GIRL SCOUTS "2018 WOMEN INSPIRING GIRLS" AWARD

Fresno- Dr. Parmala Bangar, a pediatrician, has been awarded as one of the "2018 Women Inspiring Girls Award" by Girl Scouts of Central California South. She received recognition from the Fresno mayor, as well as local Congressional and Senate legislators. She was born to Late Swarn and Sibo Bagha in Sacramento, California. She received two Bachelor degrees (B.A. Philosophy and B.S. Biology) from the University of California, Irvine. She earned her Medical Degree with High Honors from Ross University School of Medicine in 2007. She completed her residency at the UCSF Fresno Pediatrics Program providing care for newborns and children while at Valley Children's Hospital. Dr. Bangar is a proud mother to twins Sonya and Zeena, and wife of Dr. Satnam Bangar, while she dedicates herself to providing medical care to one of the most undeserved communities in California. Posted at www.ambedkartimes.com on March 21, 2018

Dhan Dhan Sahib Shri Guru Ravidass Ji Maharaj, whose 641st birth anniversary is being celebrated throughout the world, was a great saint/Guru of medieval Bhakti movement of North India. He belonged to the lowest of the low castes in India whose touch used to be considered polluting to the Savarnas. He opened a frontal attack against the system of Untouchability. He rejected the tradition of Brahmin mediator to reach the Supreme Being. He became a model for his fellow beings to overcome the hierarchical barriers of Brahminical Social Order and to establish Begumpura - a state without fear and sorrows. Shri Guru Ravidass elevated the status of the labor by emphasizing on the fact that honest labor is empowering. He completely rejected the concept of living on charity or miraculous wealth obtained by Paras.
 By defeating the famous Kashi Pundits in a formally organized Shastrartha, Shri Guru Ravidass Ji proved that merit is not the fiefdom of so called upper castes alone. Everybody is capable of worshipping Him (Almighty). The fourfold division of Hindu society is a big lie and a trick to make and keep a large section of the Indian society under the cruelty and control of the few in the name of purity-pollution principle made by the so-called Brahmins. It is against this very system of religiously sanctified social differentiation that Sahib Shri Guru Ravidass Ji envisioned establishing a state where there would be no place for untouchability and social oppression.
 For the social transformation of the society, Sahib Shri Guru Ravidass Ji laid emphasis on labor, compassion, virtue, prohibition of alcohol and all bad deeds. He also reiterated on the urgent need of remembering the formless God whom he addressed by varied names. Some scholars are of the view that Guru Ravidass did not form an organization nor he launched any consistent and systematic agitation against the system of untouchability. This is true but to raise a loud voice at his times was no less than a clarion call to dismantle the unjust system of Brahminical social order. It is also true that the path told by him has become the beacon light for the Moolnivasi movement in the country and abroad.
Ambedkar Times & Desh Doaba weekly newspapers congratulate its readers, contributors/supporters and well-wishers on the auspicious day of January 31, 2018, the birthday (Gurpurab) of Dhan Dhan Sahib Shri Guru Ravidass Ji Maharaj. Prem K. Chumber Editor-In-Chief: www.ambedkartimes.com & www.deshdoaba.com

Happy Republic Day (January 26, 2018)
Freedom, Caste and Nation 
Prem Kumar Chumber
Editor-In-Chief: Ambedkar Times & Desh Doaba

Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar said that “He who is not a slave of circumstances and is always ready and striving to change them in his favour, I call him free. One who is not a slave of usage, customs, of meaningless rituals and ceremonies, of superstitions and traditions; whose flame of reason has not been extinguished, I call him a free man.” On the freedom of India while expressing his joy he said “Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us greater responsibilities. By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is a greater danger of things going wrong. Times are fast changing.” The evil of caste system continues to stay with us even after seventy years of India’s Independence! We have to blame ourselves for this bad deed. But the first question is who are these ‘ourselves’? Why they did not put the caste to an end? On the contrary, caste seems to be rather getting further strengthened given the distribution of tickets for elections to the state assemblies and the national legislature. Even grassroots electoral bodies are not spared. Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar views that “There is no nation of Indians in the real sense of the world; it is yet to be created. In believing we are a nation, we are cherishing a great delusion. How can people divided into thousands of castes be a nation? The sooner we realize that we are not yet a nation, in a social and psychological sense of the world, the better for us”, sound perfect with the current ground realities in India.
To tackle the menace of caste and to put an end to it, Babasaheb struggled with full determination and courage. He did whatever possible within his reach to root out the caste system from the social soils of India. One of his seminal contributions in that regard is the drafting of the constitution of Independent India. In his own words, “I feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile.” He further said “On 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics, we will have equality and in social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of democracy which this Constituent Assembly has so laboriously built up.”
Let us take a lesson from the warning of Babasaheb and join our hand to annihilate caste from India and usher in a new era of social democracy which facilitates the fulfillment of his dreams India: free from the evil of caste and vibrant with social justice and peace all around. Posted at www.ambedkartimes.com January 26, 2018

RAM KISHAN RATTU PASSED AWAY

It is to inform with great heart and grief that Shri Ram Kishan Rattu brother in law of Shri Kewal Bolina passed away on Saturday April 25th, 2015. Shri Kishan Ram Rattu's funeral services will be performed on Thursday April 30th, 2015 from 10:00am-1:00pm at Sacramento Memorial Lawn Funeral Home located at 6100 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95824. For more information, can be contacted Shri Kewal Bolina at (916)548-8902.

ANTIM ARDAS  and Guru Ka Langar will be at Gurughar in Rio Linda, after the cremation. For more information, please contact at Gurughar 916-992-1710

Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com April 27, 2015

Hi Everyone,

It is informed with a great heart and grief that Mr. Manpreet Ralh, a resident of Natomas area, had passed away unexpectedly and untimely on July 02, 2013.

Mr. Manpreet was the youngest son-in-law of late Mr. Nirmal Saroay of Yuba City (the eldest brother of Ram M Saroay of Bay Area, CA). Still in the prime of his youth, he was about 27 years old - the only son of his parents,   and was in the United States for a little more than two years only.  Though the exact cause of his death is unknown at this moment and still under investigation, he accidentally fell in the water while fishing alone at a lake nearby their residence in the Natomas area, according to the first respondents.  His funeral services will be performed on Wednesday July 10, 2013 from 01:00 PM to 04:00 PM at:North Sacramento Funeral Home : 725 El Camino Avenue Sacramento, CA 95815

After the funeral services, the Antim Ardass and other rituals will be performed at Sri Guru Ravidass Temple located at 6221 - 16th Street in Rio Linda, CA 95673. May God rest the departed soul in peace and empower the families behind to bear this inevitable loss. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rakesh Chander (916) 698-3808  & Rakesh K Heer (916) 910-9041 (Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com July 7, 2013)