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Resolution Passed Against the Ban imposed on Film
'Sada Haq'
Institute of Sikh Studies at its meeting held on the 7th April 2013 considered the ban imposed on the recent Punjabi film "Sada Haq".
Members expressed their surprise over the ban. The Film Sensor Board had cleared the Film. Once the film was cleared by the highest authority, it was not fair on the part of the State Govt to ban it. It is unworthy of a state functioning in the biggest democracy of the world.
Members of the Institute of Sikh Studies strongly regret the action by the Punjab Govt.
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Seminar on "Sikhism in the making of Third Millennium Civilization"
Institute of Sikh Studies is going to organize it's Annual Seminar in November 2013. This year the theme of the seminar will be 'Sikhism in the making of Third Millennium Civilization.' Special emphasis will be on two themes:
• World Government on the principles of Miri Piri and Sarbat da Bhala
• World citizenship with emphasis on responsibility towards sustainable development by way of conserving the ecology of the planet.
IOSS has requesed the scholars who have worked in the field to write papers on one of
the themes. Their inputs will certainly go a long way in providing a guide map for governance at the world level and towards making the planet a better place with a cleaner and sustainable environment. Detailed guidelines for writing the paper can be seen on the Website of IOSS.
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Fight for Justice
The International Sikh Confederation, Kendri Sri Guru Singh Sabha and Institute of Sikh Studies fully and whole heartedly support the decision of the Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI) in their decision to move the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India for the formation of SIT to investigate the 1984 Genocide of Sikhs in India.
The delay and intentional dragging of feet by Govt after Govt over 29 years has shocked the world and totally shattered our confidence in various ruling parties and courts of justice in India. The Sikhs, abiding by the teachings of our Gurus, are a peace loving nation untill aroused by the atrocities of the rulers. History will vouch for the fact that while being peace loving, we will fight injustice with all our might.
We, therefore, appeal to all Sikhs to rally to the support of LFHRI which consists of a band of eminent lawyers who have always fought for justice. Let us contribute to their determined fight in the Supreme Court of India to obtain justice for the Sikhs.
Our three organisations hereby vow to render all support to LFHRI and also pray that the Guru will grant them success at the earliest. We also vow to continue the fight for justice until success is achieved and all the living culprits of the 1984 crimes against the Sikhs are suitably punished. (Courtesy: Press Release issued by ISC, KSGSS and IOSS)
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Ten rare Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Granth found in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh
Ten rare manuscripts of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Granth have been found from the villages of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Seven of these Saroops have been found from various villages of Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. The new finding also includes some Pathar Chhapa Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Granth that are about 150 years old. These manuscripts have survived in the hands of non-Sikhs living in these villages generation after generation but they are not aware how these manuscripts reached their elders. Davinder Pal Singh, the founder of Panjab Digital Library, an organization digitizing and preserving the rich heritage of Panjab, told that a team from the library had visited a Gurduara at Aurangabad to digitize the Zafarnamah of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. The team came to know that there are some manuscripts of Sri Guru Granth Sahib with non-Sikh locals of the neighboring villages such as Debegaon, Srirampur among others and that these Granths were 200 to 250 years old. When the team visited these villages and contacted the families, they got three manuscripts of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and two of Dasam Granth which were around 300 and 200 years old, respectively. Davinder Pal Singh stated that he was astonished at the reverence shown by these families to the Granths as one of the families told that whenever the river passing closely from the village overflows with water, one of the natives respectfully carries the Saroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib on his head and goes into the waters, and the water of the river gets lower. A native named Ishwar Singh has two 300-year old manuscripts of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and a 200-year old Dasam Granth. From here, the team went on to Hyderabad where a non-Sikh family living in the area named Gangareddy has a manuscript of Guru Granth Sahib and one Dasam Granth, which may be about 200 year old. The team also found four Pathar Chhapa Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and a Dasam Granth more than 100 years old.
“The team visited all these families and proposed them to lend these manuscripts for digitization so that they could be made available to the world and to the generations to come. The families were a bit skeptical about handing the manuscripts over to anyone as they feared they would not get those manuscripts back”, Davinder Pal Singh tells. As per PDL’s policy, PDL offered that the manuscripts will be digitized at their places after the families readily offered them for digitization. Thereafter, all these manuscripts were digitized. He signed off by adding that even though these families do not know how these manuscripts reached their forefathers 200-300 years ago but this can be made out that Sikhs might have visited these areas during the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and took these manuscripts along from Panjab. (Courtesy: Punjab Digital Library)
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White House Holds Second Briefing on Sikh Civil Rights Issues
June 25, 2013 (Washington, DC) - Jaikaras were heard in the White House this past Friday during a briefing on Sikh civil rights issues in the heart of the federal government. This briefing, the second of its kind, was organized in collaboration with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the White House Office of Public Engagement at the request of the Sikh Coalition.
Over 100 activists from around the United States attended the briefing. Leaders from New York, California, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Virginia, and Indiana, traveled to Washington DC for the event. The assembled group included Advocates from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 classes of the Sikh Coalition's Sikh Advocate Academy. The group also included members from the Junior Sikh Coalition, a youth group of emerging activists based in New York City.
The leaders and activists participated in the briefing in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Commissioner Chai Feldblum of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Kimberly Walton, Assistant Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration; Anurima Bhargava, Chief of the Educational Opportunities Section, of the U.S. Department of Justice; and Grande Lum, Director of the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice talked about the federal government's efforts to combat employment discrimination, airport profiling, and school bullying respectively. In addition, Audrey Buehring, Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders spoke about the work of the Initiative to address Sikh and broader Asian American and Pacific Islander concerns. Finally, Gautam Raghavan and Paul Monteiro of the White House Office of Public Engagement addressed the participants.
In addition to the scheduled speakers, attendees were grateful for the words of Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi and Harpreet Singh Mokha, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the Community Relations Service at the briefing.
The assembled community members enthusiastically questioned federal agency officials after each of their presentations. They shared critical feedback and ideas on how the federal government can better connect with and serve the Sikh community. (Courtesy: Sikh Coalition contact@sikhcoalition.org)
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Letters to Editor
Respected Sir,
I want to give 16 e-books to your library. The e-books are scanned 9 books in pdf and 7 books in jpg format. I am sending you books through DVD.The books are written by Giani Kartar Singh Klaswalia. The writer has expired 61 years ago. The first edition of all the books was published more than 70 years before. So now these books are free from copyright period laws. So advise me now if you have provision to store e-books in your library.
Sukhpal Singh
Email: <sukhpalsidhu58@gmail.com>
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