Harmit Singh Kamboe

Twenty years have passed since the horrid events of 1984. To be on the receiving end of the murderous mob ransacking homes and indulging in sadistic murder is something that most people can never imagine.

On a personal level how exactly do the victims pick up pieces of their life after their property has been destroyed and loved ones set on fire, and left to die, in front of their eyes. How is a wife expected to care for a fatherless child both emotionally and financially. How do young children fill the void of a father or a mother in their lives? How do they grow up in a home where the mother is trying to make ends meet and there is no one at home to guide them on the right path? How do old parents console themselves on seeing their sons and grandsons killed in front of them or their daughters and grand daughters struggle under the weight of widowhood? Most of us, engrossed in our comfortable material lives, cannot imagine how much of a struggle life can be under these circumstances.

I conducted a search over the Internet to find out which, if any, NGO’s (Non Governmental Organizations) provided long term succor and relief to the survivors of the aftermath of the mayhem. While I was saddened to find just one such NGO, my despondency turned into quiet respect once I got to know and read more about Nishkam Sikh Welfare Organization Council (NSWC). Please take the time to go through theire web site www.nishkam.org for more details. In my interaction with the Nishkam volunteers I have found that their site is a bit dated and dour, but that in no way takes away from the nobility of their efforts.

Nishkam, which was formed directly after the 1984 carnage, had its volunteers work tirelessly to look after the survivors of 1984. From providing ceiling fans, to beat the heat in the summer of 1985 in government provided apartments, and helping children get into schools. Realizing that there is more to be done, they opened up typing and shorthand classes, tailoring and stitching classes, medical assistance facilities and also provided books and school uniforms in an effort to get children back into school.

Having tasted success, Niskam has developed its own momentum. Nishkam, today, has grown stronger and more ambitious. In the true spirit of faith and humanity it has rendered assistance to those that were impacted by the Gujarat Earthquake in 2001, awards scholarships to students in South India for Sikh Studies, runs a combined old age home and orphanage in Punjab, and works with other agencies to provide scholarships to young, bright but deprived students.

Sikligar Sikhs of Karnataka

One of the projects that Nishkam actively supports today is helping Sikligar Sikhs so that they can live in permanent homes instead of temporary shelters. These Sikhs have been residing in Karnataka for generations and work in small metal craft related jobs.

Nishkam is asking for contributions so that the down payment, required by the Government of Karnataka, can be made and land bought to build homes for the Sikhligars by government approved builders. Despite not being conversant with Punjabi and living in a non-Punjabi/Sikh community, the Sikligars have maintained perfect Sikh appearance against all odds and turmoil suffered by the Sikh community during the past decades.

What better way to mark the 20^th anniversary of the anti Sikh violence than building real homes for some one who has been making do with so little. The victims of the 1984 massacre have moved on and settled in their new lives. Twenty years is a long time. While we cannot go back in time and help them when they need our help the most, we can reach out and help those in lesser circumstances that us today. More details on the Sikligar project are available on the Nishkam web site.

Twenty years ago we had an excuse to get angry but very few options and avenues to directly help those affected. Today that excuse will not do. We have the means to reach out and make a difference in someone’s life. Please reach out to your brothers and sisters who are living on a lot less and are not asking for a whole lot.

The spirit of Nishkam is the spirt of its people. For details on the Nishkam story, please read on.

The Birth Of Nishkam

The need for a welfare organization like Nishkam was being explored a few months before the anarchy in Delhi in November 1984, but a little after operation Blue Star in June of the same year. At that time, two individuals (who were among the founder members of NSWC) Prehlad Singh Kohli and Kulvinder Singh Sahni asked themselves how best to render social service in an effective way. Prehlad Singh and Kulvinder Singh were regular donors to the Sikh Missionary College and were donating small amounts of money every month. A relative Mohan Singh inducted them into the Sikh Missionary College. They told Mohan Singh that if he embarked upon sewa of the poor and the needy they would not only donate financially but also contribute physically as well. Mohan Singh then met a Harbhajan Singh of Tagore Garden, New Delhi (the first president of Nishkam) at a reception marriage party. Common friends had told Mohan Singh about a scheme that Harbhajan Singh was thinking of putting into operation for uplifting the Sikh cycle rickshaw pullers of Delhi.

Harbhajan Singh explained his plans to Mohan Singh when they met. He knew that the Sikh rickshaw pullers (like others) paid around Rs.3/- per day as the daily rent for the rickshaw (more than Rs.1000/- in a year) and yet never become owners of it. He felt that a Sikh organization could provide new rickshaws (that used to cost around Rs. 1000/- at that time) and could recover the cost by charging Rs.3/- per day. Then at the end of the year, the ownership of rickshaw should be transferred to those rickshaw pullers. Mohan Singh then introduced the three individuals to each other.

