Padma Shri for Baba Sewa Singh Khador Sahib Walay

[AKaur2]

Chandigarh, Punjab: Of 130 Padma awards announced on the eve of Republic Day, Punjab has ended with just two coveted awards - one Padma Bhushan and one Padma Shri each. While the Padma Bhushan has gone to Ludhiana industrialist SP Oswal, Baba Sewa Singh has been chosen for the Padma Shri in recognition of his social service. Baba Sewa Singh, who came into limelight for the manner in which he along with Canada-based Raghbir Singh Bains and a retired IGP of Police, Sukhdyal Singh Bhullar, worked tirelessly to ensure that 500th birth anniversary of Guru Angad Dev was celebrated with traditional fervour in accordance with Sikh tenets and rituals. And the meticulously celebrations were held without any glitches.

It is not only his role as “Kar Seva walle Baba,” but also the pioneer work he had done in rural Punjab as an environmentalist, social empowerment of rural girls and also for overall human development in the border belt.

Baba Sewa Singh had not only played a pivotal role in the upkeep and maintenance of historic gurdwaras at Khadoor Sahib in time for the Guru Angad Dev 500th birth anniversary celebrations in 2004, but also took upon himself the onerous task of making that town in the border belt green by not only planting but also with subsequent personal supervision of thousands of traditional trees, including Neem, in the area.

Not many are aware of the work on social empowerment of girls Baba Sewa Singh has done in the recent years. It was because of him that about 75 girls from the rural belt of Khadoor Sahib have joined the all-women battalion of the BSF, besides joining the Chandigarh Police after preparatory training at the Sri Guru Angad Dev Institute of Careers and Courses set up by him. Besides, 31 girls from the institute have become eligible for recruitment in the Punjab Police. He has associated a retired Brigadier with the task of training the girls for recruitment in various security forces. He is also rightly credited with the setting up of a multi-media Sikh museum, the first of its kind in the world. It is located next to Gurdwara Angitha Sahib in Khadoor Sahib.

Besides, a senior secondary school, run under the guidance of Baba Sewa Singh, is perhaps the only rural school in the country that has eight ‘smart’ rooms equipped with computers and other visual aids. Also a Gian Sewa Kendra had been set up to prepare students for entrance tests for admission in medical, engineering and other courses. The most visionary act of Baba Sewa Singh has been setting up of an eight-storied Nishan-e-Sikhi Tower that is almost complete now.