FATEH SINGH, SANT (1911-1972), who enjoyed wide religious esteem among the Sikhs (sant, lit. a holy man) and who during the latter part of his career became a dominant political figure, was born, on 27 October 1911, the son of Bhai Channan Singh, a resident of Badiala in present day Bathinda district of the Punjab. He had no formal schooling and started learning to read Punjabi only at the age of 15. In view of his interest in religious texts, his father apprenticed him to a well known scholar, Sant Ishar Singh, of Sekha, a village near Barnala. In company with Sant Channan Singh, another holy man, he migrated to Ganganagar district of the then princely state of Bikaner in Rajasthan, where a large number of Sikh peasants had settled down in the newly established canal colony.
BALBIR SINGH (1894-1974) Dr. Balbir Singh is an eminent thinker and expositor of Sikh literature. He is a man of much learning, both of eastern and western philosophy, besides a teacher of botany. His essays are available in collections like Charan Hari Visthar (Detailed account of Charan Singh) about his father, Dr. Charan Singh whose contribution to Punjabi literature has been noticed.
