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Dated: 23 Feb 2007
Minutes Of The Meeting Of The Interim Executive Committee Held At 1030 Hrs On 23 Feb 2007
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Members Attending
- Dr Kharak Singh
- Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill
- S. Gurdev Singh IAS
- Giani Harinder Singh
- S. Sardara Singh Johl
- Bibi Baljit Kaur
- S. Gurpreet Singh
- Bhai Ashok Singh
- S. P S Kohli
- Brig Hardit Singh
- S H S Phoolka
- S. Raghbir Singh Dhillon
- S. Ajit Singh Bains
- Col Amrik Singh
- S. Tirlok Singh Suri
- S. M S Rahi
- Prof Kulwant Singh
- S. Lakhbir Singh
Honorable Guests
- S. Jatinder Singh Uppal
- S. Raghbir Singh Bassi
Honorable Guests in Attendance by Invitation
- Sardar Jatinder Singh Uppal from Melbourne Australia. He heads the noted Charitable Trust “ Sikhs HelpING Sikhs”. He is in India to help needy Sikhs with particular reference to Education in Rural Areas. Has already done considerable work in this sphere directly as well as through the “Gyan Seva” Trust based in Delhi. He was introduced to us by S H S Phoolka.
- S. Raghbir Singh Bassi Belongs to Village Kharodi in Distt Hoshiarpur near Mahilpur. Migrated to USA years ago and attained a high status both educationally and financially. Has returned to India to assist in improving village living in Punjab. Has made his own village Kharodi, a model in respect of sanitation, electricity, roads, pucca galis and cleanliness. Was visited by President of India recently. Has already completed the modernization of eight (8) model villages in Doaba and has set his sights on ten (10) more. Is also assisting the Gyan Seva Trust towards Education.
Introductory Talk
- Dr Kharak Singh welcomed all members and the Guests. He outlined the aims and objectives of the ISC in some detail and touched upon our ongoing projects and formulations.
- Lt Gen Kartar Singh then proceeded to conduct the meeting. He outlined briefly the achievements in various spheres in the last one year of our existence. The work done by each Advisory Council with particular reference to Education in Rural Areas was clearly brought out. He then invited S. Jatinder Singh Uppal to the dais to speak on the aims and objectives of the “SIKHS HELPING SIKHS” organization.
S J S Uppal’s Talk
- This was indeed illuminating. He had prayed that somehow our Guru Grant him the ability to lift the lives of all Sikhs with just one action. He described how he made a beginning in this direction by establishing his trust (SHS) in 1997. In 2001 he met Dr Manmohan Singh, Sardar Sarna and S H S Phoolka for one hour and sought their advice on what to do. There was help in that he got a suitable working space in a Connaught Place building. His mission was planned here and by 2004 he was well in his way. By now, he had distributed 50,000 books all over the Sikh World. He described his SHS Trust as working on the lines of the Church of England.
- Sardar Uppal stressed the importance of ‘dasaund’ by each Sikh; he has published and distributed 35,000 copies of ‘Nitnam’ and three other books on Sikhism. He has found sponsors for needy Sikhs in Australia through Gurdwaras. He wishes to do a lot of work in Punjab. His experience in Amritsar proved to him that girls have been given a backseat in all spheres of life amongst Sikhs; so much so that even at PINGALWARA, he found a distinct bias towards the girl child. There were very few girls in the orphanage.
- On the vanishing identity problem amongst Sikhs he has a lot to say. He feels that the young generation must be truly motivated by making them aware about our religion through recitation of Sakhis and stories of the sacrifices made by our Gurus and their disciples. In this direction he has distributed 2000 sets of Sikh literature. S. Jasminder Singh Jassi has contributed Rs.20 lakhs towards this project.
Dr Raghbir Singh Bassi
- This true son of the soil is here to stay and bring about a turn around in the living standard of villages in Punjab. He pointed out a big ‘Schism’ in the thought process of Punjabis i.e. we depend upon the Government to do everything for us. He has gauged that Government- planned infrastructure projects never filter down to villages. The poverty gap is increasing and in spite of the Government’s feeble efforts, villages have not even had a glimpse of the so called rise in our standard of living. If this divide cannot be bridged by Government efforts, NGO’s must rush in as Sardar Bassi has done. He has started at the bottom and moved upwards in each of his ventures. He advises us that we need to tackle the basic problems of water, sanitation, preventive health and education simultaneously.
