Access to Knowledge for All: Punjabi Wikimedians Celebrate 23rd Anniversary of Punjabi Wikipedia
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News / June 11,2025
Access to knowledge is a fundamental right, just like access to natural resources, freedom, justice and life itself. Upholding this principle, the Punjabi Wikimedians community continues its dedicated efforts to make free knowledge accessible to all. During a recent gathering, it was collectively envisioned that Punjabi Wikipedia and Punjabi Wikisource will become the largest and most comprehensive repositories of knowledge for Punjabi-speaking communities in the near future.
The 23rd anniversary of Punjabi Wikipedia was commemorated with a special event held at Haiku Hut in Dhaulah. The celebration was graciously hosted by renowned author and academician
Dr Jagdish Kaur, Head of Dr. Surjit Patar Chair at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
Providing details about the event, Aman Arora, Volunteer Media In-charge for the Punjabi Wikimedians group, shared that the programme was led by senior Wikimedians Nitesh, Satdeep Gill and Charan Gill. More than two dozen active Punjabi Wikimedians participated in the gathering. The community engaged in discussions on its upcoming roadmap, focusing on expanding outreach and improving the quality of content across Wikimedia platforms.
To ensure smooth coordination of future activities, Kuldeep Singh Burj Bhalaike was appointed as the group’s Coordinator for a one-year term. The community emphasised the need to enrich Punjabi Wikipedia and Punjabi Wikisource by adding new books and articles and enhancing the quality of existing content.
A campaign will also be launched to attract new volunteers, especially those passionate about the Punjabi language. Technical training sessions on Wikipedia and Wikisource were conducted by Nitesh, Satdeep Gill, Tamanpreet Kaur, Kuldeep Burj Bhalaike and Harpreet Kaur.
In her address, Dr Jagdish Kaur praised the community’s efforts to make knowledge accessible in the Punjabi language and assured her continued support for their future initiatives. Concluding the event, Charan Gill thanked the participants and highlighted a key milestone — 70 percent of those present were women, a commendable representation in a volunteer group dedicated to language and cultural preservation.
The event saw participation from several individuals, including librarian Dr Lajju Sharma, writer Ashwinder Kaur, and Wikimedians Gurmel Kaur, Gurtej Chauhan, Sonia Atwal, Tamanpreet Kaur, Prof. Prabhjot Kaur Gill, Sonia Jhammat, Tulspal Kaur, Sehajpreet Kaur, Taranpreet Goswami, Harmanjeet Singh, Gagandeep Kaur and others passionate about literature and the Punjabi language.
