Dr. Himadri Banerjee is our mentor in the pathway of tracking our forgotten ironsmiths and weapon polishers, who have drifted away into unchartered territories and domains after giving up their vagabond lives. He is our constant companion guiding us in chronicling the historic background, social mores, cultural traditions and anthropological perspectives of the Sikligars.

Formerly of the Guru Nanak Chair in Indian History at Jadavpur University's Department of History, Dr. Banerjee has been working on Sikhs and Sikhism in eastern India for nearly four decades now. In recent years, Dr. Banerjee has been travelling in search of Sikh mosaics of eastern and north-eastern India as far as Moreh along the Indo-Myanmar border about which neither the Sikhs of Punjab nor those of the West have any idea.

His book, The Other Sikhs: A View from Eastern India, is widely regarded as a path-breaking work on the Sikhs and their history and heritage in Assamese, Oriya and Bengali traditions. He has studied the information and records, published over a century between the First Sikh War (1845) and the Partition of India (1947), available in local languages, and has shown how the regional flavour lends its own colour to the traditions of the Sikhs.

His work rediscovering the Second Diaspora beyond Punjab is particularly significant and relevant to our work regarding the Sikligars.

Nanak Singh “Nishter” is our unending source of ideas for empowerment of Sikligars and other disadvantaged sections of society. His regular writings regarding using governmental grants and scholarships have benefitted thousands of students.

Nanak Singh “Nishter” is a Hyderabad based orator, writer and Urdu poet. He is an activist-academician making immense contribution to the social and cultural welfare of Sikh society. As an excellent orator and presenter, he has participation in many national and international seminars. He is the author of 9 books on various aspects of Sikh religion, history and the pluralistic tradition of Sikh ethos. He has so far penned more than 250 articles on these and other subjects connected with education.

His campaign for educational reform for minorities has been appreciated by all sections of minorities. Nanak Singh doggedly pursues the mission to end illiteracy and ensure the dream of equal and empowering education for all.