Greater-Punjab

Miri Piri Academy - Amritsar, India

Chandigarh, Jul 2 (PTI) An American citizen who adopted Sikhism and has been living in India for the past 38 years, has made it his mission to teach Sikh values. Ralph Singh (58), who originally hails from Syracuse in New York, preaches, especially in Punjab, the importance of maintaining one's values and culture. Addressing mediapersons here today, Ralph expressed concern about the "lack of values among the new generation Sikhs" and felt that the "unassailable character that the Gurus instilled in the Sikhs has been lost." "As a result, not just the Sikh community, but Punjab, too suffers," he said. He said that he came to India in 1971 to spiritually enlighten himself and added that till the age of 22, the time when he finished his studies, he had not seen or even heard about Sikhs. "When I landed in India, I met spiritual guru, Baba Virsa Singh and his deeds inspired me so much that I decided to adopt Sikhism as a faith. Though my wife Joginder Kaur is a Sikh, both my sons Chetan and Tejbir, who live in US, decided to convert to Sikhism on their own," says Ralph, who wears a turban and keeps a beard. His message to the youth is "not to give up their values and not to be corrupted by society". Ralph said that he has made a special study of Guru Nanak Dev's true follower Baba Sri Chand, which he will release at a public function in September. PTI http://www.ptinews.com/pti/ptisite.nsf/all...39?Opendocument

Jagjit Singh and his family are the only Sikhs in Tharparkar, the home of Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who have registered to vote according to the newly-published updated electoral lists which have evoked countrywide criticism for dropping more than 20 million voters from the lists on which elections were held in 2002. Among those dropped, minorities and women voters have suffered most in every province. There are a total of 2.7 million Hindus living in Sindh with a Sikh minority. The new lists show a total of 405,525 registered voters from district Tharparkar. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz contested election from Tharparkar on a seat specially vacated for him in 2003 to make him eligible for being Prime Minister. Singh, 34, was originally a Hindu but decided to convert to Sikhism with his five children and his wife in opposition to the caste system. "Four years ago when I converted and started wearing the traditional dress, the locals, most of who are Hindus, were shocked. Now, however, they've accepted me," Singh told Daily Times. Jagjit, a nurse by profession, works at a local hospital and has a small home in North Colony in Mithi Town, the district headquarters of Tharparkar. Tharparkar is supposed to be a Hindu stronghold. It has 163,316 Hindu voters, 122 Christians and 21 Qadiani voters, according to lists displayed by the election commission. Singh converted to Sikhism four years ago. "I don't believe in the so-called caste system, so I decided to leave Hinduism and joined Sikhism," he told Daily Times. His father, Tarachand, a retired primary teacher, is part of the Hindu Menghwar caste and still visits his son. Menghwar (shoemakers) are regarded as a lower caste in Hinduism and are forced to occupy the lower rung in the Hindu social order.

that is cool

Police hunt turban bandits

Seventy-five years ago on June 25, 1932, 11 men stepped on to the hallowed turf of Lord's to face a formidable English side. It was undivided India's first official Test. The team comprising Col. C.K. Nayudu, Mohammed Nissar, Amar Singh, Janardhan Navle, Naoomal Jaoomal, Syed Wazir Ali, Sorabji Colah, Nazir Ali, Phiroze Palia, Lall Singh and Jahangir Khan lost the game but won many a hearts for their fighting spirits. News India-Times portrays the XI who made the game that India loves.

