Spinning Wheel Film Festival - Sikhs on the Silver Screen
Editorial
The festival holds a valuable place in the Sikh community's social calendar, and shows films and documentaries from India, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere that are otherwise not easily accessible to viewers.

Now, Hindu Nationalists Rewriting California Textbooks
By Angana Chatterji
The revisions posit Hinduism as indigenous to India and ascribed with its origins, rendering mute the histories of adivasis (tribal, first peoples) and their subjugation by Hindus. On page 238, the Ad Hoc Committee proposed, and the Curriculum Commission accepted, that the current text, 'The Aryans created a caste system' be replaced with: 'During Vedic times, people were divided into different social groups (varnas) based on their capacity to undertake a particular profession.'

Related Articles

New Battleground In Textbook Wars: Religion in History

Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselyisation) of Adivasis in the Dangs, Gujarat
By Citizen’s Inquiry Committee Report
A people’s investigation was undertaken regarding plans to organise what is being described as a massive Shabri Kumbh in the tribal district of Dangs in Gujarat, on Feb 11-13, 2006. Organisations affiliated to the Sangh with the open support of the BJP state government are strenuously mobilising around 5 lakh adivasis and Hindutva activists to attend this gathering, in a remote and socially and environmentally highly sensitive and vulnerable forested region.

Betrayals and Missed Opportunities
The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005
ANHAD, HRLN, Jan Vikas Report
Anti-communal groups, human rights organizations and women's groups have expressed their strong opposition to the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill which the UPA government recently tabled in Parliament. Earlier drafts of this bill were rejected by these citizen groups, but few of their concerns have been addressed in the Bill which was hurriedly tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 5, 2005.

Against the Grain: Pakistan, Islam and Indian Media Stereotypes
By Yoginder Sikand
Almost all the many people I met in the course of a recent month-long visit to Pakistan that took me to several places in Punjab and Sindh do not even remotely fit the description of the average Pakistani peddled by our media. Islamist radical groups undeniably do have an important presence in parts of Pakistan, but they certainly do not command widespread popular support all over the country.

Health Care in Free Fall as Medical Staff Flee Country
By Danny Chan
According to a representative of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, the mass exodus of medical professionals from the Philippines has resulted in the closure of as many as 1,000 private hospitals over the past five years. Speaking at the association’s annual convention in Manila on Nov. 22, Dr Antonio Chang said approximately 700 private hospitals remain across the Philippine archipelago.

My Two Year Old Can Read!
By Marsh Kaminsky
To start, I began to teach Daniel the basic building blocks of reading -- the letters of the alphabet and their sounds (phonics). That turned out to be the wisest possible beginning. A friend gave me Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever, which has the alphabet on the first two pages. In the most entertaining ways possible, I taught Daniel the alphabet, both lower and upper case.

Rare Flower Discovered in Mindanao
By Danny Chan
Mr Madulid further asked local newspapers to refrain from revealing the flower’s exact location out of fears that onlookers might inadvertently destroy the flower or its vine. If ratified, the flower will be only the fourth rafflesia found across the Philippine archipelago.

Happy New Being
By John W. Cargile
New Year’s resolutions are made, but mostly broken early on after making some sort of commitment, but there is one resolution that can never be broken, and that is being born again in the Spirit and, for Christians, of water (baptism)”.

Atrocities on Women Through the Ages
By Zoya Zaidi
Ages have come and gone and eras will come and go, but the plight of women is not likely to change. For eons, time has helplessly watched excesses done on women in the form of discrimination, oppression, exploitation, degradation, aggression, humiliation, you name it and women have suffered it.

Bridging the Thar: Resuming the Sindh-Rajasthan Railway Link
By Yoginder Sikand
Last week I was in Sindh, and the resumption of the Rajasthan-Sindh rail link was a major issue in the local press and in conversations I had with numerous people. Most Muhajirs, migrants from different parts of India and now mainly living in urban centres in Sindh, are enthusiastic about the development.

Biblical God (Conclusion)
Jaspal Singh and G.B. Singh present their concluding arguments on the topic of Biblical God which are being published in the current issue of SikhSpectrum.com

Gandhi - The Prefix of Mahatama
By Bhupinder Singh
Deserved or not Gandhi accepted the usage to further progress in his chosen field. It is no secret that the simple and deeply religious masses, in the midst of turmoil created by the World War and freedom movement, raised him to new heights as a result of his newly acquired 'super status' of 'mahatma'. Gandhi was now raised to the level of Gods and Devtas.