- Sardar Bassi stressed the need to make young children computer friendly. Let them awaken to the progress being made by urbanities and they will seek education. He has not found this easy to implement because he feels that villages in India suffer from a “Dependence Syndrome”. Leadership is lacking. Government is doing very little and they must learn to stand on their own feet. Only money cannot solve their problem. Make them aware and alert and they must help themselves. He felt that once we do this the Government will be compelled to co-operate. He has received the support of the Chief Secretary, the DC’s and Panchayats in his entire venture after he achieved the awakening of villages themselves.
- Sardar Bassi feels that the ISC could join him in his efforts in a big way as we have a galaxy of qualified members who can form a very big work force to motivate the villagers in our rural areas.
Our Reactions
- Dr Kharak Singh and Gen Kartar Singh fully agreed with the views of our distinguished visitor. They outlined our thinking and actions towards uplift of rural education and the uplift of small farmers. Dr G S Kalkat’s efforts and achievements in this direction were narrated. Test farms have been set up in various places, where, by growing organic vegetables in Green houses, farmers have increased their earnings fourfold. This culture must spread and Government along with Corporate Houses must establish market facilities, Reliance his started doing this and we are hopeful of a huge break-through in this direction.
- The ISC plans to help these farmers with small holding in buying top class seeds which are initially expensive. Later these very farmers will be encouraged to setup their own nurseries. Our Advisory Council on Economics will be advised to handle this.
Conclusion
- Giani Harinder Singh, President Kendri Singh Sabha, and S. Gurdev Singh IAS, President Sikh Education Society, then spoke about their organizations. Great progress has been made by the vidayala in Kendri Singh Sabha to train young partially educated needy boys in Sikh Parchar. In a three year course Kirtan and knowledge of the Guru Granth Sahib is being taught with care. However, financial problems cause a road block. We need to financially aid and strengthen this very good organization.
- As per S Gurdev Singh the Sikh Education Society (SES) with its School and College (Six Institutes) is doing very well. NRI’s have leant a lot of strength towards the building of infrastructure. He quoted the one and a half crore project being launched at Sikh National College, Banga. This will completed overhaul the outdated building and infrastructure of the College. He too sought the help of all NRI’s in the modernization process of all Sikh Educational Institutions.
Dr Kharak Singh’s Appeal
- We, at the ISC have in just one year, with a shoe string Budget, established this International Organization. We now need to act in actually implementing big projects. For this a big financial outlay is involved. We need to build a proper Corpus so that sustained effort becomes a norm and we advance rapidly towards the achievement of our objectives. We need a TV channel to propagate our ideas and appeal universally for aid. This will be viable with the aid of devoted Sikhs residing in India and abroad. He especially appealed to Sardar Uppal to direct his efforts toward joining the ISC in these undertakings.
Subsequent Meetings
- As a follow-up of the above meeting which concluded at 2 PM, Sardar Uppal met up with Dr Kharak Singh, Gen. Kartar Singh, Dr S S Johl, Dr G S Kalkat, Bibi Baljit Kaur and S. Gurpreet Singh at Dr Kharak Singh’s residence.
- After a very useful discussion we proposed to S Uppal that the first priority towards educational uplift was to coach about 500 selected students for competing in entry into the Administrative Services, Technical streams and higher education over the next five years. Once this set of scholars enter these lines, Punjab will get a huge lift and with the efforts of these scholars holding key positions in Society and Government, we can launch mass efforts to uplift education and widen employment opportunities for our youth.
- Sardar Uppal, while propagating immediate plans to launch a bigger scheme to uplift children from the primary stage, finally agreed to totally finance this immediate need to coach 500 selected students. He promised to meet an expenditure of upto Rupees Twenty five lakhs per year for two years towards this particular project. This was indeed a very generous gesture and we in the ISC accept it with gratitude.
Emergency Meeting of the Interim Executive Committee
- The Interim Executive Committee then met in a special session to ratify the amendments to the eligibility for membership and the objectives of the ISC. This was required to overcome the observations made by the Commissioners of Income Tax vide his letter no. CIT-II/CHD/TECH/12A & 80G-180/2279 dated 26/09/06 and his subsequent discussions with Lt Gen Kartar Singh Gill.
- The following members of the Interim Executive Committee were present:-
(a) Dr Kharak Singh - Convenor.
(b) S. Gurdev Singh I A S - Co-Convenor
(c) Lt Gen Kartar Singh - Chief Executive Officer.
(d) Dr Gurcharan Singh Kalkar
(e) Bibi Baljit Kaur
(f) S. Gurpreet Singh
- After a thorough discussion Lt Gen Kartar Singh presented a draft resolution which would meet the Income Tax requirements as well as our own intrinsic need. The draft resolution finally ratified is placed as Annexture 1.
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