DailyMail

Fantastic news!

What a silly and immature campaign from an esteemed organisation such as Sikhs for Justice.

My family have used Air India for the past 5 years or so and I have to admit it is punctual and gets one to Amritsar quicker than any other (even Jet).

Ultimately, Punjabi's will use whichever airline gets them to Punjab in the quickest and cheapest way possible.

The last thing we'd like to do is to bank roll ISIS, sorry, I meant fly with Qatar.

(Yes, you read that correctly, that's where ISIS get the moola from. No pun intended).

Yes it's true, UKBA did raid SGSS-owned properties on Beaconsfield Rd and Hammond Rd.

As yet, however, no fines have been imposed. That is not to say that a fine will not be imposed in the subsequent future.

As per immigration rules, any landlord that is housing a tenant who has overstayed their visa timeframe will be fined £10,000 or £20,000 PER tenant (not sure which).

I've seen the clip of Mr Bhogal behaving in a immature and prank-like manner when conducting himself with Ed Milliband. I'm not Ed Milliband's biggest fan, but regardless, if he wants to be taken seriously in politics, he has to conduct himself in a professional manner.

Regarding the issue at hand, maybe an education and/or awareness course for the employee's at Dubai airport may be in order.

The assistance, (not collaboration) in the form of advice, was given - and ignored. It is astonishing that the advice was given - but not surprising. In the global view of events, many countries seek the advice of Britain and the US in dealing with uprising/insurgencies etc. Britain is viewed as a country with experience in how to handle such a situation, in particular the SAS. Remember, it was in 1980 that the Iranian Embassy siege in London took place, and it was the SAS that stormed it. This siege was televised throughout the world. Many leaders viewed Britain's military strategies with awe (despite what you and I think) and so as a fellow commonwealth member state with friendly status, coupled with the cordial relationship between Gandhi and Thatcher, it was natural that the SAS were asked for an opinion.

Let me stress - I don't agree with this. It was a dark moment not only in the Tory party but for Britain herself, to allow itself to be dragged into Operation Bluestar. But David Cameron wasn't in the Conservative party then. Furthermore, there should be a independent enquiry. Whether the tories or labour agree to it is another matter. The Sikhs are divided amongst themselves. The Sikh Fed (UK) wants something different to the NSO (Lord Singh) which is different to the Sikh Council UK.

No party has come out in support of the Sikh manifesto in it's entirety - for a reason. It's not something I wanted to go into but I shall. Whilst it is projected as a document produced by the Sikh Network, there are many that view it as a product of the Sikh Federation (UK). I personally have nothing against Sikh Fed (UK), but many others in the Sikh community do. If you're seeking support for the Sikh Manifesto from political parties, the first question they'll ask you is "does this Sikh manifesto have the support of Sikhs outside the Sikh Federation (UK)?"

Can you see the problem here?

Regarding the recognition of recognising Sikhs as a separate ethnic group for the purposes of monitoring, it is pertinent to note that one of the leading lights in the early 1980's who campaigned for the same recognition has now come out against it - Lord Inderjit Singh! Therefore, again, the political parties, be it Labour or Conservative, will ask "is recognising the Sikhs as a separate ethnic group a view shared by all Sikhs"?

Can you see the problem here?

The government is aware that the Sikhs themselves have differing views regarding the nature of an enquiry (independent/UN/judge-led/public), the Sikh manifesto or ethnic monitoring.

Therefore, rather than focusing on what the government can do, look at what the government/political party has already done. It's a blueprint to move forward.

With both of us residing in west London, we are acutely aware of how Labour has treated the Sikhs.

It's a shame others are still blindly following a party that has taken it's vote for granted.

Forget it Jagsaw.

This forum is incapable of understanding that the Tories have:

(1) Pledged a Sikh Regiment

(2) Shown interest in Sikhs by visiting the Harmandir Sahib and Jalianwala Bagh. Labour has never bothered -only trade deals.

(3) Recognised the three basic core principles of Sikhi - kirat karna, wand ke chakna, naam japna - and stated so publicly

(4) Invited Sikhs to Downing St on Vaisakhi, kirtan at Downing St

(5) Celebrated Vaisakhi in the Houses of Parliament

(6) Supported the creation of Sikh free schools - the only party to do so. This aspect is an integral part of the Sikh manifesto. Labour are against free schools.

(7) Passed legislation to close a loop hole in allowing turbans to be worn in the workplace.

(8) Attended a nagar kirtan and gurdwara in full view of the worlds media - no barring of worshippers unlike Labour. Infact, the total opposite occurred. Mingled with 15,000.

(9) Scrapped turban searches at airports, a legislation that the EU will seek to look upon as a model for their respective member states

(10) Released several video's in praise of Sikhs, their contribution to British society and the economy.

