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Minutes of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting
of the Association of Sikh Professionals
Sheraton Crystal
City, Arlington Virginia
September 4th & 5th, 1999
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Present:
Guljit Singh, President
Dr. G. S. Bhuller, Secretary
Javinderbir Kaur, Treasurer
Dr. Daljeet Singh
Harinderjit Singh
Gurcharan Singh Kanwal
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Dr. Pavitar Singh
Rani Singh
Dr. Neena Singh
Gagandeep Kaur
Dr. Sandeep Singh
Mrs. Gurcharan Kanwal |
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Invited Guests:
Dr. Charanjit Singh
Aulakh, President, Guru Nanak Foundation of America, Silver Springs,
MD
Jasmine Kaur Khurana, Boston, MA
Harpreet Singh, New
York, NY
Navjot Kaur, Long
Island, NY
Mrs. Amarjit Bagga
Mr. Manmohan Singh
Chawla
Harvind Kaur:
Dr. Charanjit Singh
Aulakh, President, Guru Nanak Foundation of America, Silver Springs,
MD
Jasmine Kaur Khurana, Boston, MA
Harpreet Singh, New
York, NY
Navjot Kaur, Long
Island, NY
Mrs. Amarjit Bagga
Mr. Manmohan Singh
Chawla
Harvind Kaur
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The meeting was
called to order by the President at 1:05 PM. He welcomed all of the
guests and members. In place of his Presidents remarks he elected to
defer his remarks until the end of the meeting.
The Secretary then
made his report. He reported on the distribution of funds for
children attending camps. Three awards had been approved and
distributed. Further he reported on a meeting organized by the
Association called the Sikhi Synergy held on December 5, 1998. This
was a collaborative attempt by the Association of Sikh Professionals
and the Bajaj Family Foundation. The meeting was attended by the
representatives of 15 youth organizations in this country and had
been a success. The proceedings of the meeting were discussed and it
was felt that the meeting was successful enough that it needed to be
repeated in the future.
The Treasurer then
reported that as of December 31, 1998, the ASP had total assets of
$396,448.04, this had increased to $450,870.15 as June 30, 1999. As
of June 30, 1999, the Sikh Education Aid Fund had total net assets
of $167,614.00 and endowment assets of $55,166.00. These endowment
assets were in three endowments called the Harbans Singh Akali
Award, the Dewa Singh and Narain Kaur Fund and the Bhai Mohinder
Singh Fund. The healthcare fund had total assets at the end of June
1999 of $16,748.00. Some of the assets were held in the form of
stocks and discussion took place as to whether some of these stocks
should be liquidated. This decision will be made by the Treasurer.
Following this,
Committee reports were received. The first was from Rani Jasbir
Singh, who made a report on a site visit to the Akal Academy at
Muktsar, India. Rani reported that her visit was an unannounced
visit and she had a 7 hour tour of the school and the campus, as
well as a conversation with the principal. Her overall impression
was very positive. She was very impressed with the schools and the
curriculum. They had good English and Math skills and had a decent
library. They also had a computer lab with about 10 computers and
this was well organized and the Science lab was well equipped. The
teachers were dedicated and the principal was young and
enthusiastic. She found however that the kids were very shy, they
lacked spontaneity and there appeared to be significant of
regimentation in the group. This may be the norm for that social
culture, but this was significantly different from her experience
with American school children.
Their needs appear
to be mainly in the form of software material, technical material
and equipment. She was unable to obtain details as to the fee
structure of the students, the admission policy and the number of
students who were admitted without fees. A discussion then took
place regarding the best form of helping the Mukstar Academy. It was
felt that our level of contribution would not be enough to dictate
policy to Akal Academy, although it was the desire of the
Association to help the Akal Academy. Ideas discussed were providing
scholarships for children, providing a travel grant for the
teachers, to purchase materials for the school and ways to create
the Mukstar Academy into a local "magnet" school. It was
the consensus of the group that the money should not go for bricks
and mortar or capital expenses to the school. A committee of the
donors who had made this Fund possible, together with the Treasurer,
Javinderbir Kaur was appointed to discuss these issues with Dr. Khem
Singh Gill and Dr. Iqbal Singh, who were at present visiting the
United States. The members of the Committee would be Rani Jasbir
Kaur, Dr. Gurpal Singh Bhuller, Dr. Gurcharan Singh Kanwal and
Harinderjit Singh. Dr. Baljit Singh Sidhu who made a contribution to
this fund would be consulted before any final decision regarding
disbursement of these funds was made.
