Latest news with #Sikhism
Mint
10 hours ago
- General
- Mint
Best of the Week: From Amritsar's aam papad to mango orchards in crisis
Narrow lanes where history lingers, vibrant bazaars, and centuries-old temples—Amritsar has always been a city of stories. As the largest city on the Indian side of Punjab, it's known not just as the spiritual home of Sikhism, but also as a destination for serious food lovers. I was in the city last week and, unsurprisingly, spent a good deal of time eating. One local favourite that stood out was the aam papad. These chewy sheets of sun-dried mango pulp—sometimes sweet, sometimes spiced—are a popular treat across Punjab. While the region doesn't grow many mangoes, it certainly knows how to preserve the fruit and enjoy it year-round. But while the aam papad holds its own, India's mangoes are facing a tough time. Once hailed as the 'king of fruits', the mango is now caught in a perfect storm amid declining orchard health, increasing chemical use, and erratic weather patterns. Over 70% of India's mangoes are now grown using paclobutrazol, a chemical that forces early flowering and ripening at the cost of quality. Traditional practices are being sidelined in favour of short-term gains. Climate change is worsening the situation. In key mango-growing states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, unusual rain and heat are disrupting flowering and harvests. Despite producing over 23 million tonnes of mangoes annually, India's average yield remains stagnant at 9.5 tonnes per hectare. Exports? Less than 0.5%, largely due to the fruit's short shelf life and poor supply chain infrastructure. So while Amritsar's aam papad hits all the right notes, the mango story behind it is slowly turning bittersweet. Over the past decade, smartphones have driven India's electronics manufacturing, with 99% of the devices sold in the country now assembled locally. Thanks to the government's ₹ 1.9 trillion productivity-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, mobile phone exports soared from ₹ 1,566 crore in 2014 to ₹ 1.2 trillion in 2024. Yet, 85-90% of the electronic component value is still imported. India's assembly-heavy model adds just 10-15% value, leaving the country's ambitions to become a global manufacturing hub incomplete. To fix this, the government launched a ₹ 22,919 crore component PLI scheme to localise critical inputs like camera modules and printed circuit boards. But making components is far more complex than assembling phones as it demands deep engineering, high-precision manufacturing, and a long-term ecosystem play. Despite sluggish earnings growth, Indian companies handed out a record ₹ 4.9 trillion in dividends in FY25, with more than half going to promoters. A Mint analysis of 496 BSE 500 companies shows promoters took home ₹ 2.5 trillion, led by private-sector owners, who saw a 36% rise in payouts. Those with over 70% ownership reaped the biggest gains—up 45% year-on-year—raising questions about whether boards are prioritising shareholder value or promoter cash-outs. As dividends outpace profits, a key question emerges: are promoters milking cash cows or managing capital wisely? India is ramping up its energy security playbook by planning six new strategic petroleum reserves, aiming to expand emergency crude stockpiles to 90 days of import cover. Engineers India Ltd is conducting feasibility studies, with sites including Mangalore SEZ and Bikaner's salt caverns. This push comes as oil markets face renewed volatility, especially the threat of disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, a key supply route for India's 5.5 million barrels-per-day crude needs. But with high costs, geopolitical uncertainties, and the ongoing energy transition, the question is: can India build the reserves fast enough to weather the next crisis? India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is probing the Air India AI-171 crash, having recovered both black boxes, a flight data recorder, and a cockpit voice recorder. These devices hold critical clues, recording flight dynamics and cockpit conversations. However, reports suggest that one black box may be sent overseas for deeper analysis, raising questions about the capabilities of India's new ₹ 9 crore black box lab. Though civil aviation minister K. Rammohan Naidu denied shortcomings, experts say India's investigation framework lacks alignment with global standards. For years, stocks of small and medium enterprises were known for one-way doors—easy to buy, hard to sell—thanks to thin liquidity. Many investors preferred betting on private companies over getting stuck in a trade they couldn't exit. But that's changing. A post-pandemic wave of risk-hungry investors and regulatory nudges has breathed fresh life into SME listings. What was once an overlooked niche is now drawing serious interest. But is this a sustainable boom or just another frothy detour in India's equity story? DLF raked in ₹ 21,223 crore in FY25 residential sales, driven by blockbuster Gurugram launches. Yet, it's guiding a cautious ₹ 20,000-22,000 crore for FY26, even as its rivals are more bullish. The company is playing a long game: zero debt in its development arm, ₹ 