Asian Lite News Archive

Category: Punjab

  • SFJ Plans New Move For Referendum 2020

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    The secessionist Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has announced to recruit 1,000 “qualified referendum ambassadors” who will register voters in their respective assigned geographical areas for ‘Referendum 2020’…reports RAJNISH SINGH Indian anti-terror agencies have alerted law-enforcement agencies in different states after the banned pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) on Wednesday announced to undertake a door-to-door…

  • Punjab Police bust narco-terror racket with KLF links

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    Punjab Police have busted an international narco-terror racket with links to the banned Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) with the arrest of wanted heroin smuggler Rajinder Singh and a police constable who was allegedly facilitating safe movement of drugs and money during the lockdown period. Rajinder’s brother-in-law has also been arrested from Uttar Pradesh for his…

  • REVIEW: Surkhaab – Focus on migrants

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    Surkhaab tells the story of the flight of the reluctant immigrant…says Troy Ribeiro   Film: “Surkhaab”; Cast: Barkha Madan, Nishant Bahl, Vineeta Mallik, Sumeet Suri, Kanza Feris and Naresh Gosain; Director: Sanjay Talreja; Rating: ** Surkhaab, the beautiful migratory bird that’s found in Punjab is used as a metaphor in this film, and the title song “Des…

  • US ambassador walks down memory lane

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    It was a trip down memory lane for US Ambassador Richard R. Verma, whose visit to his maternal grandmother’s house in Punjab turned emotional on Thursday. As he stepped in the house in the narrow lane of Basti Sheikh in old Jalandhar, now owned by couple Rakesh Gupta and Priya Gupta, his immediate response was:…

  •  UNI HONOURS SINGH TWINS

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    The Singh Twins after being conferred with their Honorary Doctorates of Fine Art, outside Chester Cathedral…writes Asian Lite, UK’s No 1 newspaper for British Asians Acclaimed British artists, The Singh Twins, whose work as young art students was dismissed by their tutors as “backward, outdated and having no place in modern art” because it was…

  • Britain is Orange Too

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    Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha joined thousands celebrating Vaisakhi celebrations at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend. The prime minister said Britain  isn’t just red, white and blue – it’s orange too   Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha joined thousands celebrating Vaisakhi celebrations at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend. Cameron…

  • London Vaisakhi festival at City hall

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    The Mayor of London Boris Johnson unveiled a new look Vaisakhi Festival, which will enable a wider array of cultural activities to be presented. Following consultation with the Sikh community, the popular free event will take place on Saturday 11 April 2015 at City Hall and in The Scoop at More London, next to historic Tower Bridge. Vaisakhi is the most important day in the…

  • Cameron visits Gurudwara

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    Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Sikh Temple in Leamington Spa which serves the 4,000 local Sikhs. The Prime Minister took part in the prayer ceremony and spoke to members of the community.  He joined the volunteers to do Seva. He discussed a number of key issues with the Sikh community, which is one of the most…

  • Golden Temple in festive mood

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      The holiest of Sikh shrines, Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, was lighted up in festive spirit in this Sikh holy city in Punjab. Fireworks display and millions of lights around the whole complex saw thousands of devotees turning up for the occasion. The day is celebrated in the Sikh religion as ‘Bandi…

  • London Honours Sikh Icons

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    The World’s Richest Sikh, Malvinder Mohan Singh, wins Businessman Award at Fifth Annual World Sikh Awards London saw the fifth annual The Sikh Awards take place at the Plaza Hotel Westminster Bridge. Among the prestigious winners were Pardeep Singh Bahra, a rising young fashion entrepreneur and the face of international brand Samsung’s 2014 Alpha Smart Phone…

  • Rahul unites Punjab Congress leaders

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    Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Chandigarh  briefly “united” warring leaders of the party’s Punjab unit who were clearly told that if they did not work together, they will continue to sit in the opposition. At the meeting here, Gandhi gave a call to Congress leaders to launch the “Save Punjab” campaign across the…

