The Tribune – Khalsa College principal proposes ‘Sikh Marriage Act, 2012’

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 13. Even as the debate over the absence of divorce clause in the Anand Marriage Amendment Bill 2012 continues, Khalsa College principal and legal luminary Daljeet Singh has prepared the draft of a ‘Sikh Marriage Act, 2012’.

The Chief Khalsa Diwan intends to send this draft to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for “further action”.

Talking to The Tribune, Daljeet Singh said he was entrusted with the responsibility of preparing the draft of a marriage Act for Sikhs during a meeting of the Chief Khalsa Diwan in September last year.

He said he had already apprised Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh of the need for the Sikhs to have a ‘complete’ marriage Act.

Dwelling on the draft, Daljeet said it had all the provisions, which made it  ‘complete’. He said the draft had been prepared keeping in view the Sikh maryada (code of conduct). It thoroughly dealt with issues like the definition of Sikh and ‘Anand Karaj’, divorce, alimony and property rights. The draft did not provide for gay marriages.

Daljeet Singh said a separate marriage Act for Sikhs was not a political demand but a legal one as also a constitutional right of the community. He said other already minorities had separate laws: “The Muslims have the Muslim Personal Law and the Christians the Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and the Christian Divorce Act.”

On the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, he said the Act came into being at a time when there was a lot of confusion regarding the rituals performed during Anand Karaj. The Act gave recognition to the ‘Anand Karaj’ ceremony being performed in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib.

However, Sikh marriages continued to be registered under the Hindu Marriage Act. “The Anand Marriage Act has been force since then and the amendment being made now will facilitate registration of Sikh marriages under the Act. However, this is not a complete Act and shortcomings will remain even after the amendment,” Daljeet Singh maintained.

The draft prepared by him will be presented at the Chief Khalsa Diwan meeting on May 15 and then sent to the Prime Minister after due deliberations.

A Bill granting validity to Sikh marriages solemnised under the Anand Marriage Act was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on May 7 by Minister of Law and Justice Salman Khurshid.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120514/punjab.htm#10

The Tribune – Canadian police to join probe: Victim’s brother

Mohit Khanna, Tribune news Service

Ludhiana, May 13. With the Jagraon police failing to locate the remains of 22-year-old NRI Amanpal Singh, whose body was packed in a suitcase and thrown in the Sirhind Feeder Canal, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is going to initiate a probe into the mysterious death case that led to the busting of a fake marriage nexus.

Amanpal’s brother, Tajinder Singh, said: “I have spoken to Canadian High Commission officials and they have assured me that the RCMP would also probe the case along with the Jagraon police. Further, the officials have assured me that strict action would be taken again Robin alias Rob of Brampton in Canada, an agent who offers a large sum of money to jobless youth of Indian origin in Canada for fake marriages.”

Tajinder, who slammed the police theory of suicide and claimed that his brother was murdered, said the Jagraon police would take his blood sample for DNA profiling. “The police will match my DNA samples with bodies and remains found in the canal. I strongly believe that the accused are taking the police for a ride. They have killed my brother and dumped his body somewhere else.”

The Jagraon police said Canadian resident Amanpal, who was here to formulate a contract marriage, committed suicide in a hotel room located in Mullahpur on the intervening night of January 24-25.

The accused, including Kulwant Singh, his relative Aman, Karamjit Kaur alias Kammo and hotel owner Gulshan Rai, packed Amanpal’s body in a suitcase and threw it in the Sirhind Feeder Canal on January 26.

The matter was kept under wraps for nearly three months and when Tajinder Singh brought the issue to the notice of DIG MF Farooqui, a probe was started and the accused were nabbed.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120514/punjab.htm#13

The Asian Age – Farmer generates power from poultry waste

Tanveer Thakur, Asian Age Correspondent

Chandigarh, 14 May 2012. In a rare initiative, a farmer of Haryana, Ramehar Singh of Silani village in Jhajjar district, has installed a 50-KW capacity poultry litter-based biogas power plant at his poultry farm using poultry waste as feed material.

Showing the way to other farmers by his enterprise by running his 65 KVA (50-KW) biogas plant for 14 hours a day for the last three months, this self-reliant farmer now saves about `1 lakh per month. Confident of meeting his power needs, he has got his state electricity board connection disconnected.

Mr Ramehar Singh has been running poultry farm for 20 years on power supplied by state electricity board and on a diesel genset and paying monthly charges of 45,000 apart from diesel bill of 1.2 lakhs every month. However, after the installation of power plant he does not pay any electricity bill and his diesel cost has been reduced by half.