1 trillion worth of launches over five years, and expansion into Mumbai and Goa. Its rental arm, DCCDL, is also booming with malls, offices, and data centres. While DLF's NCR-heavy bets pose concentration risk, its land bank, pricing power, and delivery record give the company an edge. Liquor stocks are soaring even as the broader FMCG sector struggles. Radico Khaitan and United Spirits lead the rally, riding a cocktail of low input costs, booming premium sales, and favourable policies like the India-UK free trade agreement. India's ₹ 40 billion liquor market is now the fastest-growing globally, with luxury consumption accelerating. Yet, regulatory uncertainty looms large; every Indian state is a market unto itself. High valuations (some over 100x earnings) make these stocks pricey. But analysts remain bullish, betting on brand strength, premiumization, and rising per capita consumption. A 22-year-old family feud at Sun TV has resurfaced, with former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran legally challenging brother Kalanithi Maran's 75% stake in the ₹ 23,000-crore media empire. Dayanidhi alleges Kalanithi acquired control of Sun TV via questionable transactions between 2003 and 2005, including undervalued share allotments. Sun TV calls it a family matter with no business impact. Legal experts say Dayanidhi may face hurdles due to the time lapse, but claims of fraud could keep the case alive. Read this explainer to get the complete picture. Amid a fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire, India is readying a Plan B to protect its oil supply from potential Strait of Hormuz disruptions. State-run refiners are in talks to use Saudi and UAE pipelines while boosting US imports and tapping global reserves. Over 30% of India's import bill comes from crude oil, and supply shocks can impact economic growth. Though supplies seem secured, pricing remains a concern. Freight and insurance costs are rising, but officials say India is prepared to navigate any escalation, thanks to strategic ties and diversified sourcing. India's plan to locally produce rare earth magnets has hit major roadblocks even as China tightens exports. With IREL Ltd operating at half capacity and no domestic magnet manufacturing, automakers are vulnerable. Import duties, raw material shortages, and lack of tech access further delay progress. Though the government is considering subsidies and new sourcing options, officials admit there's no quick fix. For now, India must depend on China or ramp up recycling and strategic imports to secure EV and defence supply chains. That's all for this week, I hope you have a pleasant weekend! If you have feedback, want to talk about food, or have anything else to say about our journalism, write to me at or reply to this mail. You can also write to feedback@ Subscriber Experience Team
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee forms 34-member panel for Akal Takht jathedar service rules, excludes Sri Guru Singh Sabha and DSGMC
1 2 Amritsar: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has constituted a 34-member committee, comprising heads of various religious organisations, Sikh scholars, intellectuals and others, to draft service rules for the jathedar of Akal Takht. However, the Sri Guru Singh Sabha, one of the oldest Sikh institutions, has objected to its exclusion, along with some other prominent Sikh bodies, from the committee's composition. An SGPC statement issued here on Thursday announced that SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami had formed the committee. However, Sri Guru Singh Sabha general secretary Harmanjit Singh questioned whether the exclusion of several important Sikh institutions by the SGPC was a deliberate attempt to distance these bodies from the SGPC and Akal Takht. He said Sri Guru Singh Sabha, established in 1873 for the propagation of Sikhism and still actively contributing to the Panth, was one of the oldest Sikh organisations. "The exclusion of such prominent Sikh institutions committed to Sikh representation and dedicated to Akal Takht raises serious concerns about the intentions of the SGPC," he said. He asked Dhami to reconsider and include representatives from such prominent organisations, which, he said, would help keep the Panth united under Akal Takht. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trading CFD dengan Teknologi dan Kecepatan Lebih Baik IC Markets Mendaftar BOX Delhi gurdwara body slams exclusion The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Thursday took exception to being excluded from the 34-member committee constituted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to draft service rules for the jathedar of Akal Takht. In a statement issued by its president Harmeet Singh Kalka and general secretary Jagdip Singh Kahlon, DSGMC said SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami was indulging in favouritism towards the Badal family. They accused him of excluding representatives from DSGMC and the Prabandhak Committee of the Takhat Sri Harimandir Ji Patna Saheb from the 34-member panel. They said DSGMC was the second-largest panthic body after SGPC, and excluding it exposed Dhami's partiality.
India Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Delhi University professors divided over removal of papers on Islam, Pakistan, China
Delhi University faces backlash after its decision to drop postgraduate papers on Islam, Pakistan, and China. It has sparked intense debate in academic circles after its Standing Committee for Academic Matters decided to remove several proposed elective papers from the postgraduate Political Science removed subjects include Islam and International Relations, Pakistan and the World, China's Role in the Contemporary World, and State and Society in course titled Religious Nationalism and Political Violence has been held back for review in the upcoming committee meeting scheduled on July REACTIONS TO THE DECISION The move has not gone down well with several committee members. Professor Monami Sinha voiced strong opposition, calling the change an act of ideological warned that removing such papers undermines critical academic enquiry, especially at a time when understanding regional geopolitics is crucial."We argued that it is imperative to study Pakistan and China in detail. Ignoring these geopolitical realities would be academically short-sighted," Professor Sinha also raised concerns over the removal of references to caste, communal violence, and same-sex relationships from the revised Sociology and Geography CALL FOR AN INDIA-FIRST SYLLABUSOn the other hand, some members supported the decision, asserting that the current syllabus was "agenda-driven" and lacked balance. Committee member Professor Harendra Tiwari questioned the selective inclusion of only a paper on Islam and International Relations? Why not on Hinduism or Sikhism?' as quoted by to him, the committee's goal is to create a curriculum that is "India-centric" and unbiased, serving national academic made it clear that the dropped courses will not be reinstated unless they align with an India-first academic DISCUSSION AHEADThe topic remains unsettled, and the upcoming meeting on July 1 is expected to see further deliberation on the revised issue has not only triggered a division within the committee but has also raised broader questions about academic freedom, inclusivity, and political influence in higher this debate unfolds, students and faculty await clarity on what direction Delhi University's curriculum will ultimately take.(With inputs from PTI)- Ends
India Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
YouTuber Kamal Kaur's murder, morality and silence: Is Punjab drifting backwards?
Amritsar-based social media influencer Deepika Luthra recently deleted her Instagram account after receiving life threats from radical elements, who had been objecting to her content. This was despite the police providing her days ago, on June 11, Kamal Kaur, a Punjabi YouTuber known to her fans as 'Kamal Bhabhi', was found murdered—strangled and dumped in a canal near Bathinda in Punjab. The killing, carried out allegedly by a Nihang Sikh named Amritpal Singh Mehron and his accomplices, sent shockwaves across the state's online community over a broad pattern of intimidation of social media personalities in followed Kamal Kaur's murder was even more chilling. Giani Malkeet Singh, the head granthi of the Akal Takht—the highest temporal seat of Sikhism—came out to purportedly justify the crime. 'As per Sikh religious teachings,' he said, 'nobody, including Hindus and Muslims, should listen to obscene songs, especially the young Sikh generation.' He blamed Kamal Kaur for corrupting minds, as if hinting that her killing was, in a sense, an act of religious the state police are cracking down on some 100 social media accounts that justified such endorsements even as minister Aman Arora, who is also the Punjab chief of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has urged citizens not to panic. This is not the first time an act of extrajudicial violence in Punjab has found implicit—or even explicit—support from the Sikh clergy. In 2021, a Dalit man was lynched at the Golden Temple premises after being accused of sacrilege. His murder was caught on camera, yet no one from the Sikh institutions or political leadership condemned it 2023, Sudhir Suri, a Hindu outfit leader, was gunned down in Amritsar. The alleged assailant, Sandeep Singh, was valorised on social media by fringe elements as a defender of the faith. He was showered with flower petals by Sikh groups. Again, silence—or at best mealy-mouthed justification—followed from the religious this year, the Amritsar Pride Parade, scheduled for April 27, was cancelled due to strong opposition from Sikh organisations and concerns about religious sanctity. Paramajit Singh Akali, a Nihang Sikh, led the objection, and the clergy supported the protests. The parade has been organised since 2019 as a connecting platform for the LGBTQIA+ community in the the Kamal Kaur case, there's now evidence that the accused, Mehron, had fled to Dubai. Some of his accomplices have been arrested and sent to judicial custody. But what about the broader message? When a religious authority cloaks a murder with moral legitimacy, it is not just justice that is delayed but society that is spiral of intimidation and vigilante justice is not confined to one incident. Last year, a Nihang Sikh publicly harassed and threatened the popular social media couple behind the 'Kulhad Pizza' brand. In October 2024, Nihang Sikhs, led by Baba Maan Singh, had threatened these Jalandhar-based social media influencers, Sehaj Arora and Gurpreet Kaur, accusing them of posting 'lecherous' videos that offended religious Nihangs reportedly demanded that Sehaj either remove his turban or take down the content. The coupled had approached the Akal Takht. Despite sustained intimidation and growing unrest in the community, the Punjab police remained passive. It was only after the couple moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court that they were granted legal then, the law enforcement agencies chose silence over action. The harassment escalated to such a level that they were forced to leave Punjab and seek safety elsewhere. The police response was tepid, at best. An FIR was filed, but the narrative—that religious orthodoxy allows for moral policing—remained and liberal voices in Punjab have started raising red flags. 