  • Farmers urged to focus on basmati

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    Punjab wants farmers to grow Basmati …. reports Jaideep Sarin The Punjab government wants its farmers to diversify to other varieties of crops to reduce the burden on soil as well as water level from the water-guzzling common paddy variety. The farmers are being told to shift to growing the Basmati variety of paddy, which is…

  • Punjab seeks bailout from Centre

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      Stating that it was being penalised for fighting India’s battle against prolonged militancy, the Punjab government Monday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bail out the state from debt and other issues that were hampering its growth. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal met Modi…

  • INTERVIEW: Sukhbir Singh Badal

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    Punjab’s powerful Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal tells Jaideep Sarin that Modi govt. is very decisive and  will change system   The “decisiveness” in decision-making and “cutting red-tapism” of the Narendra Modi government at the centre will change the country’s governance system, Punjab’s powerful deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, feels. “He is moving in…

  • NRIs to fund new Sikh temple

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    Hundreds of NRIs and businessmen from across India wiill contribute a whopping Rs.600 crore to develop the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th guru of the Sikhs, on the lines of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, ahead of the guru’s 350th birth anniversary in 2017. Officials of the Takht Harmandir Saheb said NRIs from…

  • Tharoor at Golden Temple

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    Congress leader Shashi Tharoor pays obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar

  • Indira assassin movie faces ban

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    The Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) Saturday strongly opposed the permission granted for the screening of the controversial Punjabi movie ‘Kaum de Heere’, saying it glorifies the assassins of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PYC president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary said it was unfortunate that a movie that glorifies and…

  • INTERVIEW: Akal Takht chief Gurbachan Singh

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    Parminder Singh Bariana and Jaideep Sarin talk to Jathedar (chief) of the Akal Takht Gurbachan Singh. He is asking leaders to solve issue outside the courts Amid the controversy over the creation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) and the stand-off between Sikh leaders in Punjab and those in Haryana, the Jathedar (chief)…

  • PICS FROM PUNJAB

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    Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal attends a crucial core committee meeting at Amritsar. Haryana’s decision to create a separate Sikh forum to control Gurudwaras

  • Haryana move rocks SGPC

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     Jaideep Sarin  says Haryana’s move to create a Sikh body will undermine SGPC’s credibility. After Mahabharat and Panipat, it’s now the SGPC, a body which has an annual budget of Rs 950 crore  The land that is now called Haryana has been famous for epic battles like the Mahabharat and the three historic battles of Panipat.…

  • Punjab Newsletter by Jaideep Sarin

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    Jaideep Sarin is asking will Amritsar get the best of Amarinder, Jaitley?  The electorate in Amritsar may have preferred former Punjab chief minister and Congress leader Amarinder Singh over BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley, now the country’s powerful finance and defence minister, in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Residents of the Sikh holy city and the…

  • India to begin evacuations from Iraq

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    Nearly 600 Indians will be evacuated from Iraq this week, the external affairs ministry said Monday. “Departure of more than 600 Indian nationals will be facilitated during course of this week,” ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said. Asked if they would contact the insurgent group ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, also known…

  • Iran assures help in getting abducted Indians

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    Iran Thursday assured all possible help to India in seeking release of 39 workers, who were kidnapped by Sunni insurgents of the ISIS in Iraq’s Mosul last week. Following a series of meetings here with senior officials of the ministry of external affairs during which Iranian help was sought to end the hostage crisis, Iranian…

  • Why Punjabis taking Iraq jobs?