Has Labour supported Sikhs specifically on the above points?

I rest my case.

The aspect of Sikh schools is part of the Sikh manifesto - this aspect of the Sikh manifesto is supported by the Tories.

To think outside of the "Sikh box" for a minute, if every community produced a manifesto i.e. Hindu manifesto, Sikh manifesto, Jewish manifesto, Muslim manifesto, Atheist manifesto etc....the government will not be able to govern! When we elect a government it has a mandate to govern for all the British isles and it's peoples. It will will please some but not all - that goes for all governments. No government will keep everyone happy.

To read some of the views on this thread, it's as if some are not familiar with a western democracy!

When I read this last night I was in a state of disbelief!

Apparently he will fight the extradition order, according to the latest news.

But seriously, wow! He caused stockmarket chaos in 3 minutes!

Absolutely.

The fact that the Conservatives are the only party to guarantee more free schools including Sikh faith schools, which are a threat under Labour, it is becoming clearer and clearer as to who I shall vote for.

Isingh,

Yes I did wonder what was going on. The Dhesi family are long standing supporters of the gurdwara too, right? I think they had a big hand in it's formation.

So what's going on?

http://sikhissue.com/labour-party-dishonor-gurus-defame-sikhi-slander-gurdwaras-and-misrepresent-sikhs/

In March 2010, the then Labour Government introduced ‘caste’ as a form of race in the Equalities Act. It had commissioned a Government funded ‘independent’ body called National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) to do a background report.

The report was blasphemous, inaccurate and clearly misrepresents the Sikh religion, its people and its institutions.

• The NIESR case study examples, the alleged incidents of caste discrimination harassment are predominantly perpetrated by Sikhs in places of work, worship, education and other areas suggesting “Almost all Sikhs will discriminate, both British-born and immigrants”

• The NIESR report maligns Gurdwaras and Sikhi. It says that in some Gurdwaras (Midlands) members of the congregation do not take parshad from Granthis of lower castes!
• The report also says that in Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Southall, utensils touched by lower caste Sikhs are immediately washed (suggesting practice of purity).
• A child was refused a place at Guru Nanak Khalsa School because the family attended Ravidassia temple
• It says that many Gurdwaras are caste based with members of lower castes made unwelcome.

NIESR’s research is clearly hearsay based. It refused to visit places such as Southall and Gurdwaras who are accused. Its research was quoted by Lords and MPs to support the legislation but dismissed by Conservative Government.

Key Facts

• The consultation kept out major Sikh and Hindu organisations and was stage managed.
• This is the first social legislation that has been enacted in UK before research and appropriate consultation.
• It is a legislation which admits to being unclear about the meaning of the word being legislated on! Experts and MPs admit that they do not know what ‘caste’ is. But they defined it with an offensive statement in 2010
• It was rushed through in 2010 just two months before the general election by the Labour Party as if it was an emergency legislation.
• NIESR’s research is hearsay based. It refused to visit places such as Southall and Gurdwaras who are accused. Its research was quoted by Lords and MPs but dismissed by Conservative Government.
• The research was done by 7 experts of whom 6 have been on the payroll of those lobbying for legislation for nearly 20 years! The consultation kept out major Sikh and Hindu organisations and was stage managed.

In 2005, one of the Labour MPs said, ‘We have to recognise that one of the tenets of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was to get rid of caste-based discrimination. He has not succeeded yet.’

WHO IS BEHIND THIS

After going into background we found the real reason this legislation was brought ‘urgently’ and without consultation was to outflank any opposition. It is directed at the 1950 Schedule Caste Act of India which excludes Christians and Muslims from 30% reservation across many sectors. This affected the ‘conversion’ numbers of Christian. Since 1950 the Church has been campaigning to include Christians into the Act.

By introducing ‘caste’ definition to include Christians in UK, the EU will adopt it. EU is obliged to take it to UN. The UN will insist India treat Christians as part of Schedule Act. This will enable Church to restart conversions!

WHAT WE SUGGEST

The preceding statements, the commissioned reports and the definition of ‘caste’ used in the legislation is highly offensive to Sikhi, Sikhs and above all to the Gurus. This legislation needs to be repealed.

Parliament must drop the explanatory notes implying Sikhs have ‘ritual’ purity practices and Government GEO office withdraw NIESR report based on false statements maligning Gurdwaras.

The Labour Party and Liberal Democrats must give an undertaking to drop the Bill which is divisive and unnecessary.

The Conservative Party has clearly stated “We remain concerned that there is insufficient evidence of caste based discrimination to require specific legislation. We also have concerns that incorporating caste into domestic law – even in the context of anti-discrimination – may send out the wrong signal that caste is somehow becoming a permanent feature of British society.” Helen Grant – Equalities Minister

To those seeking support for any of the points on the Sikh manifesto, remember it's the Conservative party that initiated free schools, or as we know them, Sikh schools/faith schools with a Sikh ethos.

