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Minutes of the
Fourteenth Annual Meeting
of the Association of Sikh Professionals
Los
Angeles, California
June 19-20, 1998
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Present at the
meeting were the following:
President – Mr.
Guljit Singh
Treasurer – Mrs.
Javinderbir Kaur
Secretary – Dr.
Gurpal S. Bhuller
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The following
Trustees and Members were also present:
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Dr.
Pavitar Singh
Mrs. Rani Pavitar Singh
Dr. Jaswant Singh Sidhu
Mrs. Momie Sidhu
Dr. Daljeet Singh
Dr. Harinderjit Singh
Dr. J. S. Soin
Mrs. Jyoti Soin
Dr. T.V.S. Anand
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Dr. Arvind Kaur
Dr. A.S. Marwah
Dr. Sirtaz Singh Sibia
Mrs. Deeptaz Sibia
Dr. Simrata Singh
Dr. G.S. Kanwal
Mr. Sukhjit Ghuman
Dr. Tajman Grewal |
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The meeting was called to order at 9:45
AM.
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1. The minutes of the 13th
Annual Meeting which was held in Chicago was presented and these
were approved.
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2. President’s Report:
The President made opening remarks and welcomed all of the members
and thanked Dr. A.S. Marwah for agreeing to host the meeting. He
alluded to the work that we had done in the past one year and said
that the organization was well on its way to achieving financial
viability.
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3. Secretary’s Report:
The Secretary commented on the activities that had taken place in
the last year. Four newsletters had been put out. The web page
development has been completed. It has had been a fairly good
success with inquiries about the function of A.S.P. and activities
that we had done. The new brochures on the A.S.P. had been printed
after extensive design work. In addition to the funds budgeted
last year, the following grants were made:
a. The Sikh Review. This
grant was for $1,000 and was made in cooperation of the Sikh
Welfare Foundation.
b. A grant was made to Mr. Jaideep
Singh for $1,500 for research on the Sikhs in the Second World
War.
c. A grant to the Guru Gobind Singh
Circle in Ludhiana for parchar activities. This grant of $10,000
was made possible by a donation by Dr. G.P. Singh, one of our
members, of San Antonio, Texas.
Further work that
needed to be done was outlined including the need to establish
guidelines for grants and the need to plan for activities in 1999.
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4. Treasurer’s Report:
This report was presented by Mr. Guljit Singh and Mrs. Javinderbir
Kaur, Treasurer of A.S.P. She pointed out that in the budget last
year we had approved $54,000, of that only $29,749.53 was spent.
The assets of the Association of Sikh Professionals totaled
$349,966.18 as of December 31, 1997 and stood at $371,400.77 as of
March 31, 1998. Of these assets on December 31, 1997, the Sikh
Education Aid Fund had a total of $142,922 and the Healthcare Fund
had a total account balance of $45,785.79 as of December, 1997.
These assets represented in appreciation of the total funds of the
A.S.P. by approximately 41% and the Sikh Education Aid Fund assets
went up about by about 69.4%. This represented the allocation of 2
large endowments that had been received by the Sikh Education Aid
Fund.
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5. The Akal Academy
report was then presented by Rani Pavitar Singh. She had not been
able to make a trip to Punjab to verify the situation of the Akal
Academy, but she felt that this could be done before March of next
year. Discussion took place as to how the funds were to be
channeled. The consensus of the meeting was still that we wanted
to identify a project rather than put it in for bricks and mortar
and that this would have to be defined. The wishes of some donors
were noted. These wishes will be respected. However other members
felt the money should be given unconditionally. So far the
following funds have been received next to the pledges that had
been made:
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Dr. Baljit Sidhu
Dr. Kanwal
Dr. Gurpal Bhuller
Dr. Harinder Singh
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$5000
$3000
$2000
$2000
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A final decision will be made after receipt of a report from Rani Pavitar Singh after
her visit to India and to the site of Akal Academy.
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6. The Sikh Education Aid Fund
Report was reviewed.