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    Jaideep Sarin and Parminder Singh Bariana visit Hoshiarpur in Punjab and Yamunanagar in Haryana to find out the reason for youths taking risky jobs in civil-war hit Iraq. Joblessness, better money drives youth to Iraq  Joblessness, poor land holdings, vice-like grip of the drug mafia and, of course, the lure of better money is what drives…

  • Efforts on for release of abducted Indians

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    The Indian government is in touch with agencies and countries that can be of help in securing the release of Indians who were rounded up by suspected Sunni militants in Mosul town of violence-hit Iraq, official sources here said Sunday. They said that all efforts were being made to secure release of the 39 Indian…

  • Nation in prayers for hostages

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    Scores of families and relatives of men from Punjab who have been held hostage or are stuck in strife-torn Iraq are offering prayers and reaching out to officials and ministers to ensure the safe return of their loved ones. At least 40 Indian construction workers, mostly from Punjab, have been abducted by Sunni insurgents from…

  • PICS: Punjabi Culture in Britain

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    Asian Lite’s Ragasudha Vinjamuri attended a reception hosted by the Speaker of House of Commons to mark  the contribution of Punjabis to Britain’s socio-economic sectors  The Punjabi Society of The British Isles celebrated Punjabi Culture in Britain at the Speaker’s House in the State Rooms of the Houses of Parliament. Speaker Mr John Bercow MP has…

  • Save the Children unveils Rs.50 cr plan

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    International NGO Save the Children  announced a Rs.50 crore plan to protect nearly 790,000 children living in communities in the cotton growing belt of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. “The long-term project will target children, who are engaged in cotton plucking, to keep them out of cotton fields and take them to classrooms where they can…

  • Sikhs protest in London

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    Thousands of Sikhs march through central London in protest over the storming of India’s Golden Temple 30 years ago. The protesters are seeking the assault of June 1984 be recognised as a genocide, BBC reported. Sikhs say thousands were murdered when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the army into Sikhism’s holiest shrine to flush…

  • NEWS N PICS – Clashes at Golden Temple

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    An uneasy calm prevailed at the Golden Temple complex here on the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar Friday following a clash between radical Sikh activists and SGPC task force volunteers in which 10 people were injured. Swords and sticks were freely used as scores of men from both sides chased one another outside the Akal Takht…

  • Uneasy calm at Golden Temple

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    An uneasy calm prevailed at the Golden Temple complex here on the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar Friday following a clash between radical Sikh activists and SGPC task force volunteers in which 10 people were injured. Swords and sticks were freely used as scores of men from both sides chased one another outside the Akal…

  • Groups clash inside Golden Temple

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    At least seven people, including a child, were injured in a clash between task force volunteers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and radical Sikh activists Friday on the 30th anniversary of the army’s Operation Bluestar at the Sikh shrine complex here. Swords and sticks were openly used as scores of men from both…

  • US Sikhs hire Hillary strategist

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    American Sikhs have hired a political consultant, who served as a strategist for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, for the first-ever exploration of creating positive perception about Sikhs among Americans. Geoffrey Garin, who also served as the pollster and strategic advisor to Priorities USA, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012, will…

  • Punjab’s artefact sold cheaply

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    Jaideep Sarin says a heritage scam brewing in Chandigarh. An iron manhole cover bearing the master plan of Chandigarh by its founder-architect Le Corbusier was sold as “junk” for a paltry Rs.100 ($1.70) by the authorities here. It fetched a whopping $21,000 (Rs.830,000) at a Christie’s auction in New York in 2007. Asian Lite, the best…

  • Drug rackets thrive in Punjab

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    Jaideep Sarin in his weekly newsletter for Asian Lite, the best newspaper for NRIs and Punjabi diaspora, looks into the rampant drugs racket and substance abuse in the state It is Punjab’s best kept secret and yet is talked about in virtually every household in the state. The rampant drugs racket and substance abuse in…

  • Meet the Badals!

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    Punjab’s ruling elite – the Badal family – is a ministry in itself. Monday’s inclusion of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of Punjab’s powerful Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has ensured that…

  • Guru Amar Das Jayanthi

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     Children participate in a religious procession organised on the birth anniversary of Guru Amar Das  in Amritsar

  • Punjab Newsletter – The Missing Millions 

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     Jaideep Sarin looks into the Punjab’s Rs 65,000-crore investment: Is it for real?  Asian Lite, top Asian newspaper in the UK, will carry regular columns from the Indian state. In the last three months, Punjab’s powerful Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has been preening over the success of last December’s “Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit”, claiming…