From the Desk of CEO
Website: www.sikhconfed.net , E-mail: sectt@sikhconfed.net
Date January 21th 2007
When you want to take the fight for Punjab's future to the classroom, it makes sense to have a general at the front. Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill tells ERIN ISINGS about efforts to educate Punjab's rural youth
A GROUP of eminent Punjabis has recently set up an internationally funded body to improve education in Punjab's villages. pearheading the Guru Nanak Education Fund's efforts is Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill. After retiring in 1989, this 77-year-old Artillery man has devoted himself to a number of causes aimed at giving ordinary Punjabi's a better life.
A fund has been established for the education of Sikh youth in Punjab. Can you tell us about it ?
The Institute Of Sikh Studies is the mother organization. It's here that 25 of us from various walks of life - Army, " administrative Services, academics come together to make all possible efforts for the progress of the Sikh community, especially the youth. When I joined the organisation, I was given the , task of making its constitution - quite a long, tough job. Then, in November 2005, we had an international convention attended by delegates from Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, UK, Europe, Canada, and USA. Everyone agreed that we need an organisation devoted to education and I was put in charge of raising it. Now, I'm working like a field unit.
How IS it different from other organisations ?
Many such organisations have come up and have failed over a period of , time. It has often been seen that once money starts flowing in, people begin looking after their own interests. We have guarded against that. All decisions are taken by a committee of 25 members, of which five run day-to-day affairs. No single person enjoys complete authority, but one representative is made in-charge for a month and it keeps rotating. There are about 300 , members and membership procedure is very selective. We have had three general body meetings already. We focused on a particular subject each time--for example economic affairs, education, media and publicity. Discussing about the priority issue in Punjab today, we decided that it was education. A large number of Sikhs go abroad for education and to earn a living. We wanted to stop the exodus. Why shouldn't Punjab take care of its own people?
Are the schools really so bad?
You know, we had an NGO doing research for us. It was ready to take some good students from Patiala district who had passed in English and science. But, all these youngsters failed the NGO's test. Why? Because they had cleared their exams by cheating. Schools and teachers are just not functioning properly.
How do you plan to fix this ?
Schools in rural Punjab are in a sorry state - no proper building, no furniture, no toilets, no libraries or laboratories. Eighty per cent of Punjabis live in rural areas and, of these, only five per cent can afford private schools. The others can send their children to government schools which cost little but don't teach very much. Our education conference drafted realistic recommendations for improving the schools. We've asked the government to sanction Rs 2 lakh for each rural primary school and Rs 5lakh for each rural higher secondary school to meet infrastructure needs. We have also suggested ways to improve quality of teaching.
When the government showed interest and sent our recommendations to the Education Director we also took a step forward and launched the Sikh Education Fund. The International Sikh Confederation unanimously resolved to establish this fund with about one billion US dollars. The idea is to empower Sikh youth with quality education through scholarships, freeships and incentives to the needy, deserving and meritorious students. Now we are calling it the Guru Nanak Education Fund Gradually more and more people are contributing. In fact, even if everyone contributes just Rs 100 or even Rs 10, the fund can grow into a huge amount. .
Is this a registered charity with tax exemption for donations?
It's a non-profit organization _ giving, not taking. I'm applying for tax exemption.
Is it only Punjab that has a failed education system? Aren't other states having the same problem?
The education system has deteriorated over the years. When I studied in my Village, schools were good. Punjab was among the first five states as far as the parameters of literacy 'ere concerned, with Kerala being on the top. I have come out of that y tern, so have many others, and it was because the teachers were dedicated. Our teachers would . take classes even on Sundays 'hen the exams were just a month away They motivated us and readily gave extra time; we just had to ask. They were proud of the results and their students. It was not just about pass percentage but each student's success mattered. That's the spirit we want to bring in. A teacher is responsible for the student's subsequent success or failure in higher institutes and in career as well. What is needed now is strict discipline and proper supervision. Teachers must take their job seriously and perform with complete dedication. Villagers need to be empowered to keep a check on village schools. We have recommended that all government teachers be posted in rural areas for at least three years. We often read of teacher shortage but if you begin to recruit thousands at one go then obviously you may bring in sub-standard teachers. Recruitment process should be gradual, with emphasis on quality.
Politicians think if they play down English, they will win the masses but nowadays even the common man knows that in contemporary world he needs to do well in English. Children in rural schools are not introduced to English until Class V. As a result, they lag behind in competitions. I don't mean that the schools should ignore Punjabi or Hindi, but we must face the reality that English is essential.
