of community support which will inspire young people to get involved with the project and ensure the memorial has lasting support well into the future.

The initiative is spearheaded by the “Sikhs At War” project as part of its legacy efforts to create British-Sikh heritage initiatives and ensure the Sikh sacrifice is never forgotten. The project produces films and shares its research via www.sikhsatwar.info

Visit the fundraising campaign website via this link here.

~ Source: www.sikhsatwar.info
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Dr. Soram Khalsa. a 66 yrs old turbaned and bewhiskered internist diagnostician, featured in The Hollywood Reporter’s Top Doctors Issue, combines traditional medical practices with acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs and vitamin therapies.

This story first appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Because his new patients don’t always understand what integrative medicine is, Dr. Soram Khalsa encourages them to view a video.

In it, the 66-year-old turbaned and bewhiskered internist — he adopted Sikhism, a religion founded in 15th century Punjab, in 1971 after a bout with chronic fatigue syndrome led him to yoga for relief — explains how he combines traditional medical practices with acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs and vitamin therapies, particularly vitamin D. (Author of The Vitamin D Revolution, Khalsa says 90 percent of his new patients are D-deficient.)

Between optimum health and cancer, he says, there exists a “gray zone” in which organs might not be clinically diseased but still can cause symptoms Western medicine can’t detect or treat. “A lot of people’s problems — fatigue, backaches, migraines — are not well treated with traditional modalities like narcotics,” says the Yale-educated Khalsa, who was raised in Cincinnati, attended Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, has been on staff at Cedars-Sinai for 30 years and is a clinical instructor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

Morgan Freeman and Judith Light are among his longtime devotees. Says Light: “I had just startedWho’s the Boss? and was exhausted. Dr. Khalsa is a brilliant diagnostician — he saw all of these things that have been lifelong problems. I attribute my energy and much of the longevity of my career to him.”

A 45-year-old producer with ulcerative colitis that was not responding to steroids and immunosuppressive drugs was put on a regimen of Chinese herbs and acupuncture. “Over the course of six months, we tapered from a very high steroid dose to none at all,” Khalsa tells THR. “Some months later, his gastroenterologist did a colonoscopy and was shocked to see that there were no lesions in his colon.” Pronounces Freeman: “Dr. Khalsa was referred to me by a close friend. I am very grateful for the referral.”

~ Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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On August 27, the international Sikh community experienced a painful setback when FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, announced that it will not reverse Article 4.4.2, which bans players from wearing dastaars (turbans) on the court. Instead FIBA delayed its decision, saying that the Technical and Legal Commissions “…shall study and present options to the Central Board.”

When I first learned that Sikh players were told by FIBA that they must remove their dastaars before playing at the Japan-India game in mid-July of this year, I was appalled. As the first turbaned Sikh American to play basketball for an NCAA program, I can testify first-hand that informed governing bodies have permitted followers of the Sikh faith to proudly wear their turbans in games on the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. These respected athletic institutions reject FIBA’s notion that religious head coverings “may cause injury to other players” and recognize that these policies are discriminatory.

Moreover, my teammates and I benefited from playing in a team that was diverse in both race and faiths. We confronted racism and xenophobia and anti-turban bias both on and off the court together, as a team, and these experiences propelled us in our careers and in our personal journeys.

That’s why when the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition used an image of me playing basketball in order to pressure FIBA to #LetSikhsPlay in an extensive media and lobbying effort, I was happy to let them do so. Subsequently when our community, the Muslim community, and Orthodox Jewish community were told that we still could not step onto FIBA’s basketball courts, I understood why they needed to continue to use my image when arguing why FIBA should #LetSiksPlay.

Unfortunately for my family and loved ones, the sanctity of my Sikh American image was taken away from me. World Star Funny, a humor site with 797,000 Twitter followers, posted a picture of me in my Trinity jersey and maroon dastaar (it was a home game) with a caption that read: “I’m not guarding him. He’s too explosive” on August 29. The message was re-tweeted more than 7,200 times and favorited over 8,600 times. A young man also tweeted, “When you supposed to be hijacking a plane but you remember #ballislife.” That tweet was shared more than 700 times when I saw it on the 29th. And there were other tweets with words I can’t use in a public forum.

My community and I are also fully aware that what is happening to me is happening to others all over the Internet across race and gender lines. What we see in all of these examples is how discrimination, racism, prejudice, and false stereotypes fuels inhumane discourse online. The behavior of institutions and organizations that serve as leaders, whether it is Fortune 500 companies lacking female leadership on their boards or FIBA not letting Sikhs play, influences our daily discourse.