A report from the
Sikh Education Aid Fund was received. The report was summarized by
Dr. Bhuller, the Coordinator of the Fund. He reported that 141
grants had been made for a total of $138,386.00 with the average
award being $981.46. He felt that the fund raising effort had not
been successful enough and that the fund should have been stronger
by now and expressed his wish to step down as the coordinator of the
Fund after 10 years.
The situation
regarding the North American Sikh Medical and Dental Association was
reviewed and the letter from Dr. Caberwal was noted. The impressions
of the two ASP members who were present at the NASMDA meeting, Dr.
Harinderjit Singh and Dr. Kanwal were sought. They had been present
at the meeting when the decision was made to terminate with the ASP.
The members of ASP noted that although this was a disappointing
decision and attempts should be made to explain to NASMDA that ASP
would still like to cooperate with NASMDA and that it would be in
the best long term interests of the community to avoid duplicating
efforts of this nature. Dr. Kanwal and Dr. Harinderjit Singh will
contact NASMDA with members of the new incoming committee.
At his stage Dr.
Sandeep Singh initiated discussion regarding fund raising for the
SEAF. Dr. Sandeep Singh was one of those students that had been
helped by the Fund at a very critical juncture of this life. He came
to thank the ASP for this and wished to join the ASP in its
activities. He promised to help with fund raising and also with the
activities of the Fund. He felt that not enough effort had been made
to recruit new members and to raise funds and he promised to work in
this regard.
A report by Dr.
Harinderjit Singh was received regarding the Sri Guru Harkrishan
Sahib Eye Hospital in Sohana, India. He noted that this hospital was
functioning well at present. The average out-patient daily volume
was 300 to 400 patients per day. The biggest single source of income
for the hospital was cataract surgery. They had two machines in the
hospital to do the phaco emulsification, however their machines at
present were not adequate and they needed a new machine. A new
machine costs $75,000 but Dr. Harinderjit Singh was able to secure a
refurbished model for $34,950 and requested that a grant be made to
them for helping purchase this machine. A question was asked
regarding representation on the Board of the Eye Hospital and it was
felt with the level contribution that ASP was making, at present
representation in the form of one director was adequate. The members
were in favor of contributing to the phaco machine.
He then reported on
the needs for reconstruction of a Gurdwara in Pakistan. This
Gurdwara was the Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, Pakistan. This was the
Gurdwara where Guru Nanak spent the last fifteen years of his life
and gave Sikhism its early distinction and identity. This Gurdwara
was abandoned in 1947 and subsequently has deteriorated. Attempts
are being made to reconstruct it together with the help of the
Evacuee Property Trust Board in Pakistan. They have already
sanctioned funds for this, but more funds are needed since this
Gurdwara is on the banks of the river Ravi and embankments are
needed to protect it from erosion. ASP agreed to act to adopt this
project and funds collected individual donors will be sanctioned for
this.
A discussion then
took place regarding the future direction of ASP. Dr. Gurcharan
Kanwal asked questions regarding a library and a Chair in Sikh
Studies as goals for the millenium. It was felt that although these
were in the original concepts of ASP, time had passed us by and the
concept of a library in this information age has become dated. Our
experience with Chairs in Sikh studies has not been universally good
and as such it was decided not to pursue this. A school project in
the initial minutes had been referred to and it was felt that our
help with the Akal Academy was in this direction. The Museum project
was discussed again, but it was felt that there were significant
attempts by other individuals in this regard. It was felt that
members would help this on an individual basis and it was beyond the
scope of ASP to fund a museum. Dr. Sandeep Singh then discussed the
opening of a Guru Nanak free clinic and wanted to know if this could
be made an ASP project. Questions were raised regarding the
liability structure of ASP and the Association agreed to make this
as an ASP project provided the liability issues could be covered.
