|
Sikh people are very well represented
in Indian politics and all other major walks of life. The Prime
Minister of India Manmohan Singh is a Sikh.
They form a disproportionate percentage of India's military services
Officer corp. including many Generals, the current highest ranking
General of the Indian Army is a Sikh General Joginder Jaswant
Singh and highest-ranking General in the history of the Indian
Air force is a Sikh Marshal of the Air Force Arjan
Singh. They are outstanding scientists, engineers and doctors,
such as Professor Piara Singh Gill
famous Nuclear scientist who
worked on the American Manhattan project and
Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany
- Internationally famous scientist and considered the
Father of fiber optics. In the United
States, the first Asian American elected
to the United States Congress
was Dalip Singh Saund. In
Malaysia, Tan Sri Dato' Seri Darshan Singh Gill is a renowned
Sikh leader. He has also been the President of the Asian Cycling
Confederation and Management Board Member of International
Cycling Union. Some Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists
include Khushwant Singh, writer,
Daler
Mehndi, singer, Monty Panesar, England cricketer,
Jaspal Bhatti, Milkha Singh,
world record holder (400m Olympic Games 1960), and Bishen Singh Bedi (cricketer).
The Sikh community also enjoys comparatively
greater economic prosperity. In India and across the world, Sikhs
are an important mercantile and skilled professional class. They
have close-knit community structure. They are world-class bussiness
people and agriculturalists, the state of Punjab is known as the
breadbasket of India.
They have amicable relations with
all communities. However during the Islamic invasion of India,
prominent Sikh Gurus were martyred by the ruling Muslims for religious
freedom of other religions. In the 1980s, there were political
and religious conflicts in India with the ruling Congress party,
which instigated ethnic struggles between Sikhs, Hindus and various
Sikh sects for political gains. Many Sikhs hold the Congress accountable
for the 1984 killings of Sikhs in Delhi after the assassination
of Indira Gandhi by a Sikh
group.
The Sikh community comprises many
diverse sets of peoples. These include different ethnic peoples, tribal and
socio-economic groups. Main peoples and tribes include Jatt, Ramgharia, Kalal/Ahluwalia, Kamboj, Rajput and Labana. Urban mercantile
Sikh communities include Khatri, Arora, Bhatia and Sood. There are also Sikhs of Brahmin (mostly
Mohyal) and Dalit extraction/ancestry.
The bulk of Sikhs are of Jatt origin.
There has also emerged a specialized
group of Sikhs calling themselves Akalis, which have
existed since Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time.
Under their leader General Akali Phula Singh, in the early 1800s, they won many battles for
the Sikh Empire. The Akali and Prasadis, have recently become
more vocal.
|