Last year the Fund had made 22 awards with a total of $19,750. In
future, the Fund had decided to give this award directly to the
school where the student was enrolled. The Scholarship members
would also contribute $500 more to help the Sikh Education Aid
Fund grow. This donation was an individual donation to be made, in
addition to the regular contribution to the A.S.P. The membership
noted with approval the decision by the North American Medical and
Dental Association to establish two scholarships with A.S.P. They
voted to approve Dr. Amarjit Singh of Buffalo, NY as an additional
non-voting member of the Sikh Education Aid Fund Committee. In
addition, the Fund also approved the suggestion that all
scholarship applicants be required to write an essay. They should
however be given a choice of two or three topics which they could
write on. This would be one of the criteria for approval for the
Fund. Lastly, an appeal was made to help with fund raising since
this has always been a chronic problem with the Sikh Education Aid
Fund.
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7. The status of the web page of A.S.P.
was reviewed. In addition, a status report on Khalsa-Net was furnished
by Jasbir Singh, President Maboli Systems was reviewed. The Board
noted with approval the activities and commended Maboli Systems for a
job well done.
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8. Dr. Harinderjit Singh then made a
report on the Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Eye Hospital in Sohana,
near Chandigarh, (pin code 140308) in India. Dr. Singh noted that
they are performing 300 to 325 per month. These are mainly
cataract surgeries. They have also started doing surgeries with
the Excimer Laser. The hospital still runs at a loss, but no one
is refused treatment and their reputation as a treatment center
has continued to grow. The prospects for a new building were
discussed and the cost estimates were reviewed. In addition it was
suggested that perhaps the number of Directors or Board Members on
the Executive Committee of the hospital be increased. At present
there are five local Board members and the only American Board
member is Dr. Harinderjit Singh. It was suggested that another
seat on the Board be requested considering the level of our
participation. (Last year’s participation was to the tune of
$133,000.) This will be further explored and Dr. Harinderjit Singh
was going to contact the local Board to feel out their responses
to this suggestion.
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9. Dr. Harinderjit Singh made a presentation
on the assisted living facilities. He had developed this
concept further and had looked at a proposal for an assisted living
care facility. The summary of this was that this was further project
that was within our reach. The cost for a project involving about 60
beds was about $2,900,000 and it would break even probably after the
second year. Dr. Harinderjit Singh was instructed to pursue this
further so that at the next meeting for decisions on this venture
could be made. Assisting him in this feasibility study would be Dr. G.
S. Kanwal and Dr. Daljit Singh. The subcommittee would be known as the
Assisted Living Feasibility Study Subcommittee.
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10. Dr. Daljit Singh then presented the
Fateh Group’s activities in Punjab. This group had sent
eleven young professionals for 1 year; they had spent 3 months
training and educating themselves in the language and history of
the region. They had then gone to a school in Sangrur District of
Punjab and had taken over the school and started teaching classes
and conducting camps as well as continuing their own education in
this region. They were being supported by a local Sant who also
provided some living expenses. The group had wanted to make this
as a continuing project. They had proposed construction of a small
building that would be inhabited by students coming from the
United States and a group of nine new students from the United
States had indicated a willingness to spend some time there. They
had at this time identified three serious problems for youth in
Punjab. These are:
a. The lack of library facilities was
a serious problem in Punjab schools.
b. The lack of proper teaching
facilities.
c. The rising use of illegal drugs
among the younger population.
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11. The group then heard
from Dr. Narinder Kapany, as a representative from the Sikh
Foundation. Dr. Kapany mentioned that the Sikh Foundation was
conducting a large number of activities for 1999. They had
started a program of publications and were planning to bring out
a series of books. One of these books would be on Sikh Art and
Literature. Another had already been published entitled,
"The Name of My Beloved". A third book which had been
proposed was on, "The Role of Sikhs as Warriors", from
the earliest days to World War II. Two new books on Guru Gobind
Singh Ji were being prepared for publication and three children’s
books were being prepared. All of these books would be published
by either by Harper Collins or Rutledge. They were also planning
a new encyclopedia on Sikhism and an encyclopedia of Sikh Art.
Then Dr.
Kapany talked about the Sikh Art Exhibition that was going to be
held in London. This was going have approximately 300 objects of
Sikh art. These would be collected from England, India, Pakistan and
North America. The exhibition would be opened on the 25th March,
1999 in London by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. After 3 to 4
month display in London the exhibition would move to the Asian Art
Museum in San Francisco, California for approximately 4 months.
