Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council

Nishkam is the usual name of the Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council (Regd.), a non-political, not-for-profit service organisation with its head office at Nishkam Bhavan, Tilak Vihar, New Delhi. Its own website says it was founded in 1984 by like-minded people and was conceived when the Sikh community was going through turbulent times. It does not name a single founder or list its leaders in order. It says it now works in seven Indian states.

Nishkam describes its programmes as school and college scholarships, tuition, music and computer centres, a medical centre, disaster relief, Mata Gujri Sukh Niwas (a home for elderly people and needy children) and work for the Sikligar community. Its college scholarships are largely funded by the Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) of the United States, with Nishkam as the partner that runs them in India. In a Hindustan Times report of 2015, SHDF said it had supported over 4,000 students in Punjab and that more than 1,500 had graduated.

The Sikligar work

The Sikligars are a community of metalworkers that Nishkam's US arm describes as known for key-making, iron polishing and blacksmithing across India. According to Nishkam, its Sikligar programme began in 2000 in Bangalore with 22 children aged 6 to 12 and six younger children enrolled in a school, and has since spread from Karnataka to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Punjab. Nishkam USA Inc says the Sikligar Housing Project began in 2001 and covers 23 houses in Bangalore and 25 bastis (settlements) in and around 15 towns of Karnataka. The same page says Nishkam has been "in the forefront of helping Sikligar Sikhs since 2003".

The counts of children differ by page and date. Nishkam's own Sikligar page says nearly 2,195 children have been covered, Nishkam USA says more than 2,100 are enrolled, and a Canadian affiliate says it sponsors 1,672 school-going Sikligar children in Karnataka. All of these are the bodies' own figures; none has been independently audited.

Key moments

• 1984: founded in New Delhi (Nishkam's own account).
• 2000: Sikligar schooling begins in Bangalore (Nishkam).
• 2001: Sikligar Housing Project begins (Nishkam USA).
• 2022: repair grants for 11 Sikligar families in Belgaum, Karnataka (Nishkam USA).

Where it stands: it continues to run its scholarship, medical and Sikligar programmes from Delhi, and appeals for donations through partners in the United States and Canada.