This boy kills snakes by biting them

India’s $2,500 Car

NYC Police Brutalize Human Rights Attorney

NEW YORK: The parents of an Indian American girl are in shock after their daughter was denied admission to an elite New York school for gifted children because of its racial quota rules. Nikita Rau, 11, failed to get into the Mark Twain Intermediate School for specially gifted children, also known as IS 239, although she scored more marks than white students, according to The New York Post. "I feel bad because I would have gotten in if I was white," Nikita told the Post. IS 239 is one of two public schools in New York that follows a racial quota system, according to a 1974 federal court order. Under the system, originally intended to boost minority enrolment, 60 percent of Mark Twain's student body is kept aside for white students while 40 percent is reserved for minorities, the Post reported. After applying for Mark Twain, Nikita took a test for musically gifted children and scored 79. Last month, the education department sent a letter to her parents saying she has not been accepted as she was classified as a minority and needed to score at least 84.4 as against 77 needed of white students. "This country believes in racial equality and we should not face this in America," the Post quoted Nikita's father Anjan Rau as saying. "I think it's morally wrong," said Rau, a Bay Ridge resident who moved from India in 1982. He added that though Nikita was born in the US and was a US citizen, this was not taken into account. "It could hurt her chances of going to Harvard, Yale or Princeton," Rau said. IS 239, popularly known as 'Twain', is known not only for its intensive academic rigour, but also for the fact that all students attending it have special potential in a talent area. The school is located in Coney Island, a predominantly African American and Hispanic section of the New York school district. When Nikita's mother Kanchan Rau approached Schools Regional Enrolment director Paul Helfman, he agreed that the system was unfair but pleaded helplessness. When the Post began inquiring into the matter, the Raus were called by a school official who told them Nikita could attend IS 98 or the Bay Academy, another Coney Island school for the gifted, though less competitive than Mark Twain. The Raus' lawyer, Rosemarie Arnold, has written to the Mark Twain authorities urging them to reconsider their decision to reject Nikita. "The unconstitutional rejection of my client constitutes discrimination," she wrote. Meanwhile, the Raus have received support from New York schools chancellor Joel Klein, who reportedly said that the 1974 court order was no longer necessary. "I think probably that court order is no longer necessary," The New York Sun quoted Klein as saying on Monday. He, however, said he would not take any action in this case pending a US Supreme Court decision due this week. The court is ruling on two cases challenging public schools' use of race as a factor in their admissions decisions. Arnold said the court's ruling in those cases would also determine the Rau family's next move.

worth watching video

Sikhs challenge French law banning turbans on IDs If sikhs do not come together it remembers me quote from Martin Niemoller “In Germany they first came for the communists; and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews; and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists; and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics; and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Catholic. Then they came for me – and by that time there was nobody left to speak up.” – United we Bargain, Divided We Beg.

Soon, clothes that can monitor your health

Dog eating, call it a protest As Americans, we're horrified at foreigners who eat dogs or cats, but that's their culture. Most of us wouldn't dream of eating a horse, but it's a delicacy in France. Love a juicy beef steak? I'll bet folks in India think you're barbaric.

:awesome :awesome mentality

THIS MODERN LIFE

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELLPHONE COULD .. There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it: - *EMERGENCY* *I* *The Emergency Number worldwide for **Mobile** is 112.* If you find yourself out of coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. **Try it out.** *II* *Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car? Does you car have remote keys?* This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call Someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: *It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!"* *III* Subject: Hidden Battery power Imagine your cell battery is very low, you are expecting an important call and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time. AND *IV* How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. when your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh I LIKE THE WORDING There are a LOT of pro-Khalistani's and Pro-Punjabi's on this site who seem (from their posts) to be very passionate but when I say 'let's do something to make things better' there is just silence... I'll say again for the last time...what is the use of being pro-khalistani/punjabi if noone wants to take responsibility for what we have at present? If you want to create support for Khalistan then why not let Punjabi people know that you give a crap about them, and help them?!! I'm tired of constantly reading new posts about newer problems facing Punjab...and we get an 'oh my waheguru! ohmy.gif ', ect. about it but instead of sitting behind your PC and telling the world you care but take no action, get up and DO something! ACTIONS SPEAK STRONGER THAN WORDS! Let's make a List what we can do for PUNJAB, it is not necessary, that you have to go there,or give money' there are so many thing we can help our brother and sister biggest thing in SIKHISM is SEVA without any reward or name let see who come next ? I put my name first, bhul chukk maaf ji Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

The rickshawallah's son who cracked the IAS

You guys are right, but we have to do something, it is our country(Punjab) our brother and sister lives there, and overall this is our Guru land