After closing in San Francisco, it would probably move to the
Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. although plans for this had not yet
been finalized and following that it was anticipated to take it to
the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
Another
facet of the Sikh Foundation activities was working with academic
institutions in the formation of Sikh chairs. One of them had
already been established at the University of California, Santa
Barbara. Dr. Gurinder Mann had accepted a position in that chair.
Further discussions at other universities were also taking place.
Dr. Kapany
also talked about the production of videos by the Sikh Foundation.
Approximately three to four videos would be produced. One of them
would be a video on turbans, another a documentary on Sikhism to be
shown on national television. In future summer internship programs
would be available with the Sikh Foundation. They were also planning
to host an exhibition by 20th Century Sikh artists was also being
planned. They had identified approximately 100 Sikh artists who are
at present living and felt that a major exhibition of their works
was long overdue.
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The meeting then went
on to review grant criteria. There had been increasing concern
within A.S.P. that grant proposals were being made in an
haphazard manner and these needed to be clarified. This matter
was discussed and some of the issues resolved were:
a: That
the A.S.P. would consider grant requests from the United States
and other countries on a case by case basis. We would not consider
projects that took place in India without significant A.S.P.
involvement. If there was no significant A.S.P. involvement in any
project then the A.S.P. would have to designate some individual to
monitor such a project.
b. We
would consider to support research on Sikh Religion and History on
a case by case basis.
c. The
Sikh Education Aid Fund would be continued for its funding in the
immediate future.
d. A
major priority of the A.S.P. was to continue funding for Sikh
Youth activities in any form that arose.
e. The
Junior Achievement Project was probably going to be terminated if
no further participation emerged.
f.
Individual persons would only be supported on a case by case basis
and no blanket decision was to made on this.
g. Discussion took place
about the development of a database of all the Sikhs in this
country. However we felt that this was far too extensive a
project and would have to a wait. Proper funding and project
development be done in collaboration with another group.
h. It
was decided that A.S.P. would not begin to acquire pieces of our
heritage or art pieces. This would be done on an individual basis.
i. At
present, A.S.P would not consider funding Sikh entrepreneurs in
business or setting up a venture capital fund.
j. The
A.S.P. would consider and continue to fund the Sikh Heritage Award.
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13. Nankana Sahib,
Pakistan. Mr. Guljit Singh and Dr. Arvind Kaur discussed this
trip to leave on December 27, 1998 and would probably stay there
until January 2, 1999. The tentative cost for this trip is
approximately $2500 per person. The ground portion of this will
be $975 and the fare to India and back would be approximately
$1400. Mr. Guljit Singh requested how many members would be
interested; a preliminary indication of approximately 25 to 30
members was given. He wanted to have final indications within
the next week together with deposits so that arrangements could
be completed.
The
meeting then closed at 4:30 PM on the 19th of June.
The
meeting resumed on the 20th of June at 9:45 AM.
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14. The meeting first heard
a brief presentation by Ms. Tajman Grewal. She spoke on behalf
of the Khalsa Elementary School in Burlington, Ontario. This was
a school that was run from junior kindergarten to the fifth
grade. It has approximately 20 students per class and there are
about 500 students. It is a private school, but teaching Punjabi
language and Sikh history. Although all of the students were
Sikhs it was not restricted in any way. This school is running
at a loss and further funding was being sought. The membership
felt that more details were required on this school and welcomed
Mrs. Grewal to submit these items to the Secretary or the
President of the A.S.P. for further consideration. In addition,
Mr. Ghuman who is from Toronto will provide us with further
information on this school.
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15. The meeting then heard
from Mr. Matthew Delrahim who is from the 1st Bank Mortgage
Corporation. He spoke on the financing of the hospital project and
financing of the assisted living facilities. Various options were
discussed and he felt that if a not for profit corporation was
formed solely dedicated to one of these projects, that it will be
possible to secure 100% financing on a fixed term basis over a 30 to
35 year period. However he cautioned that this would have to be
collateralized by assets in the United States.
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16. The meeting then heard a
presentation about the research activities of Mr. Jaideep Singh.