Dr. Sandeep Singh is going to address those issues and will get back
to the membership regarding this. Once the liability issue has been
clarified, the Association will consider an adoption of this
project. The Meeting then adjourned for dinner in the evening.
The meeting then
took note of Mr. Aulakh’s presence and invited him to share his
observations. Mr. Aulakh was pleased with what he had heard and
promised to poass his impressions back to the Guru Nanak Foundation
of America. He felt there were areas of cooperation that were
possible and that these would be explored further by the Committee
of the Guru Nanak Foundation of America.
The meeting was
reconvened on September 5, 1999 at 9:00 AM.
The first
presentation was by Jasmine Kaur Kharana and Harvind Kaur on the
Fateh Project. They detailed the activities of the Fateh Project.
Eleven members had been trained and are now out of Punjab. Seven
more members were going this year for one year. These were part of
the SLDP, The Sikh Leadership Development Program. The other project
in Fateh was Camp Fateh. Camp Fateh was a camp for Sikh children in
those communities where no camps had been held. It was organized at
the request of the local Sangats and camps had been held in New
Jersey and Washington, DC. The third project of Fateh was Project
Outreach, which was confined to serving meals to homeless people in
the Chicago area. She discussed the evolvement of this organization
and the development of bylaws. They are at present developing a
website and preparing to write grants for larger organizations. They
needed money to purchase land, needed volunteers and they needed
help with fund raising and with structure. The money that had been
previously donated by ASP, ($10,000 per year over the last two
years), had gone into unrestricted funds and had been used for the
development of the program. They had also been able to collect from
other donors and had put $60,000 into restricted assets to help
purchase a physical structure in Punjab from where they could
operate. Questions raised were, a) Why was the ASP not getting
acknowledged in their publicity material? b) Why we were not getting
mailings? c) What were their projects for next year?
Dr. Bhuller then
made a request for funds on behalf of Bhai Baldeep Singh of New
Delhi. He emphasized that he had no connection with Bhai Baldeep
Singh and was only presenting a project that had been brought to his
notice in his capacity as Secretary. Bhai Baldeep Singh is a young
Sikh who is a very highly regarded exponent of Kirtan and is trying
to emphasize the roots and the historical mariyada of Kirtan. He
came to this country to conduct workshops and is familiar with
Western techniques and equipment. His request was for funds to help
him with the production of 5 movies. A handout was distributed with
the budget breakdown. These movies would be of a documentary nature,
would explore the roots of kirtan, its original intent, the forms
and parts of kirtan, its relationship with the classical Dhrupad
style, the use of old and original instruments that Bhai Ji had
acquired and made and interviews with accomplished masters.
Questions were raised about the budget, why such funds were not
available in India, the control of the films and our access to them
and the eventual quality. Dr. Bhuller mentioned that he had met with
Bhai Baldeep Singh, he had seen the pilot movies that such
unrestricted funds were not available in India and that copies of
the resultant films would be made available to ASP. The further
discussion of this was deferred to the budget session.
Next we had
presentations by the USSA, (United Sikhs in the Service of America)
by Mr. Harpreet Singh and Navjot Kaur. This organization was newly
formed last year and aspired to empower and invigorate the
communities, particularly in the Richmond Hill area of New York.
This community had a sizable number of immigrant Sikhs who were not
educated into the cultural complexities of the United States or in
the English language. They were looking for funds to continue the
development of their program, and they showed a video of their
activities. The video was very poignant and moving and showed work
that USSA was doing. Members of the ASP asked a number of questions
regarding this program and were very appreciative of their work that
Mr. Harpreet Singh and Ms. Navjot Kaur were doing. It was the
feeling of the meeting that such programs should be encouraged.
The newest member of
ASP, Gagandeep Kaur, then gave a presentation on SMART, (Sikh
Mediawatch and Resource Task Force.) This organization has been very
active in trying to portray the correct image of the Sikhs in this
country and learning how to work with the media of this country.