Free schools have been attacked by labour. Sikhs in Derby are facing immense opposition from labour-run council's to open a Sikh faith school.

Sikh and non-sikh children have benefitted from Sikh faith school's. Conservative party wants more free schools.

Free sikh faith school's are in the Sikh manifesto.

It's the punjabi SIkhs who behave improperly (uncovered heads), not the visiting dignitaries, be they Cameron or Modi. Unless the visiting dignitary is a Sikh, ie.Badal, who refused to bow down.

Having just watched the most powerful woman currently in British politics on TV this morning, the thought of Ed Miliband joining hands and being held hostage by Nicola Sturgeon is a frightening one indeed.

Why therefore, don't you leave the UK, singh598?

The other thing that has been pertinent in the last few weeks Jagsaw, is that if Labour are unable to get a majority, which is likely, and Ed does a deal with Nicola Sturgeon, then Ed is finished.

Nicola Sturgeon is the most able orator and debater I have seen since her predecessor, Alex Salmond. I don't know what it is with the SNP, but they have real conviction behind their politics and their personalities. Nicola Sturgeon would run rings around Ed Miliband and Labour (in a coalition or a vote-for-vote basis support), she is that good.

The problem is, I don't want the SNP to run Westminster. Therefore, whilst my decision-making is dynamic in it's nature, I am beginning to form a view of the lie of the land and I'd rather see a Tory government.

I'm not saying the tories are perfect. Had Labour had a different, stronger personality in their leadership, to stand up to Nicola's formidable politics, things would be different. But, its Ed.

I felt David Cameron was fantastic. I have seen how time and time again, he has come out in support of the Sikhs, whether its his video releases, Harmandir Sahib visit, kirtan at Downing St, celebrating Vaisakhi at the Houses of Parliament or scrapping turban searches at airports.

The Labour Party have taken the Sikh (and asian) vote for granted, hence why they never bothered for 13 years in govt. Even now, Labour has no Sikh MP's whilst the Tories have 1 in each of the two Houses of Parliament.

Many will say "what about 1984 disclosure". True, fair point. But that wasn't his fault. Decisions to launch an enquiry may not entirely be in his hands.

His speech was impressive, I saw it on Sky News in it's entirety. Cameron has gone out of his way in my view.

Compare this to Ed Miliband's team behaviour last week at Leamington Spa.

Happy vaisakhi!

Kamc,

This is happening. The Times of India is correct in this regard. It is no wonder therefore, that the great champion of Sikh, Punjabi and moreover humanitarian causes, Mr John McDonnell MP for Hayes & Harlington has launched a petition to lobby the government.

As a chap in my mid-30's and a holder of GCSE punjabi, this news saddens me. I have been out of touch with punjabi teaching in gurdwara's or in my case, a junior school in Hounslow Heath in the 90's on Wednesday evenings. However, I had no idea that demand had dipped? I presumed demand was on the rise? Especially with the recent influx of Afghan Sikhs?

Punjabi Faces The Axe In Britain

SARIKA SHARMA

[Taken from Sikhchic]

http://www.sikhchic.com/current_events/punjabi_faces_the_axe_in_britain

Exam boards in the United Kingdom plan to drop qualifications in Punjabi along with other languages. While the issue has worried scholars, it has become a political issue in the current British election season.

Punjabi is the third most spoken language in the country after English and Polish according to 2011 census.

If exam boards AQA and OCR go ahead as planned and discontinue GCSE's (secondary school level) and A level (college level) exams, foreign languages such as Polish, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Modern Hebrew, Turkish and Portuguese could face the axe.

Currently, Punjabi is an exam option that students can take at GCSE/A-level. Usually it is not offered at schools, but in many cases, like in Newcastle, one can take the exam at a gurdwara. Generally, a GCSE/A-level has to be offered officially through a certified exam board, main ones being AQA and OCR.

Punjabi scholars are wary of the development.

Dr Navtej Kaur Purewal, Deputy Director of South Asia Institute, SOAS University of London, says the move is a sign of the times.

"Modern languages are still widely associated with European languages such as German and French, while languages such as Punjabi are given lesser status and viewed as community languages. The irony is that in the 2011 Census, Punjabi was the 3rd most widely spoken language in the UK, having dropped from being 2nd in the 2001 Census due to the rise of Polish which has overtaken Punjabi," she says.

Navtej insists that this warrants more support of such languages and recognition of their presence in the UK. Even as she somewhere blames it on a trend amongst aspirational South Asian parents and students to value English more than languages of ancestry, she says the decline in uptake of Punjabi and other South Asian languages at GCSE and A level should be addressed by the examinations system, not viewed as a sign of a dwindling market.

