Haryana

Haryana was separated from undivided Punjab, together with Himachal Pradesh, on 1 November 1966 under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, according to the water-policy site SANDRP. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says that on that day the Punjabi-speaking state "became a reality", and lists the allocation of Chandigarh and the distribution of river waters among the issues the settlement left unresolved, which it says still rankle in the Punjabi consciousness.

Key moments

• 1 November 1966: on its creation Haryana claimed 4.8 million acre-feet (MAF) of the 7.2 MAF share of Ravi-Beas water, and Punjab refused, citing riparian principles (SANDRP).
• 24 March 1976: the Centre allocated Haryana 3.5 MAF. Haryana began building its stretch of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal that October. Punjab's stretch began with Indira Gandhi's ground-breaking at Kapoori on 8 April 1982, followed by the Akali Dal's Kapoori Morcha. The Eradi Tribunal's report of 30 January 1987 gave Haryana 3.83 MAF.
• 10 November 2016: a five-judge Supreme Court bench held Punjab's 2004 law ending its water agreements invalid (SANDRP).
• 2 November 1984: Sikhs were killed in Haryana after Indira Gandhi's assassination. Human Rights Watch reported 32 killed at Hondh-Chillar, a burned, abandoned village discovered in January 2011, and 17 at Pataudi, found in March 2011. Official records count at least 47 Sikhs killed in Gurgaon (The Wire, citing Hindustan Times).
• 29 April 2016: Justice T P Garg's commission, which the Haryana government set up after Hondh-Chillar came to light, submitted its report, which spoke of the "all-round failure of public authorities" and recommended Rs 12.07 crore in compensation, covering the families of 36 victims in Gurgaon and Pataudi (The Wire).
• 2014: Haryana passed its own Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, creating a Haryana committee for gurdwaras that the SGPC then ran. On 20 September 2022 the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions of an SGPC member and of the SGPC, holding that the state had the power to pass it and that it did not violate Articles 25 and 26. The SGPC's review petition was dismissed on 19 October 2022.
• October 2022 to February 2023: Haryana notified a 41-member ad hoc committee and named Mahant Karamjit Singh its head. The Tribune reported that Haryana Sikhs aimed to take over about 50 SGPC gurdwaras, eight of them historical, though Haryana's Sikh leaders were divided over the committee.

What it means to the Panth. Haryana is the other party in Punjab's canal-water dispute, and the allocation of Chandigarh was left open in the same 1966 settlement. It is where Sikhs were killed in 1984 in places that came to light only in 2011. And it is the one state where Sikhs now run their gurdwaras through a committee that the SGPC fought and lost in court.