To start with, I want to give opportunities to 100 bright students each year, prepare them to compete for admission in professional colleges. If even 15 of them make it to top levels in 10 years I'll be more than happy. They would in turn contribute to the fund and playa significant role in taking the whole process forward. That's my dream.
Who are the donors to the fund? Individuals or corporations?
We have no companies donating now, but I'm sure they'll come forward, many have shown interest. I'm not worried about donations, frankly. For a good cause, a Sikh has a big heart. Those settled abroad will also be a great help.
Back to your 100 students per year, what age will you target?
It will be two age groups, simultaneously. One would be from Class VI onwards, as they get out of the primary level. The other group would be Class . XI. We'll encourage bright students to take up science and other subjects and finance their studies. The Class XI group have a year to prepare for entrance tests. I feel when anything is offered free, it is often misutilised. It; others are charging Rs 1,200, we'll charge Rs 200 and get something worthwhile out of it. In the third stage of our project, we will help students at post graduation level and even arrange finances to study abroad.
DO you have a specific funding goal per year? In order to help 100 children, how much fund would you need to start with?
We've worked it out for one group of about 100 people and found it well within our capability. The donations are coming in. The other day, a person managed to locate my house because he wanted to donate.
What about non-Sikh students in rural areas? Don't they need help?
All communities will be helped, for they are all Punjabis. Our aim is to work without any prejudices pertaining to caste and creed.
Date January 21th 2007 HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE
Dated: 29 November 2006
To
Subject: meeting of the ISC interim executive committee
• The above meeting is scheduled to take place at HQ ISC location at Chandigarh at 1100 hrs on Monday 4 Dec 06.
• We request all our members to attend as we have amongst us H H Judge Mota Singh QC from the United Kingdom. As you all know he heads our Advisory Council for Diaspora and Legal Affairs. We shall also be inviting a few other senior members so that there is added interaction with our visitor from abroad about ISC affairs.
• The Agenda for the meeting will be as follows:-
• Welcome address – Dr Kharak Singh
• Special address by H H Judge Mota Singh QC
• Review of Activities – Lt Gen Kartar Singh
• Discuss schedule for next General Body Meeting with special emphasis on :-
• Formation of Governing Council by consensus.
(ii) Selection of Executive Committee
(iii) Bringing all Advisory Councils upto strength and planning of worth while projects.
• Discuss the launching of the Sikh Education Fund at an appropriate forum.
• Discuss establishment of TV Channel to Beam programmes planned by the ISC, IOSS and similar Sikh Organizations. To allocate responsibility to our Advisory Council on Media to formulate and finalise a project in this regard.
• Discuss methods of increasing representation from the UK and Europe and problems of Sikhs in these countries.
• The meeting will be followed by Guru Ka Langar.
• We earnestly request all members of the Interim Executive Committee and our special invitees to please make it convenient to attend.
Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill
C.E.O
ON CONSTITUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SIKH CONFEDERATION
KARTAR SINGH*
BRIEF HISTORY
Having studied the constitutions of similar World Organizations
including the World Sikh Council, we came to the considered conclusion
that our’s needs to be its own unique one. The words of the noted
Sikh thinker and philosopher. Late Prof. Teja Singh, rang a bell in my
mind. He said, “The question of having a supreme Panthic Body is
most important. It is essential that, for the exercise of corporate
authority, they should create for themselves a Central Body. We must
dispense with the personal leadership of one man.”
Christianity has the largest following in the world with Hindus,
Muslims and Sikhs well below their numbers (Christians 2000 million,
Muslims 300million Hindus 900 million and Sikhs just 23 million).
Christians have a Hierarchical system. They appoint Bishops worldwide
who in turn elect the Pope in a well-accepted electoral process. The
Pope rules supreme. Other religions too have preachers at various
levels but each adopts its own method of selection/ election at various
levels. These processes are not as well defined and clearly hierarchical
as that of the Christians. We, as Sikhs, have the holy Guru Granth
Sahib passed on to us by our Ten Gurus to believe and follow. The
Akal Takht has the history of being the central gathering place for
Sikh leaders and Scholars to meet and discuss problems of the day.
Traditionally, Gurmattas passed in the hallowed location of the Shri
Darbar Sahib were accepted by all and implemented faithfully by the
majority. Hence the Akal Takht Sahib is an established sanctimonious entity. The system of appointing the Akal Takht Jathedar has not been
streamlined to be acceptable to all. We also have independent Takhts
with Jathedars at their head.