After receiving a grant of $1500 last year from A.S.P, he had
traveled to various countries including England and had found over
1000 photographic images of the Sikhs in the World War II as well as
meeting and interviewing veterans. The photographs were from the
Imperial War Museum collection and he brought copies to show to the
members. In addition he was continuing to interview other old Sikh
soldiers and also soldiers who had fought with the Sikhs in the
Second World War. His main aim was to make a video of these and he
also had explored the possibility of writing a book and publishing
them. He requested funding for this project. The meeting inspected
the photographs that he supplied and was very favorably impressed by
his efforts and decided to consider him for the funding.
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17. The meeting then heard
a proposal for a full time office and staff from the Sikh Media
Action and Resource Task Force, (SMART). This was presented by
Mrs. Gurgandeep Kaur on behalf of Mr. Manjit Singh. She went
through an introduction of how SMART had been formed in August,
1996 to serve a resource of accurate and verifiable information
on Sikhism. She listed the accomplishments of SMART in its
participation in the California Legislature and the compilation
of a legal database of cases of importance to Sikhs. In addition
it had established a working relationship with other civil
rights organizations and the Council of American Islamic
Relations and had developed a web site. They had also organized
a presentation on Sikhism in two churches and one high school.
They felt that they had to move to the next level on functioning
and needed a full time staff person to help them with the
activities and to take their work to the next level. Their
budget request was for $42,400, this included the salary of one
full time person for one year and costs required to set this
person up. Their further aims were to get incorporated in 1998
and apply for tax-exempt status by October, 1998. They also
wanted to appoint a board of advisors including non-Sikh
advocates and hopefully plan to have one full time lawyer on
staff to provide services to the Sikh community. They would
also, in future want to compile a database of lawyers and
Sikhism experts and initiation a collection of data on hate
crimes against Sikhs and establish representatives in other
major cities. Again the meeting commented favorably on this and
voted to consider them for further funding at the budget
session.
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18. Gagandeep Kaur presented
an "Archive Project" in this country. The aim was that
articles or artifacts that are of importance to the Sikh religion be
acquired by various groups and kept in one central location.
Although the meeting was sympathetic to this we felt that our
resources were limited and that this would be done on an individual
basis.
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19. A final discussion of the
hospital project then took place revolving around the involvement of
the Government of Punjab in the project. Serious doubts were raised
as to the ability of the Board members to control the project if the
Government of Punjab continued in its participation with this
project. These doubts were raised on the experience of members and
their knowledge about the business practices of the politicians and
the members of the Government beauracracy in Punjab. It was felt
that within the next two to three months this issue would be decided
when a "letter of allotment" would be issued by the Punjab
government. Following that we would probably get the funding details
from the Government finalized before proceeding on with the project.
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20. The last request for
funds was from Dr. Harinderjit Singh. He had been contacted by a
retired general from Pakistan who was the former governor of Sind.
He had become aware of a Gurdwara at Narowal in Pakistan where Guru
Nanak Dev Ji’s earthly remains were disposed of. Apparently this
Gurdwara is in a very poor state and required major refurbishing and
restoration. The group felt that more details about this were needed
and decided during our trip to Pakistan that they would visit this
Gurdwara and decide on further expenditures after the visit.
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21. The budget session of the
A.S.P. took place and as usual this proved to be a stormy affair.
The following funds were allocated:
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Sikh
Education Aid Fund
(this includes administrative costs)
General Administrative Purposes
(for
A.S.P)
Fateh Group
Travel expense for Camps
(as budgeted from last year
was not utilized)
Junior Achievement Prize
Museum Project, Sikh Foundation
(Budgeted last year, not spent)
Khalsa Elementary School, Burlington
(pending further receipt of information)
Smart Group
Mr. Jaideep Singh
Sikh Gurdwara, Pakistan
(no funding until further information
received)
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$7,500
$2,000
$10,000
$2,000
$00
$10,000
$00
$4,000
$2,500
$00 |
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Dr. T.V.S.
Anand and another A.S.P. member pledged further amounts to A.S.P. to
meet budget allocations.
In conclusion the meeting passed a motion of thanks to Dr. Marwah
and Mrs. Kuljit Marwah for their hospitality and generosity in
hosting the meeting in the ranch at Malibu. The meeting adjourned at
1:30 PM.
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Next Meeting
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Discussions took place
regarding the venue of the next meeting and it was planned that the
next meeting would probably be on a cruise ship probably leaving
from the West Coast of the United States or Canada. This would take
place in late July or the 1st week of August, 1999.
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