Giani Ditt Singh, a scholar, a poet, an editor and an eminent Singh Sabha reformer, was born on April 21, 1853, in village Kalaur of district Fatehgarh Sahib. Neither the Punjab government nor the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) organized any function in Kalaur or any other part of the state to remember Giani Ditt Singh on his 155th birth anniversary.
Having moved from one centre of learning (dera) to another, Ditt Singh was able to have discussions with eminent religious scholars like Sadhu Dayanand. As one of the founding members of Singh Sabha Lahore, he made the Singh Sabha a great movement through his speeches and writings. As an educationist, he not only helped in the creation of Khalsa College, Amritsar, but also wrote textbooks for the students of the college. Author of over 50 books, a major forum for his writing was the Khalsa Akhbar, in which he wrote on current issues. Ditt Singh was an editor of this prominent Punjabi newspaper of the time.
Giani Ditt Singh wielded a powerful pen and was equally at home in prose as well as in verse. He wrote many books and pamphlets on Sikh theology, history and current polemics. Giani Ditt Singh died at Lahore on September 6, 1901. Sikhs mourned the loss widely. A 15-member memorial committee was formed with Arjan Singh as chairman. Notable memorials honoring his name are Giani Ditt Singh Khalsa Boarding House in Lahore and Bhal Ditt Singh Library at Sikh Kanya Mahavidyala Ferozepur. Bhal Takht Singh, one of his former students and a close friends, founded the latter.
The Giani Ditt Singh Memorial International Society, Chandigarh, regularly organizes functions in his memory. Last year the society released a book, 'Bhai Ditt Singh Giani: Jeevan, Rachna Te Shaksiat,' authored by Karnail Singh, who was also born in village Kalaur. Karnail Singh had, more than a 100 years after the death of Giani Dit Singh, takes the reader back into the later half of 19th century to present the events and personalities that helped shape Ditt Singh.