When you don't study

NAWANSHEHAR: An Uzbekistan woman, Pulatova Nargiza, 26, married to a local resident Harminder Kumar, has approached the district administration here seeking to get justice and charged her husband for fraud and maltreatment. Narrating her tale of woes in a written submission to the Additional Deputy Commissioner Nawanshahr in the weekly 'Jan Sampark' programme of the administration here Tuesday, the woman said that she had married Harminder Kumar who used to visit Uzbekistan in connection with his business in 2002. Two girls-5 and 2 years old- were born out of this wedlock. Sometime after their marriage, according to Pulatova, Harminder asked her to sell all her property in her country and accompany with him to India. She followed the advice of her husband and sold all her property there and came to India to live with him. Here in India, they purchased a house and two cars with the sale proceeds from her property, said Pulatova, adding that after sometime, her husband started quarrelling and maltreating her and one day while she was accompanying him to Nawanshahr to visit his parents, her husband allegedly beat her up on the way which led to some injuries to her teeth. She has already filed a report with Balachaur police in this regard, said the Uzbekistan woman who further accused her husband of even maltreating her children. She even accused her husband of having married another woman and even staying with her in Chandigarh. Wearing the traditional Punjabi dress Salwar-Kameez, Pulatova Nagriza who can speak six other languages other than Punjabi, added that last Monday she approached the local office of the NRI Sabha and narrated her tale. The Sabha promised help and asked her to stay with a family in Malpur Arkan, near here. In fact, the Malpur Arkan family and the Sarpanch and a panch of Kariha village accompanied her here today when she appeared before the ADC. Besides seeking justice for herself and her children, she has expressed her desire to go back to her country. For this she has requested that their passports, marriage certificate and the birth certificates of their children which were allegedly in possession of her husband, be made available to her. Currently on a five year visa to India, Pulatova told media persons that she had earlier stayed in India from 2002 to 2004. They returned to India for good in November 2006. Interestingly, parents-in-law of Pulatova too were present when the Uzbekistan woman made her representation. Her father-in-law Chand Kishan, resident of Kothi Road here, in his representation said that he had already disinherited his son way back in 1990s. "In the NRI Sabha I had agreed to provide for three tickets and 1,000 American dollars in cash in order to ensure the safe return of my daughter-in-law and her two daughters," said Chand Kishan, adding that her daughter-in-law instead chose to stay with the Malpur Arkan family on the advice of some NRI Sabha members. Meanwhile SSP B.Chander Shekhar to whom the case was sent by the ADC, after listening to the tale of the affected woman, asked DSP Nawanshahr Dilbagh Singh Pannu to enquire in to the matter and report and meanwhile arrange for sending the woman and her children to Nariniketan in Jalandhar after approaching SDM Nawanshahr in the matter.

Chandigarh, June 5 Over 80 per cent of Punjab’s groundwater is unfit for human consumption, with arsenic toxicity touching an all-time high. Whereas the safe limit for arsenic content in water is 10 parts per billion (ppb), its concentration in groundwater samples taken from different districts of Punjab ranges from 3.5 ppb to 688 ppb in the south-western districts, where the incidence of cancer is also rising. Jajjal, Makhana and Giana villages are the most affected, with arsenic in water reaching dangerous levels. Soil scientists from Punjab Agricultural University, who visited these villages for their latest study, found that water and vegetable samples here didn’t have high pesticide content. However, groundwater used for drinking and domestic purposes had lethal arsenic concentration. In the arid south-west, comprising Sangrur, Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, not a single water sample was found fit for drinking. Arsenic pollution varied from 11.4 to 688 ppb, averaging 76.8 ppb. Scientists also found buffalo milk in these districts, especially in Talwandi Sabo and Gidderbaha blocks, contaminated with arsenic. Content ranged from 208 to 279 ppb. Consumption of shallow hand pump water with high salt and arsenic levels is the cause, Dr V. Beri, head of soils department, PAU, said. He added, “Arsenic concentration was lesser in hand pumps close to canals, ponds and water tanks where continuous flow of canal water diluted toxic elements. In samples from hand pumps far from canal water sources, arsenic content was dangerously high.” In the south-west, groundwater level earlier was 80 feet deep. Now it is 30 feet deep or lesser. As long as water was being drawn from old deep wells, there was negligible disease. But with hand pumps replacing old wells, cancers of lung and skin are on the rise. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, US has also shown arsenic’s association with lung and skin cancers. The situation in other districts is no better. In zone 1, comprising Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Ropar, arsenic in groundwater varied 3.5 to 42 ppb, averaging 23.4 ppb. In zone II comprising Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali, Barnala and Moga, the content varied from 9.8 to 42.5 ppb, averaging 24.1 ppb. When seen against arsenic safe limits, only 3 and 1 per cent of groundwater samples collected from zones I and II, respectively, were fit for drinking purposes. After analyses of samples, scientists issued guidelines for the populations of the affected areas to follow. Said Dr H.S. Hundal, main author of the study, accepted for publication in the journal “Communications in Soil Sciences and Plant Analyses, USA”, “Wherever possible they should take water from canal sources for drinking. Only hand pumps located close to ponds should be used. If normal hand pump water is to be used, it should be left overnight for aeration and then consumed.” Other authors of the study are Raj Kumar, Dhanwinder Singh and Kuldip Singh.

That was good, I tell every body in America Every white man is Not American,every brown man is not Mexican, and every turban guy is not Muslim , 99% guys who wear Turban are Sikhs

'Acid' victim Crimewatch appeal