Abuse of Power: Reflecting on Historical Lessons and Domestic Violence
By Dalbir S. Sehmby
Domestic violence is a serious social ill that, for any number of reasons, is a problem throughout varying nations, cultures, and communities. Domestic abuse, typically the perpetration of male violence, is an inexcusable crime. Unfortunately, men who abuse women, specifically husbands who abuse their wives, may claim that they are not to blame for their violent behavior.

Punjab on the Brink of Suicide
By Amrik Singh
The plight of farmers has been a burning topic for more than a decade. Studies have been carried out on farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It is surprising to note that a majority of research to ascertain causes for suicide and carried out by the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad disregarded suicides by farmers in Punjab.

A Study of Siddha Goshti in Guru Granth Sahib
By N. Muthumohan
The hypothesis of the paper is that there existed a creative tension and rupture between the Siddhas and the Guru, particularly in discussions of ethics and devotion, inwardness and outwardness, elitism and popular consciousness that finally determined the becoming of the Sikh philosophy in all its originality and identity.

Status of Sikhs - Sharing the Benefits
By Nanak Singh Nishter
You would agree that unless each and every minority community gets its share in development, the concept of development of the Nation does not fulfil itself. That is how several minority welfare schemes have been introduced, but failed to achieve their desired results.

Lions, Princesses and Gurus: Reaching Your Sikh Neighbour
Book Review
By G.B. Singh
It has been nearly ten years since this book was published in England and as far as I can recollect there has not been one Sikh response. May I ask why? For all essential purposes this is a cookbook on how to convert Sikhs into Christianity and perhaps first of its kind.

W. H. McLeod’s Interpretation of Guru Nanak’s Bani
By Baldev Singh
Professor W. H. McLeod has claimed that Guru Nanak accepted the theory of karma and transmigration, but Aad Guru Granth Sahib, which is the only authentic source of Guru Nanak’s teachings, rejects these beliefs unequivocally. Misinterpretation of the bani (sacred hymns) of Aad Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS) and the misrepresentation of Sikhism is not a new thing.

Sadhu Sundar Singh
In this discussion, Reverand Zekveld and G.B. Singh discuss the life of Sadhu Sundar Singh who was born in 1889 in the village Rampur in Punjab.

Misrepresenting Sikhism as Vedantic Philosophy
By Devinder Singh Chahal
My analysis of various interpretations of the Aad Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS), in English and Punjabi available in the market, shows that these are mainly literal translations without any consideration to interpret the original theme or philosophy in the Sabd. Moreover, Gurbani has been interpreted in the past and is being interpreted now in such a way to show that the Gurbani is based mainly on Vedantic philosophy.

Sikhism: A Religion for the Third Millennium
A Postmodernist Perspective
By Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia
A number of qualitatively new metaphysical points - with revolutionary sociological implications - are involved in the Sikh concept of the Absolute as the dynamic Spirit. For the first time in the history of Indian speculative thought, Sikh metaphysics brought in the conception of historical time, of the historicity of time.

Alien Land Act and Punjabi Pioneers of California
Book Review
By Amrik Singh
One of the most difficult tasks for an intellectual is to recover the lost history from the margins of times. Stories of toil and trials remain buried under twists and turns of those at the helm of affairs. Dr. Nirmal S. Mann’s reconstruction of Pakhar Singh’s life is emblematic of towering Punjabi pride that blossoms in the distant lands in spite of all-pervasive threats to its existence.

The Legacy of Rishis and Munis
By Baldev Singh
Since 1947 Hindu intellectuals have started rewriting Indian history. They blame the British and Muslim rulers for the ills and the division of Indian society. However, they forget that their ancestors, the so-called Aryans, were also invaders / conquerors who destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization of the native Indians known as Dravidians.

Naming and Sikh Religion: Culture, Tradition and Global Impact
By M.S. Ahluwalia
With the evolution of languages humans have always tried to name things. It is therefore not surprising that everyone has a name that uniquely identifies them. All human beings are given names quite early in their lifetimes. These names are the tags we wear for the rest of our lives and it differentiate us from one another.

A Father Remembers His Son
By M.P.S. Bedi
Pirthi’s last posting was in Wembly Police Station where the Commander Mr. Andy Bamber has dedicated "Pirthi Bedi Conference Hall" at the Wembly Police Staton with his portrait hanging on the wall. As a further mark of respect, Metropolitan Police in London has put a plaque "In Loving memory of PC Pirthi Bedi QK 127, 5th July 1980- 7th December 2004” on the outside of the Hayes Police Station Building.