You Don’T Count, If You’Re Not Counted; Answer “Sikh” In The 2011 Census (England And Wales) And Be Counted

[SSingh11]

YOU DON’T COUNT, IF YOU’RE NOT COUNTED

ANSWER “SIKH” IN THE 2011 CENSUS (ENGLAND AND WALES) AND BE COUNTED

“Please draw attention to questions 16 and 20 of the 2011 Census in particular and assist fellow Sikhs to ensure they are counted and served by public bodies and authorities in England and Wales,” requests Ravjeet Singh, UNITED SIKHS Community Advocacy Director.

Highlights:

• UNITED SIKHS appeal for all Sikhs to unite and answer “Sikh” to questions 16 and 20 of the 2011 Census
• Educate your peers and assist them in completing the survey accurately
• You may download a poster on Census 2011 here, please print and put it up at your local Gurdwara or community centre

London, United Kingdom – 15th March 2011- Census 2011 surveys have been delivered to households throughout England and Wales and 27 March 2011 is Census Day. UNITED SIKHS is making a community appeal to all Sikhs; answer “Sikh” to questions 16 and 20 and be counted!

In the 2001 Census the religious affiliation question recorded only 336,000 Sikhs in England and Wales, whilst the actual figure was estimated to be closer to 700,000.

Why complete the Census survey? You have a legal obligation to complete the Census survey. The information gathered from the Census is used by policy makers and service planners to forecast and respond to service needs. A report analysing the processes of the Office for National Statistics commissioned by the Sikh Federation (UK) in January 2010 explains that in practice this means that long before a nurse is treating a patient; the hospital, local authority and government department have considered the specific needs of all community members by use of accurate data relating to the population. A large part of this data is derived from question 16 of the Census “What is your ethnic group?” If you do not answer “Other” and then “Sikh” to this question your needs are unlikely to be faithfully met by the government bodies that are established to serve your everyday needs. If you are not counted in a system that functions on the basis of collated data then you are prone to receive sub-standard service and care; your needs are dealt with at best on an inefficient ad hoc basis or, as is most likely, you remain hidden and ultimately, you do not count. The report therefore concludes that “in effect Sikhs are invisible on paper to the 40,000 public bodies that design, plan or deliver public services”.

Why are Sikhs an ethnic group? The concept of Sikh as an ethnic group has been widely discussed in the media and Sikh community over recent years. The House of Lords ruled, 25 years ago, that a Sikh belongs to an ethnic group, in a case called Mandla v Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548, and said that an ethnic group must have one or many of the following characteristics :

• a long, shared history;
• a cultural tradition of its own;
• a common geographical origin or descent;
• a common language, not necessarily peculiar to the group;
• a common literature peculiar to the group;
• a common religion;
• being a minority or being an oppressed or a dominant group within a larger community.

It is now our role as a community to uphold this legal right.

The Sikh community has contributed a great deal to English and Welsh society, in the words of Sir Winston Churchill “British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time”, it is now high-time for Sikhs to unite and be counted, and reap the benefits of what they have sown throughout their existence in Great Britain.

What can you do? UNITED SIKHS solemnly appeals to you as a member of the Sikh community to reach out to your peers and educate them on the benefits of completing the Census survey accurately.

Please visit http://sikhcensus.org/ for more information about Census 2011 and what you can do to raise awareness within your community.

To read about UNITED SIKHS efforts to raise the issue of separate ethnic monitoring for Sikhs in the United States please visit http://www.unitedsikhs.org/blog/2010/03/identify-yourself-as-sikh-in-census-2010/

Issued By:

Manchandan Kaur

Media and Communications Associate

+44(0)8701993328

contact@unitedsikhs.org

English Poster

Panjabi Poster

[xprince23x]

There will need to be active campaigning at gurdwaras for this to work. Sikhs tried to do the same thing in US a while back, but the Indian embassy put ads in all the newspapers telling people that they would be negatively affected if they wrote in Sikh. I assume the Indian embassy in UK will try and do the same thing.

[xtremesingh18]

Why are Sikhs an ethnic group? The concept of Sikh as an ethnic group has been widely discussed in the media and Sikh community over recent years. The House of Lords ruled, 25 years ago, that a Sikh belongs to an ethnic group, in a case called Mandla v Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548, and said that an ethnic group must have one or many of the following characteristics :

• a long, shared history;
• a cultural tradition of its own;
• a common geographical origin or descent;
• a common language, not necessarily peculiar to the group;
• a common literature peculiar to the group;
• a common religion;
• being a minority or being an oppressed or a dominant group within a larger community.

But how is "sikh" an ethnicity? surely our ethnicity is "indian"? our religion is not based upon culture as mentioned above- i see religion and culture as two different things.

when christians fill out this form they will not say theyre ethnicity is christianity- they would say english.

just doesnt make sense to me... i see Sikhi as our religion, and "indian" as our, or at least my, ethnicity.