They had prepared brochures and handouts for Naisakih. They have
also created a database of legal cases referring to Sikhism. They
had also hired four interns in the summer and wished to have funding
for further projects and interns. They needed funds to hire a
full-time person in their office.
Mr. Guljit Singh
then made his comments. He referred to the fact that this was his
last meeting as President and that he would stepping down. He felt
that ASP had now made a good foundation. There were areas where
improvement was needed to manage our assets better, that we develop
spending targets and that requests for grants from other
organizations needed to be presented in a timely manner, so that
other members could have had a chance to review them. He then
proposed a change in the Sikh Education Aid Fund, since the
coordinator had wished to step down. Dr. Harinderjit Singh was
requested to serve as the coordinator. He agreed, but Dr. Bhuller
would stay on the Fund as one of the members. Rani Jasbir Kaur
withdrew from the committee. The present members would therefore be
Dr. Harinderjit Singh, Dr. Bhuller, Simrata Singh and Dr. Kukreja.
Dr. Sandeep Singh from Texas volunteered to help with the fund
raising for the Fund.
A discussion
regarding membership then took place with Gagandeep Kaur leading the
topic. She felt that our thrust had to be towards non-MD types and
that the membership form needed to be redesigned. The future of ASP
would depend upon new members and this was the time to attract them
so that the next generation could be groomed. She was directed to
draft out a new membership form and proceed in consultation with the
new committee.
The Akal Academy
issue had already been decided upon, and it was agreed that the
committee would have the authority to disburse the funds after a
decision had been made.
Various proposals for developing
spending guidelines were discussed and it was finally agreed that in
the future, that approximately 75% of the membership revenues and at
least 50% of the growth in the assets of the ASP would be used as a
baseline for budget making purposes. It addition it was requested
that the SEAF make recommendations to the next meeting of the ASP
regarding spending guidelines, so that a consistency of funding
could be established. A discussion took place then regarding the
funding for the movie created during the 300th Birthday
Anniversary celebrations of the Khalsa. This movie would go into the
archives of the PBS and other television stations and would be used
as a resource for portraying Sikh issues in the future. Discussion
also took place regarding the Spokesman newspaper. A video was shown
regarding the need for this newspaper and the need for support.
Another issue discussed was the creation of separate website for
ASP, since the previous ASP web page had not been maintained and had
become "stale". Various options were discussed and it was
felt that Rani, Gagandeep and Guljit would contact various web-site
developers and get back to Rani regarding development of a separate
domain and a web page.
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Allocation of the
budget was then finalized as follows:
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Sikh Education
Aid Fund
Administration of the Organization
The Eye Hospital (with $4000
budgeted for 2000)
Bhai Baldeep Singh’s movie
Gurdwara in Pakistan
Fateh Group
300 Year March Movie
(Three members then pledged
$1,000 each to support the movie
also through the ASP.)
SMART
USSA
Spokesman
Akal Academy
Total
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$5,000.00
$2,500.00
$4,000.00
$0.00
$0.00
$7,000.00
$5,500.00
$4,000.00
$5,000.00
$0.00
$14,000.00
$47,000.00 |
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Elections for a slate of
officer for the next two years were held. A slate of officers was
moved by Guljit Singh, the outgoing president and seconded by Dr.
Daljeet Singh. It was approved by acclamation.
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President
Secretary
Treasurer
Members at Large |
Gurpal S. Bhuller
Gurcharan S. Kanwal
Javinderbir Kaur
Gagandeep Kaur
Sukhi Ghumann
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The meeting then
concluded with suggestions for next years meeting. It was felt that
the June 24, 25, 2000 weekend would be good for such a meeting and
New York was chosen as the best place. Members would be contacted
and if New York did not prove to be feasible then Atlanta, Georgia
would be the site of the next meeting.
The meeting then
passed vote of thanks for Ken and Kavelle Bajaj for hosting the
dinner the night before at the Bombay Palace. The meeting closed at
4:30 PM.
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