These three met in the absence of Mohan Singh and really hit it off. Unbeknownst to Mohan Singh, they started work on writing the constitution of the social organization that they had in mind. They were in the process of completing the draft of a constitution that could meet the requirements of a welfare organization, when the 1984 anti Sikh carnage happened. The task at hand was clear, to help the survivors in every possible way. The plan for the rickshaw pullers was suspended.

That dreadful drama witnessed by all, brought all the personalities mentioned so far together. In an effort to locate the needy, this group, found an unfortunate group of souls in Block A-4 of Sultanpur , New Delhi. Sixty-eight heads of families out of a total of 72, in two adjoining mohallas (neighborhoods), were butchered without mercy. The resultant widows along with their children and aged folks who had lost their sons were squatting in an adjoining park in open air in the severe winter, living in a temporary shelter.

Mehtab Singh of Hindustan Refrigeration, who was the convener of Ajit Relief Fund in Delhi (set up by Daily Ajit, a Punjabi Newspaper published from Jalandhar), had asked the people, who were the nucleus of Nishkam, to locate these victims about whom the Indian Express had published a horrific story. Mehtab Singh was a guide and mentor to the first batch of Nishkam founders and became the first patron of Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council. From late November 1984 till February 1985 this loosely organized band of volunteers kept providing relief to the affected families on a daily basis, early in the morning before going to their regular jobs. All volunteers held full time jobs and all of the volunteers below the retirement age even today hold full time jobs. Nishkam is a calling not a vocation.

Dealing face to face with the widows and their families and the painfully slow state administrative machinery, provided the perfect training for the Nishkam volunteers. Nishkam was formally registered in India in August 1985. It is also registered with the Indian government to receive funds from overseas both in cash and in kind.

People Behind Nishkam

Harbhajan Singh (Sahni) of Tagore Garden, New Delhi

Harbhajan Singh became the first President. His home address is still the registered office address of Nishkam. He served as the President for nine years. When called upon, he willingly served as a Vice-President under a different President, never once making an issue of it. He truly believes that teamwork for a common humanitarian goal is much bigger than all of our collective egos. During the initial days of Nishkam when some Indians viewed Sikhs with suspicion, he was asked to appear at a police station and at the office of the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation, India) to explain Nishkam’s activities. He did so with aplomb and without fear. He is a businessman dealing in spare motor parts and his business frequently takes him to Bangalore (Karnataka). He later became the Project Co-coordinator for the Sikligar Sikhs in Karnataka.

Narinder Singh

The present President of Nishkam, Narinder Singh joined the organization in 1985 when a stitching training-cum-production centre was set up at Tilak Vihar in New Delhi. Being in the business of manufacture of ready made garments he started providing work for the centre. Narinder and his elder brother Pritpal Singh personally used to carry bales of cloth to the flat at 4^th floor where Nishkam got a flat on rent and to set up the first centre.

Kulvinder Singh (Sahni)

Kulvinder Singh has been General Secretary, Joint Secretary, and Treasurer of Nishkam for almost 20 years. He was a Desk Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs (India) in 1984 and is now a Director in the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. He was 33 when Nishkam started and is now 53. He continues to be active and hopes to remain active throughout his life.

Prehlad Singh (Kohli)

Prehlad Singh, one of original eleven founding members of Nishkam has served as Vice- President of Nishkam for a number of years. He worked for Johnson and Johnson for about 18 years in India and rose to the position of a Regional Sales Manager. His active association with Nishkam probably cost him his job. He later worked as a consultant for some years before starting his own diagnostic business. In 2001 he migrated to Canada.

Karamjit Singh (Mann)

Karamjit Singh joined Nishkam in 1985 and remained an active member of the Managing Committee. He went on to become the General Secretary of Nishkam and held this position for about four years. He resigned from this position when he migrated to Canada in 2000. He, in association with the late Surinderpal Singh (Treasurer of Nishkam), helped in setting up the computer center. Both Karamjit and the late Surinderpal Singh designed and developed software to help Nishkam in computerizing all its records.

Late Master Harbans Singh

After the formation of Nishkam, the late Master Harbans Singh was the first volunteer, who came with the intention of giving time daily for sewa. He got associated with Nishkam from early 1985, when nearly 700 widows of the November 1984 carnage in Delhi were placed in single room four storied apartments in Tilak Vihar (New Delhi). He and his dear wife (both of them teachers in Government schools in that area) were almost solely responsible for the admission of about 1,400 children of residents of Tilak Vihar to various Government and Government aided schools (some non-widow families affected by the November 1984 carnage were also allotted these apartments in Tilak Vihar. In all about 950 affected families were placed in the Tilak Vihar apartments).