[gurdssingh]

But how is "sikh" an ethnicity? surely our ethnicity is "indian"? our religion is not based upon culture as mentioned above- i see religion and culture as two different things.

when christians fill out this form they will not say theyre ethnicity is christianity- they would say english.

just doesnt make sense to me... i see Sikhi as our religion, and "indian" as our, or at least my, ethnicity.

Surely not. Indian covers a wide area. Like saying why have english,welsh,scots and different for irish and gypsys? Indian is like saying have western european as ethnicity. As indians are so diverse. I mean punjabis have so much in common with pakistani punjabis than say tamil or bengali. If it means nationality or origin then ok but if ethnicity then no it is sikh, i first thought like youbut my wife not sikh born told me and explained why, even she is of indian origin but not born sikh. Just read posts above as why, also uk law recognise sikhs as ethnicity like jews no other has the privilage

[Singhstah]

But how is "sikh" an ethnicity? surely our ethnicity is "indian"? our religion is not based upon culture as mentioned above- i see religion and culture as two different things.

when christians fill out this form they will not say theyre ethnicity is christianity- they would say english.

just doesnt make sense to me... i see Sikhi as our religion, and "indian" as our, or at least my, ethnicity.

It is important to understand that the meaning of the term 'ethnic group', as we know it in general usage can be different to the legal meaning applied to the same term. The courts have found that we the Sikh community do indeed fit the criteria necessary to be classifed as a an ethnic group in the context of our legal status in this country. This is not an issue of identity or our culture per se but an issue of law. By filling in Sikh under the ethnic group section we are simply ensuring that the various ethnic minority laws of this nation are fulfilling their purpose of serving all ethnic groups fairly. By not having the category 'Sikh' listed among the rest of the ethnicities in the first place, the Govt. is contradicting what the Courts have found the law to be.

Also, as far as I can remember Sant Jarnail Singh Ji once praised the judgment in Mandla v Dowell Lee that we are in fact a seperate ethnic group, however I may be remembering wrongly.

[Singh559]

It is important to understand that the meaning of the term 'ethnic group', as we know it in general usage can be different to the legal meaning applied to the same term. The courts have found that we the Sikh community do indeed fit the criteria necessary to be classifed as a an ethnic group in the context of our legal status in this country. This is not an issue of identity or our culture per se but an issue of law. By filling in Sikh under the ethnic group section we are simply ensuring that the various ethnic minority laws of this nation are fulfilling their purpose of serving all ethnic groups fairly. By not having the category 'Sikh' listed among the rest of the ethnicities in the first place, the Govt. is contradicting what the Courts have found the law to be.

Yeah, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale sent a message to the "parde likhe" that the English parliament not only recognized SIkhs a "vakhri kaum" but also a "vakhri nassal"

Hope you guys get recognized. We did a similar thiing but i dont know if everyone put Sikh on our census in the US

[Harjeet]

Census is a joke!

[11Gurus1Jot]

YOU DON'T COUNT, IF YOU'RE NOT COUNTED

ANSWER "SIKH" IN THE 2011 CENSUS (ENGLAND AND WALES) AND BE COUNTED

Why are Sikhs an ethnic group?

quote]

Just to add to the brilliant points SSingh11 has already given in his post above for the question show is blue.

Remember: we as sikhs must fill in the Census as a separate ethnic group (as shown in SSingh11's post above) or people may start to call us liars!!

The reason being...

The definition I have seen for Ethnic is "cultural: denoting or deriving from or distinctive of the ways of living built up by a group of people"

We are all constantly told that Sikhi is not just a religion but also a way of life - True? So if we did not mark ourselves as a separate Ethnic group on the Census Form, then wouldn't that make us liars??????? Because, as Sikhs, we are not supposed to tell lies!!!

[Harjeet]

We should be acknowledged by our actions, not by numbers written on a piece of paper. Writing "Sikh" on paper doesn't make one a Sikh. We should be known by the fruits of our actions! If nobody knows us, then are we doing anygood? Forget political correctness and statistics, im talking about coming from the level of a human being! Language that human beings understand. Compassion, Love!

[gurdssingh]

Yeah, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale sent a message to the "parde likhe" that the English parliament not only recognized SIkhs a "vakhri kaum" but also a "vakhri nassal"

Hope you guys get recognized. We did a similar thiing but i dont know if everyone put Sikh on our census in the US

In usa what was the issue about?

In uk its not about being recognised as sikh. Religion option as sikh has been in census before and even option for sikh as a religion is in this decades census, the issue is about ethnicity, so say in usa your religion is sikh but would they say your ethnicity is sikh or indian. In uk they already have a sikh box for religion as before only thing is the religion box is optional. Ethnicity is compulsory so instead of being classed as a nation i.e british asian indian we want british asian other then write in sikh. Then we are classed as a different group. As per uk law we sikhs like jews are distinct ethnic peoples unlike anyother religion.