The sixth edition of the annual
Sikh awards, held for the first time in India has recognised 15 individuals who have contributed to the community
The first Sikh Awards ceremony was held in 2010 in London to recognise the achievements of Sikhs in all sectors.
"Sikhs, worldwide are not only tirelessly contributing socially, culturally and economically to the society but are also making a difference to people's lives through philanthropy," Navdeep Singh Bansal, who conceptualised the Sikh Awards said.
The award ceremony held here last evening was aimed at celebrating and recognising the pivotal contributions made by the community across various fields like business, charity, education, entertainment, media, professional service, seva and sports.
"The Sikh awards were started in 2010 was honouring Sikhs in the UK but the response and feedback the reaction I had from the Sikh community was truly mind blowing and instantly we started getting suggestions from all over the world to honour various Sikh personalities. Hence our journey started to honour amazing souls from all over the globe," Bansal said.
Conferred with lifetime achievement award at the ceremony, Parkash Kaur was abandoned by her parent on the streets of Punjab when she was a baby of a few months. She was nurtured by various foster parents and now she has started a shelter home for such girl children of Punjab.
"Unique Homes caters to the needs of orphans and abandoned children rejected by the society. These children are enrolled into the home after proper adoption by us. At present there are 66 children of various age groups from infants to adolescents," Kaur said.
UK-based Kulwant Singh was awarded "Sikh in Charity" for his mission to eradicate cancer his homeland Punjab.
"I am the global ambassador of World Cancer Care a charity that has raised the awareness of cancer amongst the Punjabi community around the world and in particular Punjab, the cancer capital of the world. We do awareness programs in rural villages as well as provide health care support to them," Singh said.
The others who won were Parvinder Singh Pasricha (India) "Sikh in Seva", Sundeep Singh Sandhu (UK) "Sikh in Sports" S Mohinder Singh Sarna (US) "Sikh in Entertainment", Bal Singh Samra (UK) "Sikhs in Media" Raghbir Singh Bains (Canada) "Sikh in Education", Karan Sigh Bajwa (India)- "Sikh in Profession", Ajinder Pal Singh (Botswana) "Sikh Entrepreneur" ward, Kuldip Singh Dhingra (India)- "Sikh Businessman", Indira Kaur Alhuwalia (US) "Sikh Business Women" and Kavanjit Singh Hayre (UK)- "Sikhs People's Choice".
The award night also witnessed a melange of personalities ranging from diplomats to politicians. Deputy High Commission UK David Lelliott and actor politician Raj Babbar were present on the occasion.