On obtaining orders from the Director of Education, Delhi asking Government and Government aided schools not to refuse admission to the children of these affected families regardless of classroom availability, this husband and wife duo worked tirelessly to complete the admission process by going to the previous schools where these victimized children studied and obtained school leaving certificates, and in many cases submitting affidavits for date of births of these children, which is a necessary formality.

Master Harbans Singh was also responsible for getting a Punjabi medium primary school sanctioned in the Tilak Vihar area, with the help of the residents of that area. He remained General Secretary of Nishkam for nearly four years. The couple lost their life in a road accident, while coming back from Amritsar after completing a sewa mission. Nishkam has started a scholarship program in the memory of Master ji.

Late Surinderpal Singh (Sethi)

Although diabetic, the late Surinderpal Singh was the second volunteer, who joined Nishkam with the intention of volunteering time daily. He maintained accounts for American Express in New Delhi on a contract basis when he became a Nishkam volunteer. He also operated a computer center of his own. In association with Karamjit Singh, Surinderpal Singh helped set up Nishkam’s computer center. Together they designed and developed software to help Nishkam computerize all its records. Surinder Pal Singh served as Treasurer of Nishkam for many years. He died in 2000 after a cardiac arrest.

Kulbir Singh

Kulbir Singh, also known as Hindi Singh, was PA (Personal Assistant) with the Central Government in New Delhi when he started working with Nishkam. He was an expert in typing and shorthand and for many years he was associated with the typewriting center, shorthand center, and the music center at Nishkam Bhavan. His dedication helped a number of girls and boys learn music and complete a degree in music. As a result of his efforts a number of students of the music center became music teachers in various schools in Delhi. He was also associated with open school classes run by Nishkam for the benefit of the 1984 widows and their children, who had dropped out from 6^th to 8^th grades.

This centre helped them to pass the 10^th and 12^th grade examinations thus making them (widows who got jobs aspeons in Government offices) eligible for clerical jobs. He was also associated with providing rations and other items of daily necessity to orphans at Tilak Vihar (whose mothers too died after 1984 due to natural causes or accidents). Nishkam extends such help to families where the breadwinner gets bed-ridden due to illness or accident. Kulbir Singh also actively participated in relief work in flood-affected areas of Punjab in 1988 as also in relief operations after an earthquake in Uttarkashi. Kulbir Singh is now busy with his personal affairs.

Narinderbir Singh

Narinderbir Singh, one of the eleven founding members of Nishkam, was a senior executive with the Head Office of Punjab and Sind Bank in Delhi and this helped Nishkam in many ways. He finally retired as Deputy General Manager of this Bank in 1994-95 as the Principal of the Staff Training College of the Bank in Chandigarh. Narinderbir served both as President and Vice President of Nishkam for a number of years. He was the founding father of Old Age Home and Orphanage (Named Mata Gujri Sukh Niwas) near Chandigarh, one of the major projects of Nishkam. Narinderbir Singh was first contacted by S. Jugraj Singh Gill who donated land for this project, and was actively associated with it till 1998 after which he became one of the founding fathers of a religious organization named “Gurmat Parsar Sewa Society of Chandigarh”.

This Organization selects a few missionaries every year from amongst a pool of trained missionaries from various Sikh missionaries colleges of today. Then these missionaries are provided advanced training and skills for more effective fieldwork. These missionaries are then sponsored and sent for parchar to various parts of India. Narinderbir Singh teaches these missionaries and thus has little time for activities connected with Nishkam today.

Rajinder Singh

Rajinder Singh (Vice-President 2003-05) is a new comer to the organization. A retired officer from Central Government of India, he has been and is responsible for managing projects financed by foreign donations. A quiet and soft-spoken person, Rajinder provides three hours six days a week voluntary service to Nishkam.

Gurcharan Singh

Gurcharan Singh, another retired officer from the Government of India Service, along with S. Ajit Singh, a retired teacher from Sukho Khalsa Senior Secondary School, New Delhi is responsible for Managing Scholarship Programs of Nishkam (from Grade VI to Grade XII, and also college level scholarships for Engineering and Medical Colleges students in addition to other disciplines of professional courses).

Harbans Singh (Arora)

Harbans Singh, a retired officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs, was the first professional manager hired by Nishkam. He has since forgone his paid position and become a volunteer with the organization and is now a member of the Managing Committee. He also participated in a door-to-door fieldwork for years that resulted in Nishkam enrolling nearly 1,500 regular donors from West Delhi.

Harbhajan Singh (Sahni) of Janakpuri

Harbhajan Singh Sahni was a door-to-door volunteer from 1989 to 1996 for Nishkam. He took voluntary retirement from Life Insurance Corporation of India a couple of years ago. Both he and his wife have a heart condition and Harbhajan Singh is now less active.