The SGPC which appoints the Akal Takht Jathedar is now a
politically involved organization which has pretensions of being
autonomous. It has not really followed any qualitative requirements
for the appointment of the Jathedars within even its own constituency,
Punjab. In fact all Takhts, within and without the SGPC sway, act
most autonomously. At times, this is rather embarrassing and hard for the learned to accept. It is in this scenario that we put our heads together
to formulate our constitution.
BASIC CONCEPTS
Our envisaged Constitution needs to encompass Indian and
global Sikhs in a very fair and proportionate representation. While we
have Sikh societies and population spread widely all over the world,
the major concentration remains in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and
Himachal Pardesh. This factor cannot really be downplayed. We need
to give adequate representation to Sikh institutions, gurdwaras/
societies as well as a wide section of Sikh scholars and professionals.
Here, a word of caution. Infiltration by subversive Individuals/
organizations, whose sole aim is to disrupt and create problems must
be strictly monitored and ruthlessly curbed. We have suffered too
much in history to have this repeated.
Thirdly, the envisaged constitution should be accepted by a
majority of Sikhs as authority. Decision making process must be so
streamlined that it is professional, democratic and meets the current
needs of Sikh society including youth. This will ensure smooth
implementation of Sikh maryada in its true form.
Fourthly, this authority should genuinely act as an umbrella to
existing Sikh institutions/ Societies/ Organisations. Since it has global
representatives, it can, with authority, represent Sikhs in international
affairs. It can tackle any crisis in identity, wearing of turban and kirpan,
and other similar disputes. Governments concerned will have a one
point authority to deal with, and this will prevent bitterness due to
long drawn agitations.
The fifth basic principle would be to formulate a progressive,modern and truly impartial system of representation. This can be
achieved by a democratic system of selection/election. An enlightened
electorate that is visualized here, will definitely not disappoint us as
we envisage a qualitative rather than quantitative electorate.
Sixthly, we need to streamline decision making. Our constitution
needs to institute Advisory Cells manned by Sikh professionals in each
important sphere of activity. There is really no dearth of qualified and
able individuals in our progressive community. These cells will then
deliberately research a problem and arrive at a mature and considered
decision which may well be adopted, if necessary with modifications,
by selected/elected elders. In any case the Sikh community has today
lost faith in the adhoc issuing of Hukamnamas, most of which have
prominently been disobeyed or ignored. Our prestige as a community
has surely suffered. This cannot be ignored any more. I would go even
further to say that while tackling sensitive and complicated issues let
us not hesitate in co-opting experts from other communities, if
considered necessary. This will lend vitality to decision making.
Finally, as per the teaching of our Gurus, in an organisation such
as our’s, Panth should and will reign supreme. No individual must be
allowed to garner glory or prominence. Everyone of us is dispensable.
Let humbleness be the motto of our members. Leadership is certainly
required to take decisions and actions—let these be collective ones.
We will rotate our leadership and take decisions by consensus. The
individual urge for pelf and power must be ruthlessly curbed.
To conclude, I must confess that constitution making is a very
difficult and thankless task. I admire personalities such as Garge
Washington, William Pitt and our own Dr B.R. Ambedkar who toiled
over years to produce brilliant constitutions for their countries. We
have also produced a draft constitution which has attracted suggestions
from all sections of our community. The totally revised constitution
will now be presented to our General Body in the meeting to be held
on 9th April 2006 in the Shivalik School Auditorium, phase VI, Mohali.
Let us finalise it and put it into effect as early as possible, so that the
Sikh community can march forward into the Twenty First Century
with confidence and hope.
INTERNATIONAL SIKH CONFEDERATION
PLOT NO - 1, KENDRI SRI GURU SINGH SABHA
SECTOR 28/A, CHANDIGARH 160028.
PHONE: (0172) 2657381
Website: www.sikhconfed.net
E-mail: sectt@sikhconfed.net
Dr Kharak Singh
(CONVENOR)
1. S. Gurdev Singh (IAS) Retd.
President Sikh Education Society,
President Institute of Sikh Studies.
(CO-CONVENOR)
2. Dr Gurcharan Singh Kalkat
Ex Vice ChancellorPAU, Ludhiana ,
Chairman Punjab Agriculture Commission.
(CO-CONVENOR)
3. Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill
PVSM (Retd) Ex Director General
Military Training, Indian Army.
(CO-CONVENOR)
Chief Executive Officer – Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill
Assistant Chief Executive Officer – Lt Col J S Multani
S. Balvinder Singh Sodhi Accounts
Jagjit Singh Computer and Office Works
