Not Quite Your Thing, Mr. Johnson; and Certainly Not Your Colour!

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Gujarat Biotechnology University on Thursday | PA MEDIA
Some sartorial advice for you, Mr. Johnson: Pale, pasty skin cries out for some colour, especially in the turban, which is next to the skin! Never wear colourless garments, especially turbans, when one has pale, pasty, colourless facial skin tones!
Johnson vows to deepen trade ties with India after talks with PM Modi: Boris Johnson says India has agreed a "massive push" towards striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. »

New Army Policy Allows Turbans, Hijabs and Beards

Lauren Green reports on how the rules are changing

Thousands of Sikhs Return to the Fold on World Turban Day
TIMES ONLINE: Thousands of Sikh men, each with a unique work of art perched on his head, will take to the streets of India today. Their mission: to prove to the world that the turban is not old hat.

Scores of rallies, prayer vigils and tying competitions will mark World Turban Day, an event conceived amid concerns that young Sikhs are abandoning the most conspicuous emblem of their faith — six to eight metres of cloth wrapped around their heads — in favour of close-cropped Western-style hairdos.

“We are inviting Sikhs who have forsaken the turban to return to the fold,” said Jaswinder Singh of the Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj (Army of God), a Turban Pride movement. “This day is their chance to reconnect with our gurus.”

Sikh men — and some women — have worn turbans since 1699 when Guru Gobind Singh, the religion’s tenth master, prohibited them from cutting their hair. Every man was given the surname Singh — lion — and was required to wear a steel bangle, long cotton underwear, a sheathed sword and wooden comb.

In recent decades many Sikhs have preferred to blend into India’s Hindu-dominated society. Their turbans and beards are often confused with those of Islamist extremists and count against them when job hunting, young Sikhs say.

“People think I’m Taleban,” said Gagandeep Singh, 26, a founder member of the recently formed Sikh Turban Pride Organisation. “The prejudice is ridiculous: I’m not a terrorist, I’m on Facebook.”

Others trace the demise to 1984 when Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister and a Hindu, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. In the riots that came after people wearing turbans were attacked.

There are no official figures but Sikh leaders say that about half the community wear turbans, compared with 80 per cent to 90 per cent a few decades ago. The trend must be reversed, they believe, if Sikhism is to endure. >>> Rhys Blakely | Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Sikh Policeman Wins £10,000 Award after Turban Row
THE GUARDIAN: Officer ordered to take off turban for riot training wins discrimination case

A Sikh policeman ordered to remove his turban to do riot training was awarded £10,000 compensation today by an employment tribunal.

PC Gurmeal Singh, who joined Greater Manchester police in 2004, had objected to removing his turban for the course on religious grounds.

After a three-week hearing in Manchester, he was awarded £3,500 for indirect racial and religious discrimination and £6,500 for harassment after suffering psychological damage, injury to feelings and personal injury.

In a meeting with a sergeant to discuss the riot training, he was told: "Can you not take that thing off … this is what you signed up for."

Singh, 31, was also asked whether he could modify his turban. He told the tribunal he feared he would be made to look like a comic character from Only Fools and Horses, where in one episode Del Boy Trotter tries to sell 200 "crash turbans" for fashion-conscious motorbike-riding Sikhs in Peckham – the motorcycle helmets had cloth wrapped around them.

Singh said he suffered panic attacks, stress and palpitations and was off sick over the issue during the long-running dispute. >>> Press Association | Friday, October 02, 2009

Texas Students Take to the Turban!
THE DALLAS MORING NEWS: The line outside the University of Texas at Arlington's library this week wasn't for intramural sign-up, a spring break travel package or even hot dogs sold off the grill for a fraternity fundraiser.

It was for turbans.

Sikh volunteers swirled blood-red, neon orange and aquamarine cloth around the heads of students as they explained why an item intended to distinguish the Sikh religion has threatened its identity.

UTA is one of five North Texas college campuses where Sikh students tied turbans and debunked myths for their spring break.
Billed as "Sikh Turban Week," the event is intended to clarify the misconceptions ignited after Sept. 11, detail the significance of the turban for Sikhs and showcase one of the region's fast-growing communities.

"It's nothing to do with Osama bin Laden or terrorism," said Jaipreet Singh Suri, the president of Southern Methodist University's Sikh Student Association and organizer of the event. "The message we want to go out is that the majority of people who wear turbans are Sikh and not Hindu or Muslim."

The SMU students recruited additional volunteers from the region's five gurdwaras – the Sikh place of worship – and raised about $7,000 from among the 5,000 Sikhs who live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Most Sikhs originally come from the Punjab region in northwest India. North Texas College Students Try on Turbans, New Perspectives >>> By Jessica Myers | Thursday, March 12, 2009

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Sikh Man Loses Right to Wear Turban in Driving Licence Photo after EU Court Ruling
Photo of Sikhs in turbans courtesy of the Mail Online
MAIL Online: A Sikh man who wanted the right to wear a turban while being photographed for his French drivers' licence has lost his case in the European Court of Human Rights.

Shingara Mann Singh, a French national, lost a series of appeals in France against the authorities who refused to issue a new licence with a photograph of him wearing a turban.

Under French regulations, motorists must appear 'bareheaded and facing forward' in their licence photographs but the Sikh religion requires men to wear a turban at all times.

Mr Singh, 52, took his case to the ECHR but the Strasbourg-based court dismissed the case. >>> | November 28, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Relié) >>>