Jagdeep Singh

Jagdeep Singh, Senior Accounts Officer in MTNL (a major telephone company in India) is now a treasurer of Nishkam, has been actively associated with Nishkam since 1985. He and Karamjit Singh joined Nishkam together.

Darshan Singh

Darshan Singh, General Secretary of Nishkam (2003-05), is one of the new inductees into Nishkam. He is in his late thirties and represents the next generation. He is a forceful personality with convictions of modernizing Nishkam and improving its working in all possible ways. He is in business.

Inderjit Singh (Bammi)

Inderjit Singh Bammi, a retired officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs, is lately the internal auditor at Nishkam. He was earlier managing the tutorial classes as also the medical centre. He along with (late) Dalbir Singh was instrumental in the construction of a part of the building and also the operation theatres (including equipping the same) in Nishkam Bhawan.

Late Dalbir Singh

The late Dalbir Singh, who returned from the Indian Embassy in Russia, a few years ago was last associated with the PEEP (Punjab Elementary Education Project) project that Nishkam undertook. This project was aimed at reversing the falling trend in the levels of primary education in Punjab.

Harbans Singh (Hans)

Harbans Singh Hans, another retired officer from the Government of India, along with some other members of Nishkam traverses the length and breadth of Tehsil Patti, District Amritsar for verification of applications from widows and old age couples who have lost their sons. Traveling from village to village he has taken it upon himself to verify the accuracy of statements made by the applicants for financial assistance. Nishkam provides supports for needy families (currently 85 families in 20 villages).

Dr. Jetinder Singh (Nanra)

Dr. Jetinder Singh, who is the immediate past President of Nishkam, has made it a point to visit Nishkam’s clinic every Tuesday afternoon since 1985. The operation theatres in Nishkam were set up during his tenure as President. His daughter Dr. Jasjyot Kaur was also in the first team of Nishkam members which went to Gujarat after the earthquake in January 2001.

Dr. Rajinder Singh (Gulati)

Dr. Rajinder Singh, a retiree from a Senior position in CGHS (Central Government Health Scheme) is the only Sikh doctor (apart from Dr. Jetinder Singh Nanra) who volunteers in the OPD at Nishkam Bhavan, 2 hours a day for 6 days a week He is chairman of the Medical Committee of Nishkam and a member of the Managing Committee. His wife is a doctor; his two sons and two daughters-in-law are also doctors. His association with Nishkam has helped boost the reputation of Medical Services at Nishkam Bhavan.

Nishkam Bhavan is the main office establishment that Nishkam has in New Delhi, where where English, typing skills, computer classes, and shorthand is taught to children who can only afford to go to state run schools that usually lack these resources. Nishkam Bhavan also has a medical and a diagnostic clinic that provides medical assistance to the needy.

Lakhvinder Singh

Lakhvinder Singh, a 60 year old resident of Delhi, has delegated the running of his business to his sons and now actively volunteer at Nishkam. He is always the first to volunteer for work that takes him to other parts of the country. He spearheaded the Gujarat Earthquake relief efforts of Nishkam, and once every three months travels to Tehsil Patti, in Amritsar where Nishkam supports some needy. He has been involved in almost every single medical case for which Nishkam has raised funds. From establishing the veracity of the need for assistance, to requesting doctors to waive charges (he has had great success with the doctors at PGI Chandigarh, in this regard) he has been an unflinching supporter of Nishkam.

Mohan Singh

And last but not the least, those of you who are wondering if Mohan Singh is still involved in Nishkam, read on. Mohan Singh is one of the founders of Nishkam. He retired in 1989 and has since then moved to USA to be with his sons. Twice he has had close encounters with death, and each time he has thanked the Lord and re-doubled his efforts to spread the word on Niskham. He is in his 70s’and usually carries a heavy bag with him with pictures of Sikligar Sikhs. His bag contains flyers, commitment forms, and brochures. His shoulders are droopy but his spirit and voice are indomitable. He spends months on an end traveling and raising funds, and has learnt the use of Internet and email to keep in touch with distant donors and well wishers. Nishkam is his passion.

Conclusion

When I was told of these individuals for the first time, I was numb. None of these individuals were great captains of industry or born into opulent families. They are all normal men, who work or have worked regular jobs and yet managed to come together and build an organization that has lasted two decades. Their collective efforts have improved the lives of those whose lives lie ignore. They have provided hope to the downtrodden and made a difference for people who had perhaps given up. An example like this in our times is an eye opener for the rest of us. If you are interested in helping please send me an email and we can all be a part of the Nishkam movement.


Copyright ©2005 Harmit S. Kamboe. About the author