On September 2, 2008, The Hindustan Times published a report on deplorable social status of the Dakshini Sikhs. The report has been borrowed from Indo-Asian News Service.
Explaining the term Dakshini Sikh, the report tells that it means Southern Sikhs which include Sikligar, Vanjara and Lubana castes who live as gypsies in various states across India.
Recently, the National Commission for Minorities has deputed several teams to collect the data on the socio-economic status of the Dakshini Sikhs.
While giving the details of the news, the news items has given a snippet on the history of Dakshini Sikhs which is as follows.
The Dakshini Sikhs were associated with Sikh Guru Hargobind ji in 1595. They made swords, spears and shields for the Sikh army.
They fought against Mughals during the life time of Guru Gobind Singh ji.
In 1832, Maharaja Ranjit Singh sent a force of 2000 Sikhs soldiers which mostly consisted of the above mentioned tribes to Hyderabad. The force was requested by Nizam of Hyderabad to save his territories from the attacks of his neighbours.
The Nizam of Hyderabad had given jobs to Maharaja Ranjit Sigh soldiers in his kingdom and latter it was such Sikhs who became known as Dakshini Sikhs.
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