Browsing Tag: India

On his barefoot trudge to school decades ago, a young Ashok Khade passed inescapable reminders of what he was: the well from which he was not allowed to drink; the temple where he was not permitted to worship. At school, he took his place on the floor in a part of the classroom built a step lower than the rest.

In what will fulfill one of the long-pending demands of the Sikh community, the Union Home Ministry has given its nod to the Anand Marriage Bill, also known as the Anand Karaj Bill. This will allow Sikhs to get their marriages registered under the separate law.

A day after the court gave a verdict the SGPC and the SAD went into a huddle to discuss the issue. The matter will also come up for in depth discussion in core committee meeting of SAD scheduled for Thursday evening. PresidentSehajdhari (53K)"The SGPC will not take it lying down," said Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, senior SAD leader.

The petitioners had submitted that the original Act declared Sahjdhari Sikhs as qualified electors for SGPC elections and the apex court had in numerous judgments held the state could not regulate the definition of religion.

The origin of genetic diversity found in South Asia is much older than 3,500 years when the Indo-Aryans were supposed to have migrated to India, a new study led by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, says. The study appeared in American Journal of Human Genetics on Friday.

Where do we register our marriages? This was former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh's poser to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday.

FUTURISTIC driverless pods will overhaul mass transportation in India, with plans in place for the rest of the world too, the creators of the technology say. ...has announced it will bring the pods to Amritsar, the home to Sikh holy shrine the Golden Temple.

The large majority of those who visit India may not see or recognize the grim realities that disable the lives of about 170 million people in the country’s Dalit community. For the women and girls of this community, trapped in two straitjackets of caste and gender, the constraints and barriers have few parallels.

The 336rd martyrdom of ninth Sikh Guru "Sri Guru Tegh Bahadar Sahibji'', who spread the message of peace and communal harmony across the world concluded on Sunday with thousands of Sikh devotees and other community faiths observing it with religious fervour, gaiety and devotion by offering prayers.

The 'slapgate' incident regarding slapping of women teacher Varinder Kaur, by Akali Sarpanch Balwinder SIngh Toti at Daula village in Mukatsar district on Sunday has come at an inappropriate time for Prakash Singh Badal –led SAD-BJP combine government with the state bracing up for the assembly polls approaching near.

The Indian government has asked Internet companies and social media sites like Facebook to prescreen user content from India and to remove disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content before it goes online.

Already facing a demand for a separate Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) from a section of Sikhs in Haryana, the management body for historical gurdwaras, could do well to listen to what the community leaders expect from them in this tiny hill state.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh will have his say in making amendments to the century-old Anand Marriage Act, being hotly debated in Sikh circles.

Hailed as a "wonder in the making", the Khalsa Heritage complex had been conceived on a scale with global perspective and located amidst rolling hills on a sprawling 100-acre estate inspired by the nearby Himalayan Mountains.

The Chhota Ghallughara Martyrs­ Memorial was opened Monday at Kahnuwan Chhamb in Gurdaspur district. It’s been built in the memory of over 11,000 Sikhs killed by Mughal troops at Kahnuwan Chhamb in 1746.

“It’s got this clang to it,” he said. “It’s one of those things that once you get that taste of it, then all of a sudden everything is lacking mustard oil.”

Jagtar Singh Jaggi is no ordinary professional. He earns his livelihood by tying turbans, which not many professionals in city would have thought of. He runs a shop " Jaggi Turban Training Centre" in Brown Road area where he ties turbans for his Sikh clients and also trains people in the art.

THE world hit seven billion people last week, and I think I met half of them on the road from New Delhi to Agra here in India. They were on foot, on bicycle, on motor scooters. They were in pickups, dented cars and crammed into motorized rickshaws.

He will be going through rare documents, manuscripts and historical images showing how the earliest English translations of Sikh/Punjabi texts came about. The presentation revolves around one Dr John Leyden from Scotland who went to India and translated Punjabi/Sikh texts into English.

Working on the same principles as a breathalyser, the device – if successful – could mark a breakthrough in the fight against TB, which claimed 1.4 million lives last year and is second only to HIV and Aids as the world's most deadly infectious disease.

This means that it should be possible to design a vaccine that blocks the parasite's development within an infected person – which, researchers believe, should prevent both the disease and its mosquito-borne transmission.

Shankar Lal, at age 63, wants to reclaim his native "House of Love" after living in exile in India for 20 years. The Hindu patriarch is from Prem Nagar, Hindi for House of Love, a once-prosperous Hindu village in southeastern Afghanistan that over the years has been absorbed by the neighboring city of Khost.

Siri Chund Malhotra could not control his tears of joy when he finally got the no objection certificate (NoC) to visit Swat, his birthplace.

Increasing human trafficking and continuous presence of female foeticide, infanticide has placed India as the world's fourth most dangerous place for women, as per a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters' Trustlaw Women, a hub of legal information and legal support for women's rights .

Being a fan of F1 racing and car racing ( Nascar, Indy 500), I can say that this is such a thrilling time for India in its sports history. Starting with the first ever F1 Indian Grand Prix (Watch Video) in Greater Noida, to be hosted on October 30, 2011, it's been an amazing journey for India.

India has "never been closer" to wiping out polio, India's health minister has declared as he marked World Polio Day. There have been no new cases for more than nine months, making it the longest polio-free period since the global eradication campaign was launched.

Our subcontinent needs to follow the footprints left behind by the great poets, sufi saints and the bhakts who preached and practised love and inclusiveness. This is the land of Tagore and Ghalib, of Bulleh Shah and Kabir, of Nanak and Moinuddin Chisti. It is their spirit that will guide us in this journey.

The government and the Hindu community were unable to break their deadlock over the divorce clause in the Hindu Marriage Act. The clause has proved contentious since the bill was drafted in 2008, with the government defying Hindu leaders who believe divorce is not part of their religion’s culture.

Tucked away in the remote corner of a far-flung region of Himachal Pradesh, nestled in the lap of the mighty Himalayas stands this unique institution that is toiling un-noticed and coming closer to its dream of showing the world “The way to permanent peace”.

India introduced a cheap tablet computer Wednesday, saying it would deliver modern technology to the countryside to help lift villagers out of poverty. ...latest in a series of "world's cheapest" innovations in India that include a $2,040 compact Nano car, a $15 water purifier and $2,000 open-heart surgery.