Babu Karam Singh Bal (c. 1927 – 7 October 1992) was an Indian politician for the

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Eternal Party'') is a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are ma ...

party and the

sarpanch A sarpanch, gram pradhan, mukhiya, or president is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the gram sabha (village government) in India. The sarpanch, together with other elected panchay ...

for the town of

Sathiala Sathiala is a village located in the Amritsar District, in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It is located 5 km from Beas. References

{{Amritsar district Villages in Amritsar district ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Bal was also the manager of Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib under the

SGPC The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee) is an organization in India responsible for the management of ''gurdwaras'', Sikh places of worship, in the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and t ...

for 38 years. Babu Karam Singh was also the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of Sathiala College and led various committees within the institution.

Personal life

Karam Singh Bal was born to Sawan Singh and Tej Kaur around the year 1927 in

Sathiala Sathiala is a village located in the Amritsar District, in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It is located 5 km from Beas. References

{{Amritsar district Villages in Amritsar district ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, into a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

family. He had three brothers and two sisters, out of which he was the third youngest. Despite being raised in Sathiala, Bal eventually relocated to

Baba Bakala Baba Bakala is a historical town and tehsil in the Amritsar district in Punjab, India. It is known as the location of Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib. History Baba Bakala Sahib is closely associated with the ninth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Tegh Baha ...

later on in life as he was appointed as the manager of Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib. Babu Karam Singh had a wide range of interests including reading novels, current affairs and he was also an avid chess player. He also had a passion for writing classical poetry (mainly

Ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

s).

Education

Babu Karam Singh went to college in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

prior to the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. Babu Karam Singh never pursued further education, as at the time universities were often distant and in large cities such as

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, thus being inaccessible.

Politics

Throughout the entirety of his career, Babu Karam Singh was a member of the

party. Hence, Bal had many companions within the party such as

Harchand Singh Longowal Harchand Singh Longowal (2 January 1932 – 20 August 1985) was the President of the Akali Dal political party during the Punjab insurgency of the 1980s. He had signed the Punjab accord, also known as the Rajiv-Longowal Accord with Rajiv Gandhi ...

Parkash Singh Badal Parkash Singh Badal (8 December 1927 – 25 April 2023) was an Indian politician and Sikh rights advocate who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Punjab from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017, the longes ...

Gurcharan Singh Tohra Panth Rattan Shiri Gurcharan Singh Tohra (24 September 1924 – 1 April 2004) was a president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh body in charge of controlling Gurdwara (Sikh places of worship). He died of a heart attack i ...

and

Jiwan Singh Umranangal Jiwan Singh Umranangal (1914-1998) was an Indian politician belonging to the Akali Dal. He served as the revenue minister of Punjab. Jiwan Singh was born in 1914, in the Dhaliwal Bet village of the Kapurthala district. He passed matriculation ...

. In the 1980s, Karam Singh was offered a seat to be an MLA for the Beas constituency, however he never went on to take part in the elections, yet he remained a prominent figure in the politics of the region.

Philanthropy

Babu Karam Singh was also recognised for carrying out much charity work within the areas surrounding

. He gave many unemployed people places to work and also paid for the education of children whose parents could not afford to do so. He was overall a keen humanitarian.

Memorial

In memory of Babu Karam Singh Bal, a pillar has been erected on Batala Road in

Sathiala Sathiala is a village located in the Amritsar District, in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It is located 5 km from Beas. References

{{Amritsar district Villages in Amritsar district ...

. It is built at the location where his funeral took place in 1992. BKSB Pillar

References

{{reflist Shiromani Akali Dal politicians 1920s births 1992 deaths