Mr Singh’s initiative to convert litter into fuel for power plant has helped him save about `1 lakh every month. He installed three biogas digesters of 85 CUM each at the cost of `30.3 lakhs.

Keeping in view the success of litter-based power plant and available potential in the state, the state government has organised a one-day visit of about 100 poultry farm owners from various districts last week to the farm of Ramehar Singh for first-hand experience of power generation from poultry litter and to enable them to gain from Mr Singh’s experience.

As per government information, there are about 30 million poultry heads in Haryana.

http://www.asianage.com/india/farmer-generates-power-poultry-waste-681

9 April 2012 Sint-Truiden Ten Day Gatka Academy

Sint-Truiden Easter Gatka Academy

Sint-Truiden Easter Gatka Academy

Sint-Truiden Easter Gatka Academy

Sint-Truiden Easter Gatka Academy

To see more Sangat Sahib Gurdwara related pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157624495772533/

More Belgium pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – No end to misery of debt-trapped Moonak farmers

Umesh Dewan, Tribune News Service

Moonak (Sangrur), May 13. Despite cases of suicide among debt-trapped farmers in the state, the state and central governments have till date not found a solution to the problem which is assuming alarming proportions.

The Tribune team travelled to dozens of villages in the Moonak subdivision of Sangrur district and found that the fiscal condition of most farmers was dismal. Unable to repay loans taken from arhtiyas (commission agents), the farmers are resorting to suicide.

There have been cases where more than one person in a family has committed suicide.

The book “Debt and Death in Rural India —the Punjab Story” says that there have been 1,774 cases of suicide in Moonak from 1988 to 2008. Nothing much has changed since then with Meghnath (45) of Chotian village in Moonak committing suicide on April 29, 2012, by consuming poison.

“Because of water scarcity, the crop yield was never good. Also, the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the Centre is low. In order to meet household expenses, Meghnath, who owned two acres of land, took loan from money-lenders. Under pressure to repay the loan, he committed suicide”, said Balbir Singh, the deceased’s brother.

Village residents say 35 farmers in Chotian have committed suicide in the past few years.

Malkit Kaur of Bakhora Kalan narrated a heart-rending story. “Under a Rs 4 lakh debt, my husband Ramphal committed suicide seven years ago. Thereafter, his younger brother’s wife, Gurmeet, also committed suicide because of the family’s poor economic condition. Till date, none from the government has approached us for any assistance on humanitarian grounds.”

During interaction with residents of Balran, Phulad, Hamirgarh and Karail, it came to light that every third family in these villages had seen a family member commit suicide.

“The state government must help those in a debt-trap. Also, the MSP should be raised and marginal farmers be provided assistance on a lower interest rate through financial institutions. Only then can the poor farmers be saved,” said sarpanch of Bakhora Kalan, Sant Joga Singh.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120514/punjab.htm#3

BBC News – India parliament row over Dalit icon Ambedkar cartoon

Friday, 11 May 2012. A row over a cartoon showing Dalit icon Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in a school textbook has disrupted India’s parliament.

Opposition MPs said the cartoon was “disrespectful” to Ambedkar and forced several adjournments of both houses of parliament on Friday.

Education Minister Kapil Sibal later said the cartoon would be removed.

It shows former PM Jawaharlal Nehru holding a whip while standing behind Ambedkar, who sits on a snail, to speed up work on drafting the constitution.

The cartoon, by iconic Indian illustrator Shankar Pillai, first appeared in his magazine, Shankar’s Weekly, in 1949.

B R Ambedkar, a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi, authored and shaped the constitution for independent India.

“This is an insult on Indian democracy. The government should intervene and take strong action against those who are involved in this,” Dalit politician and member of the Rajya Sabha [upper house] Mayawati told reporters outside parliament.

“If it fails to do so, we will wait for two to three days or else our party will not allow the House to run,” she said.

Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan said it was “highly deplorable” to include the cartoon in a textbook.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said without Ambedkar’s efforts, India’s constitution could not have been framed within “a short time of three years”.

Following the protest, Mr Sibal apologised for the cartoon and said it would be removed from the textbooks next year.

“I am willing to personally apologise for it [the cartoon] though I was not the minister at that time in 2006 [when the cartoon was included in the textbook]. I was not involved in the publication of the books,” he told reporters outside parliament.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18031128