Ravinder Singh | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Slough and Eton Church of England Business and Enterprise College |
Occupation | CEO of Khalsa Aid |
Years active | 1999-Present |
Known for | Humanitarian work around the globe, Promoting sikhism |
Notable work | Founded Khalsa Aid 1999 Humanitarian Aid to Yazdi Families in Iraq escaped from ISIS |
Board member of | Khalsa Aid |
Awards | Sikh of the Year 2014 Bhagat Singh Thind community empowerment Award 2017 [2] Darpan Award 2017 [3] |
Ravinder "Ravi" Singh (born 16 September 1969 [4] ) is a British humanitarian and founder and CEO of the Sikh international non-profit aid and relief organization Khalsa Aid. [5]
Ravi has been working as a Sikh humanitarian since 1999, when he had the idea of taking the ideals of the Khalsa, to regions of the world that needed it the most with the hope that it will help to rekindle people’s trust in humanity. [6]
Ravi shot to fame in the UK in 2014 when he mobilized his charity to help the people of Somerset after heavy rain and high winds caused huge amounts of damage to property and land. [7] Later that year the people of Somerset nominated him to appear on the national hit TV show 'Surprise Surprise' as a way of saying thank you for his support. He received a family holiday and a new car. [8]
In 2015 Ravi helped the people of Nepal after an earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 25,000. He encouraged his newly made friends from Somerset to help. [9]
The BBC made a film about Ravi in 2016 titled 'The Selfless Sikh' which documented his journey to northern Iraq, where he provides aid to Yazidi families who have fled their homes to escape the brutality of Islamic State. [4] The film follows Singh into the heart of Iraqi Kurdistan as he delivers aid to Yazidi refugees in makeshift camps, barely 70 kilometres from the IS stronghold of Mosul. [10]
In 2016 Ravi's team assisted motorists stranded in the Dover traffic chaos by delivering 6000 water bottles. Some travelers spent up to 15 hours at a standstill on the M20. Ravi was praised widely on social media. Ravi Singh also stepped in to provide relief to flood victims in multiple Indian states impacted in the 2019 Indian floods. [11]
Sep 2018: Received 'The Award Of Excellence and Achievement' by the Punjabi Society Of British Isles at a ceremony in the British Parliament. [12]
May 2018: He refused the ‘Indian of the Year’ Award nomination for his humanitarian contributions because he does not identify himself as an Indian but as a Punjabi/Khalsa. [1]
Dec 2017: Honoured with the Bhagat Singh Thind Community Empowerment Award at a national gala dinner in Maryland USA. [13] [14]
Sep 2017: Received the 'International Sensation Award' at Darpan Awards ceremony in Surrey, Canada. [15]
Dec 2014: Awarded 'Sikh of the Year 2014' at an award ceremony in Amritsar [16] [17]
Bhagat Singh Thind was an Indian American writer and lecturer on spirituality who served in the United States Army during World War I and was involved in a Supreme Court case over the right of Indian people to obtain United States citizenship.
The Komagata Maru incident involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, on which a group of people from British India attempted to immigrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge, Calcutta. There, the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued, and they were fired upon by the police, resulting in the deaths of 22 people.
Guru Nanak Dev University is an Indian university in the Amritsar suburb of Kot Khalsa. It offers higher studies degree courses online. The university's campus is spread over 500 acres (200 ha).
Majha is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region split between India and Pakistan. It extends north from the right banks of the river Beas, and reaches as far north as the river Jhelum. People of the Majha region are given the demonym "Mājhī" or "Majhail". Most inhabitants of the region speak the Majhi dialect, which is the basis of the standard register of the Punjabi language. The most populous city in the area is Lahore on the Pakistani side, and Amritsar on the Indian side of the border.
Bhai Vir Singh was an Indian poet, scholar, and theologian of the Sikh revival movement, playing an important part in the renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. Singh's contributions were so important and influential that he became canonized as Bhai, an honorific often given to those who could be considered a saint of the Sikh faith.
American Sikhs form the country's sixth-largest religious group. While the U.S. Census does not ask about religion, 70,697 Americans declared Sikh as their ethnicity in the 2020 census. In the 2021 Canadian census, 194,640 Canadians declared Sikh as their ethnicity while 771,790 Canadians declared Sikh as their religion, indicating that the Sikh American population may be around 280,329, or 0.08% of the total population. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the adult Sikh American population at 78,000 in 2008. The Pew Research Center estimated the Sikh American adult population to be 140,000 and the total population at 200,000 in 2012 while the World Religion Database at Boston University estimated the American Sikh population to be at 280,000 in 2012. Sikh organizations like the Sikh Coalition and American Sikh Congressional Caucus estimate the Sikh American population to be as high as 1,000,000, but do not provide any sources for these figures; 500,000 nevertheless remains the most cited Sikh American population size. With 1% of Asian Americans being Sikh, and 90.7% of Sikh Americans being Asian American, the American Sikh population can be estimated at around 200,000-300,000 in 2021. The largest Sikh populations in the U.S. are found in California (52%), New York (11%), and Washington (6%).
