International Sikh Confederation

 

 

Dated: Saturday 16 Sep, 06.

Meeting of isc members – local committees

  • Meeting of isc members – local committees

     

    1.     A meeting of local members (Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula) of the ISC was held from 1000 Hrs to 1330 Hrs on Saturday 16 Sep, 06. The venue was our HQ located in sector 28/A, Chandigarh.

    Dr Kharak Singh’s Address

    2.     While welcoming members, Dr Kharak Singh reminded the audience that our Constitution caters for local committees to be formed wherever we have ten or more members. This will facilitate membership drives and also give a wide sense of participation to members. We want the ISC to be Confederation of an all Sikhs. ( swry isKW dI smucqw dw iekT) We want you all to work for the organization.

    3.     Stress would be laid on rural uplift with particular references to Education and economic uplift. Besides work by our Advisory Councils, the IOSS is holding a Seminar on Education in Rural Areas of Punjab, on 1 and 2 Oct, 06 at Gurudwara Sahib, Kanthala, Chandigarh. We are also working towards having a dedicated TV channel for Nirol Gurbani/ Dharmparchar.

    4.     Local Committees are requested to help us bring all Gurdwaras into our fold. These Committees may function from their homes and establish  communication with ISC HQ.

    Resume of Activities by Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill

    5.     We have today a total membership of 247 members. Local Committees must now take charge and launch a membership drive. Unless we have at least 1000 members, it is not worth calling a General Body Meeting. Hence the urgency to recruit more individuals and organizations as members.

    6.     Monthly meetings are held regularly and Advisory Councils (AC’s) have been activated. Very soon our AC’s would be producing Blue Prints for projects to be launched in various spheres such as uplift of rural education, religious affairs, media and public relations. A lot of good ideas have been thrown up in these meetings.

    7.     Gen Kartar Singh felt that we need to identify and eradicate some weaknesses that exist in our working today. He listed them as follows:-

    (a)  Lack of dedicated field workers. We need volunteers especially from young members. Very soon projects will be launched and we need members to implement these.

    (b) Funds. Projects will need funds. We will need a wide based fund raising committee consisting of dedicated and influential members.

    (c)  Website operator: We have a web site which has not been updated due to not having a dedicated website operator. Members may please help in this regard.

    Outcome of Monthly Meeting   

    8.     Gen Kartar Singh felt that these meetings have been very useful and have provided the ISC some benefits such as:-

    (a)  Motivation for membership drive.

    (b) Discussion of recent events all over the world with particular reference to Punjab.

    (c)  Plan future strategy.

    (d) Motivate members going abroad. Bibi Baljit Kaur and Dr Kulwant Kaur visited UK and USA respectively. Their views and findings were made available in these meetings. S. M S  Rahi visited Europe regarding the pagree issue and found that our Sikh organizations have not put in united effort and basic Sikh literature needs to be widely circulated especially amongst European Union Legislators. A central organization like the ISC must now co-ordinate all future efforts.

    9.     Gen Kartar Singh gave out a detailed resume of the outcome of Advisory Council Meetings held to discuss Education and Economic Affairs under Chairmanship of Dr S S Johl, Religious Affairs under Chairmanship of Giani Harinder Singh, Media, Publication and Public Relations Committee under Chairmanship of Dr Charan Kamal Singh. The findings and recommendations, where warranted will be published in our next Newsletter.

    Members Forum

    10.                        S. G S Makin: Advocated the principle of ‘Plan your work and work your plan’. Our organization must have field workers more than leaders. Some very useful points were made by him as given below:

    (a)  There are more than 100 Sikh organizations in Chandigarh and Punjab. We must seek their co-operation.

    (b) There must be no confrontation with the SGPC, DSGMC or Akal Takth Sahib.

    (c)  Our members must understand fully our cause before they propagate it.

    (d) Recommended the book by UNESCO ‘Selected verses from Guru Granth Sahib’.