'Are we now deciding morality with swords?' asks one activist. 'Where is the line between personal freedom and public violence?'Some critics highlight the dangerous absence of institutional guardrails. Thespian Pali Bhupinder Singh argues: 'Kanchan Kumari made low-quality videos, but there was clearly an audience for them. And while her murder can never be justified, the debate that followed has not been a debate at all—it has become a contest of entrenched opinions, motivated by hate, outrage or ideological agendas.'advertisementThe silence of the Sikh institutions is not seen as accidental. These recurring episodes recall Punjab's darkest era of the 1980s, when militancy rose not just from separatist demands but a deeply intolerant climate that branded poets, artists and reformers as enemies of the Avtar Singh Pash, known for his radical humanism, was gunned down in 1988. Actor Varinder Deol and singer Amar Singh Chamkila, whose lyrics celebrated life in all its rough-edged reality, were murdered by extremists. Their crime? Dissent. Expression. the then Akal Takht jathedar, Bhai Ranjit Singh, was convicted in the assassination of Baba Gurbachan Singh, head of the Nirankari sect, in 1980. That killing catalysed a wave of sectarian violence in Punjab. Yet Ranjit Singh is not perceived as a villain in the decades on, Punjab's wounds have not healed; they've only been papered over. And now, dangerously, the old script is reappearing. Several people in the Sikh clergy are actively pushing the community toward radical agendas, squeezing the space for moderate Sikhs and liberal voices. The glorification of Khalistan militants, the erasure or underplaying of the role of those who opposed them, and the selective invocation of Sikh pride all point to a deeper of this is happening in vacuum. It is enabled, even accelerated, by the dwindling credibility of Sikh institutions—both religious and political—that once held moral authority, but now appear either complicit or makes the situation more alarming is the failure of institutions—religious, political and administrative—to draw the line. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), politicians and Sikh religious leaders have all failed to issue a full-throated condemnation of such acts. Even in cases like Kamal Kaur's murder, where the perpetrator is named and the act itself horrific, the narrative is being twisted into one of moral is a slippery slope. What begins as cultural regulation quickly morphs into legitimised violence. The state's complicity—through inaction—only emboldens the self-appointed guardians of a land of poets and reformers, deserves better. The promise of freedom, of faith without fear, cannot be sacrificed at the altar of orthodoxy. When the clergy justifies killing and institutions look the other way, it is not just the victim who suffers but the soul of Punjab to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Maharashtra Sikh Association condemns murder of Punjab influencer ‘Kamal Kaur Bhabi'; rejects Akal Takht priest's justification, says violence has no place in Sikhism
Punjab influencer Kamal Kaur Bhabi MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Sikh Association (MSA) strongly condemned the recent killing of young social media influencer Kanchan Tiwari, also popularly known as Kamal Kaur Bhabi in Punjab. The association also rejected the statement made by a senior functionary of the Akal Takht, who appeared to condone the influencer's murder. "We strongly denounce this act of violence and any attempt to justify it in the name of faith. Guru Nanak Dev Ji's teachings are clear—reform must come through compassion, not coercion. This murder is a tragic failure of dialogue and restraint. Such actions have no place in a civilised or spiritual society," said Bal Malkit Singh, Convenor of the Maharashtra Sikh Association (MSA). Tiwari was killed for allegedly promoting "obscenity and vulgarity in society" through her social media posts. Singh stated that his organisation acknowledges the content shared by the victim may have raised genuine concerns among some sections of society regarding values and public decency, but there is absolutely no justification for murder. The justification of the murder by a senior priest of the Akal Takht has also drawn criticism. "If someone finds a social media influencer's content inappropriate or damaging to societal values, there are constitutional and moral ways to express concern—through counselling, constructive engagement, legal remedies, and community awareness. Taking the law into one's own hands or promoting violence goes completely against the spirit of Sikhism," the statement said.