Giani Gurdit Singh was born in Mithewal village in the state of Punjab, India. He was considered one of the greatest contemporary writers in Punjabi, and his book Mera Pind is regarded as a classic. It is now in its 14th edition and has been in print continuously since 1961. He was also a pioneering journalist, the Owner-Editor of Parkash 1947–1978. He was also the editor of Singh Sabha Patrika, a monthly magazine of Sikh history and divinity. Giani Gurdit Singh graduated as "Giani" from Punjab University, Lahore in 1945, and he specialised in literature, divinity, history and folklore. He was a member of the Punjab Legislative Council from 1956 to 1962. He contributed to the debates at that time and in the creation of Punjabi University, Patiala and the recognition of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, as the 5th Takht of the Sikhs. He was General Secretary of the Singh Sabha Shatabadi Committee, Amritsar, renamed Kendriya Sri Guru Singh Sabha. As the editor of the magazine Singh Sabha Patrika, he focused on issues of importance to the Sikhs. He also established two Guru Granth Vidya Kendras, one in Chandigarh and another in Mehrauli, Delhi.
S. Tarlochan Singh is an Indian politician. He is a Member of the Parliament of India, representing Haryana. He served as Chairman National Commission for Minorities from 2003 to 2006, was member, National Human Rights Commission of India, Govt. of India, 2003 to 2006. He served as Vice Chairman, National Commission for Minorities from 2000 to 2003.
Chhota Ghallughara was a massacre of a significant proportion of the Sikh population by the Mughal Empire in 1746. Mughal army killed an estimated 7,000 Sikhs in these attacks while an additional 3,000 Sikhs were taken captive. Chhōtā Ghallūghārā is distinguished from the Vaddā Ghallūghārā, the greater massacre of 1762.
Punjabi Americans, are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. There are over 300,000 Punjabi Americans, many of whom were Sikhs from British Punjab who first settled in California's Central Valley to do agricultural work.
Sikhs and Sikh Americans have served in the United States military since World War I through all subsequent wars. Since the 1980s, observant Sikhs have faced difficulty in serving due to a discontinuation of exemptions to uniform standards which previously allowed Sikhs to maintain their religiously mandated beards and turbans while in uniform.
Sahib Singh was a Sikh academic who made a contribution to Sikh literature. He was a grammarian, author, scholar and theologian. He was born in a Hindu family to father Hiranand and was named Natthu Ram.
Taragarh Talawa is a village which now officially called Taragarh located at two kilometers from Jandiala Guru, Amritsar district, Punjab, India on the Grand Trunk Road, located at 31° 33' 41N 75° 1'36E at an altitude of 229 m (754 ft).
Dr. Harcharan Singh (1914–2006) was an Indian dramatist and writer in the Punjabi language. He dedicated 69 years of his life to Punjabi theater, in which he authored 51 books and staged numerous plays all over the world.
The Battle of Amritsar, also known as the Battle of Gohalwar, was fought between the Durrani Empire and Shaheedan Misl of the Dal Khalsa on 11 November 1757. Following the fourth invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani, his army was attacked by Sikh bands under the command of Ala Singh and Baba Deep Singh. Following the attacks, Ahmad Shah desecrated the Sikh holy site known as the Shri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. The news of the desecration reached Baba Deep Singh who vowed to liberate the holy site from the Afghans. This resulted in a pitched battle being fought in the village of Gohalwar, near Amritsar. The battle resulted in Baba Deep Singh being killed. The exact result of the battle is disputed among historians.
Sajjan Singh Rangroot is a 2018 Indian Punjabi-language war drama film directed by Pankaj Batra. It stars Diljit Dosanjh, Yograj Singh and Sunanda Sharma. The movie is based on a true story about the experiences of Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army fighting on the Western Front during World War I. The movie was released on 23 March 2018 to coincide with the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh. On release, the film got positive reviews from both critics and audience. The movie is expected to be dubbed into Hindi by Cinekorn Entertainment and English. Sajjan Singh Rangroot is eighth highest grossing Punjabi film of all time and third highest-grossing film of 2018.
Khalsa Aid, founded in 1999, is a UK based international non profit humanitarian organization providing support to victims of natural and man made disasters around the world. The organization has been acknowledged for providing relief during 2016 London floods, in war-affected Syria in 2015, setting up refugee camps for Rohingyas on Bangladesh-Myanmar border in 2017, helping in rebuilding Kerala after 2018 floods, and feeding NHS workers in the UK and the poor in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sardar Gulab Singh alias Gulaba Singh Rathod was the founder of Dallewalia Misl, one of the sovereign states of the Sikh confederacy that rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region. The Dallewalia and Nishanwalia Misl were stationed as a reserve force at Amritsar to protect the holy city and tackle any emergency. The Amritsar and the Punjab region was subject to raids by the Afghans led by Ahmad Shah Abdali therefore the Sikhs had created misls to defend the Punjab region and push back the invaders.