    (e)  Address folk singers and players of international repute to be members. Also recruit from the poorer section of Sikhs.

    11.                        S. G.S.Makin ended up by volunteering to pay the subscription for poor members upto a limit of Rs.10,000/-.

    Bibi Baljit Kaur

    12.                         Informed the audience regarding the ornganisation / Gurdwaras who are our members. She also mentioned that majority of Gurdwaras in Chandigarh and Mohali are ready to become members.

    13.                        She supported the project for the standard translation of the Guru Granth Sahib into English and later into other languages.

    S. Gurcharan Singh Sethi

    14.                         He felt that more deliberations are required before we raise local committees as we need to study their usefulness and the role that is to be allotted to them.

    15.                        We need a mini- encyclopedia on Sikh religion which should be used by all Sikh families to educate the younger generation. We must try to involve more and more young people so that they can finally replace us. We need to encourage Sikh families to amicably divide their property during their lifetime. This will avoid strife and litigation amongst family members which is now so rampant.

    16.                        The Sikhs must establish a Newspaper at the national level. We must also draw lessons from recent incidents e.g. Taran Taran episode and public insult to Sikh history by  Shrimati Sushma                          Swaraj.

    Bhai Ashok Singh

    17.                        Advised us not to use caste names as laid down by Sikh tenets.

    18.                        He advocated that Punjabi must genuinely be a compulsory language amongst us in Punjab. Due to non-implementation of this there is scarcity of Punjabi literature and translation.

     

     

    S. Raghbir Singh Dhillion

    19.                        He advocated the using of Gurdwaras for creative activities such as play grounds and libraries for reading material.

    20.                        To help expand the ISC he advocated the following:

    (a)  Our Mahila Club be requested to carry out parchar about the ISC. He praised ladies for their ability to do this efficiently.

    (b) We have over 11,000 Gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana and H P alone. Yet the strength of Deras/ Baba’s is increasing. We must tackle the cause for this aberration. Our Local Committees can help us in this regard

    (c)  Tackle, on priority, the problem of Sikh boys cutting their hair.

    21.                        Finally S. Raghbir Singh Dhillion offered to pay the subscription in respect of upto 20 poorer members (Rs.10,000/-) if found genuine.

    S. Gurdial Singh Pandher

    22.                        A well read personality, who brought out historical facts about the failings of Sikh leaders in the past. He feels that we have not cashed in on our brave deeds and achievements. Thus his advice is that the ISC must create history by bold projects and their application.

    S. Jaswinder Singh Brar

    23.                        He expressed the opinion that the ISC, being a new organization, must spell out a specific programmme. Having done that we must put all our effort into the application and achievement of the above.

    24.                        Regional Committees should be formed and they should involve themselves in implementing specific projects.

    25.                        He felt that the ISC should follow the concepts evolved by Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Full representation should be given to Khalsa Schools and Colleges.

     

     

    Concluding Address

    26.                        Dr Kharak Singh thanked the audience for their active participation. He traced the fall in Sikh values to the failure of our political leaders and also the fact that Maharaja Ranjit Singh failed to produce and groom a worthy successor. The blunder by Sikh leaders after the Maharaja’s rule has affected us adversely. While hailing the formation of the SGPC, be felt that, it’s working needs tremendous improvement.

    27.                        Touching on the dire necessity of having a standard translation of the Guru Granth Sahib, Dr Sahib outlined the method we would adopt in achieving this. We would collect all exiting translations and a team of Sikh scholars would then carefully study all versions and evolve a standard translation for all time. We would be publishing this in parts as and when completed. We would later develop software to translate it into various languages such as German and French.

    28.                        Gen Kartar Singh then thanked all members for their contribution to this important meeting. He announced that local committees would now be formed with the concurrence of volunteer members and promulgated soon.

    29.                        The meeting was declared closed and Guru Ka Langar served.