FIBA has just elected a new Central Board, which will meet for the first time on September 13 in Madrid. When they convene, they should avoid overtime and simply make the decision to stop feeding hate as other international Sports leagues have done in the past. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to interrupt hate and ignorance when they see it, both online and on the basketball court.

~ Sorce: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

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AMRITSAR: Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has airlifted 60 quintals of food grains material for the flood affected people of Jammu & Kashmir on Tuesday.

The committee has sent its three-member team to survey the affected areas and find a central location to distribute food through Langar (community kitchen) to the affected people of valley suffering from natural disaster.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar told TOI that the three member team led by additional secretary, SGPC DS Bedi was going to Srinagar carrying food material including cereals, rice, sugar, salt, ghee, turmeric etc. “The team will survey the affected areas and find a central place from where food could be served to people through Langar”.

Besides Bedi, the other members of the SGPC’s team include Bhupinderpal Singh and Talwinder Singh Jaura.

Makkar said the team would send its report by Tuesday evening following which next consignment of food or other relief material would be sent on daily basis till the situation normalizes in the valley.

He said if required SGPC was also ready to send medicines and doctors to provide medical treatment to the flood ravaged people. “We have all arrangements, we will immediately dispatch anything required as and when informed by the team” he said adding that on Wednesday they would also be sending a consignment of blankets .

The president of SGPC expressed gratitude towards a private airlines for free airlifting of relief material to Srinagar from Amritsar. He also appealed to Sikh masses, Sikh organizations and Gurudwara Singh Sabha’s to contribute maximum to help the people of valley.

Before flying to Srinagar, Bedi said “Our priority is to reach the remote places to help people, we will survey the area and inform our headquarters in Amritsar so that required material could be dispatched immediately”.

~ Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

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Moving back has been great after a long and busy summer. I was thrilled to see my friends again, excited to meet my new residents in South Quad and both nostalgic and ecstatic to start my last year here. But new years and people also bring new problems, and unfortunately Labor Day evening was a testament to that.

Walking back to my dorm after a nice night with my family, we were approached by a man who appeared to have been drinking quite a bit. He asked my father for some money, and he politely declined and kept walking. The man became angry and started shouting after us as we walked away, including the comment, “Give me that towel on your head!”

We continued walking down the street and were very close to my dorm when a truck of students drove past with the windows rolled down, I assume to enjoy the pleasant weather as we were. As they passed us, a boy in the back seat stuck his head out and yelled, “I love Ann Arbor, towel head!”

Even as I write this, my anger, and also helplessness, from last night return. There was no point in engaging in conversation in either scenario, but the fear that entered all of us makes me wish we could have. A few minutes after the truck drove away, there was another truck that pulled up next to us while we were walking. I’m sure we all thought it, but my mom is the one who whispered it to me once we realized it wasn’t the case, “I thought they were coming back for more.”

Living in fear is not something that I was taught. Rather, I was taught to hold my head high and practice my faith fearlessly, regardless of the consequences. This is what Sikhs have done throughout history and, though it has led to bloodshed and sacrifice many times, it is what we will continue to do. Yet there are many cases of blatant discrimination, bias, and exclusion that could be stopped, and that will help prevent these instances of misinformation and ignorance.

Each time a Sikh is stopped by the TSA for a secondary screening in an airport, it shows the people around them that there is potentially something to fear under a turban, behind a beard or beneath dark skin. Each time a Sikh is not allowed to serve in the United States military or their local law enforcement due to his or her articles of faith, it tells them that their love for this country is not equal to others. And when FIBA, the international basketball governing body, decided that they needed more time to decide whether or not Sikhs can play basketball with their dastaars (turbans), it sent the message that it is allowable to exclude individuals for no reason but the fact that they look different.

At this point in our nation’s history, it is unacceptable that we are still allowing certain individuals to face hate crimes and ignorance with no justice. The small messages that are sent on a day-to-day basis can create the long-standing message that a turban is dangerous or Sikhs are a threat. As a Wolverine, seeing a practicing Sikh with a turban on one of our athletic teams would be a dream of mine, but it might not happen since he or she could not go on to play professionally.

When I walk down State Street or across the Diag, I want to know that the fact that I feel at home isn’t countered by the fear that others may have from their perceptions of my turban or my brown skin. I want to know that I don’t have to explain my identity or my presence to anyone around me, but I can just belong as one of the leaders and the best, just like everyone around me. The day that I feel truly fearless practicing my faith will be the day that I truly feel like a Michigan Victor, but until then, I’ll have to keep proving that I’m not just a “towel head.”

~ By Harleen Kaur, Michigan Daily
~ Source: http://michigandaily.com/

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