The over 50,000-strong Sikh community in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam say they are a neglected lot with neither the Assam nor the Punjab governments giving them due recognition, Press Trust of India reported. Mostly scattered in Nagaon and Sonitpur districts, the Assamese Sikhs, as they have come to be known, trace their origin to 1820 when Maharaja Ranjit Singh sent 500 Sikh soldiers to... 

Sikh community leaders in the Capital reacted with caution to the Delhi High Court ruling that requires all women pillion riders to wear helmets. Most representatives said though the decision was good for “women’s safety” but if it wasn’t in line with their religion they wouldn’t follow it. They put the onus on the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, to... 

In a significant move, Government will bring in a bill in Parliament’s Budget Session to make registration of marriages compulsory under a law for mandatory recording of births and deaths, notwithstanding one’s religious affiliation, thereby providing legal protection especially in cases of inter-religious matrimony. The Union Cabinet today also approved introduction of the Anand Marriage... 

The CBI on Monday questioned the “conduct” of Delhi Police while investigating a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case involving senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a court here alleging it had not recorded the statements of witnesses in a fair manner. Resuming the final arguments before District Judge J R Aryan, CBI prosecutor and senior advocate R S Cheema said the Delhi police official, who had gone... 

“We are concerned that the Budget measure will not just impact one company like Vodafone but will damage the overall climate for investment in India,” the Chancellor told reporters in New Delhi after attending the third annual bilateral Economic and Financial Dialogue with his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee. In his recent Budget, Mr Mukherjee proposed arbitrarily changing the country’s... 

“Just two months ago, worried about their slowing economy, Indian officials were promising to promote policies to make the country more hospitable to foreign investment,” Vikas Bajaj writes in The New York Times. “Instead, the government has done the opposite — proposed a budget festooned with new taxes that would make it more difficult and expensive for outsiders to invest here.” Political... 

Bikram Singh will be next Army chief Second Sikh to head the Indian army after Gen. J J Singh New Delhi: Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh will be the next Indian Army chief, it was announced Saturday thus ending months of a bitter succession row originating from the disputed age of incumbent General V.K. Singh. Bikram Singh, 59, will be the first army chief who joined the 1.13-million strong force after the 1971... 

Kishori Lal (48), lodged in Tihar Jail since 1996, will soon be a free man. Lal, convicted of multiple murders in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, is serving life term. Acting on the recommendations of the state Sentence Review Board (SRB), Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Tejendra Khanna recently commuted the sentence of Lal and 14 other life convicts to give them a chance to “reform and rehabilitate... 

Indian PM Manmohan Singh says his government has moved “substantially forward” in tackling corruption but still has a “long way” to go. In a speech in Delhi, Mr Singh said he was confident a strong anti-corruption bill would still pass in parliament, despite failing in the upper house. The bill envisages setting up an independent ombudsman, or Lokpal. Mr Singh also confirmed... 

PATIALA : After the assembly polls in Punjab have concluded, the Sikh community is about to witness another battle for ballot with the general elections of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) falling on March 11. The DSGMC has announced a “Guru Harkrishsn help health insurance scheme” for economically weaker Sikh families settled in Delhi.The president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi)...