Founder member of the Punjab Research Group, Prof Eleanor Nessbit, who is also professor emeritus University of Warwick, says it is sad that in a country in which the majority are monoglot English-users, members of bi- and multi-lingual minorities are not protesting more loudly at the reported disappearance of public examinations in their heritage languages.

"If families, schools and community organizations, such as gurdwaras, had pulled together to ensure that children were studying their 'mother-tongues', the sheer number of enrolments for GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations would have ensured their survival to that level and possibly, beyond this, to A level. Sadly, many young British South Asians never get beyond a very limited fluency in spoken Gujarati, Punjabi, etc.," says she who studied Hindi for O and A level.

Prof Eleanor too says it is regrettable that language classes and qualifications that could have helped bridge communities are under threat.

Dr Shinder Singh Thandi, principal lecturer in economics at Coventry University in the UK, says the issue of termination of some minority languages from the curriculum was announced by the department of education quite a while ago and some Punjabi teachers had raised the issue with their gurdwaras to follow up but nothing was done.

"It is worth pointing out that many Punjabi children only do Punjabi up to GCSE level and very few continue to the Advanced level. So in a way there is not going to be a significant change as most Punjabi children had already chosen to opt out of it," he says and adds that the culling of some languages does not surprise him as there wasn't much uptake and cost of offering them were high.

Also students aspiring to go to University focus on only 3 Advanced Level subjects which are regarded highly by universities in their admission criteria and these are usually science subjects and some core subjects such as economics and history.

Meanwhile, the Labour party has given it political colour. Punjabi MP from Ealing Southall, Virendra Sharma wrote to Tristram Hunt, shadow secretary of state for education, to raise awareness of the terrible threat the Tory government was posing to language A level qualifications.

He wrote: "This Tory government has chaotically changed the curriculum at a time when languages are needed most by British business. Communities thrive in Britain where people are bi-lingual, providing a link to their past while embracing modern Britain."

Following this, Hunt last week, spoke to the House of Commons and called for the education secretary to resolve the mess.

Dr Shinder Singh says it is not surprising that this should be raised as a political issue by the Labour Party as they are facing a challenge in holding on to the ethnic minority, especially Punjabi community votes.

THE CONSEQUENCE

Dr Navtej Kaur says that even if the languages will be withdrawn from the curriculum, these languages will remain spoken and taught at home and in large numbers without the literacy and expertise which a formalized system or learning can and has provided.

"At present, most students taking the exams in Punjabi are doing so outside of school in any case, for instance in community centres or gurdwaras. We should be mobilizing for these languages to be recognized by schools, especially with considerable South Asian populations, to have better infrastructure. Instead, they are withdrawing them altogether. It will be a tremendous loss if these languages disappear from the curriculum," she says.

[Courtesy: Times of India. Edited for sikhchic.com]

April 8, 2015

Coolwater,

You've hit the nail on the head.

Bigtime.

Sikh press association.....?

Conviction politicians such as Nigel Farage, George Galloway, Alex Salmond and to a degree, Nicola Sturgeon, strike a chord with the electorate because they project themselves as a man of the people. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. They appear to be straight-talking and tend ot be larger than life personalities. There is certainly a place for this in politics, but to say that this means they will become "effective" leaders is a whole different point.

This election is like no other - it's no longer a three or two-horse race. Thanks to UKIP, whoever wins, will probably have to form a coalition or form a minority government. The vote will be fractured.

Deny it all they like, the Tories are likely to do another deal with the Lib Dems and Labour with the SNP. Whether this deal is in the form of a formal "coalition" is another matter; more like a "vote-by-vote" basis i.e. to push a particular law/Bill through the House one party will canvas the support of the other party.

Don't vote on a party based on promises made to the Sikhs. For over a decade, the Lib Dems openly mooted the notion of self-determination for the Sikh nation. last year, when the Thatcher govt. involvement was revealed, the Lib Dems (Simon Hughes MP, ex-president Lib Dems) were mysteriously quiet in the face of Labour furore (Douglas Alexander MP). The Lib Dems are always involved in the Sikh Fed (UK) annual conference in Wolverhampton. They are briefed more than others, in my view, of the atrocities the Sikhs have been through. In my opinion, the Lib Dems behaved with first-class impotence last year. But they have form - they back-tracked on tuition fees as well, remember?

I therefore, do not want the Lib Dems propping up the Tories.

Therefore, Labour will get my vote. This country is built on the blood sweat and tears of working men and women - not tax-dodging so-called "big business". I'm not entirely sure, but I think Labour have stated they will hold an enquiry into Thatcher govt. involvement in Operation Bluestar including the crucial second half of 1984 (July-Dec) to include the period of the genocide. If they haven't, then it is Labour that is most likely to do so. The Tories (Rt Hon William Hague MP) have been blocking it.