NOTICE OF
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
SATURDAY,
05 November, 2011 AT 1100 Hrs
PUNJAB
BHAWAN, SECTOR 3, CHANDIGARH
AGENDA
1.
President’s welcome address.
2.
Confirmation of Minutes of Executive
Committed Meeting held on 02 April 2011
3.
Brief presentation of Accounts from 01
April 2011 to 31 October 2011.
4.
How can the expenses on EC meetings be cut?
Economy on food & accommodation.
5.
State
directors to elucidate on their brief achievements/activities so far; as well
as their future plans.
6.
The
difficulties being faced by the State Directors in motivating, and prompting,
their State Governments to accept the demands of the War Decorated. The
solutions as suggested by the respective State Directors.
7.
Any help
required from The War Decorated India.
8.
The
desirability of holding EC Meetings every six months. Should this be dispensed
with and we revert back to one Executive Committee meeting per annum – on the 1st
Friday of every November.
9.
Getting
Income Tax Exemption for War Decorated India.
10.
Need to
find a replacement for the Secretary General, and make the new incumbent an
understudy so that no void is created when he quits in 2013.
11.
Requirement
to enroll more members. Who all can help?
12.
Need of
inviting Chief Minister of other States to the Triennial as well as at
Executive Committee Meetings.
13.
Appointment
of State Director of Haryana.
14.
To pass
a resolution to the affect that the State Director should originally belong,
and should have been originally enrolled, from the State which he is
representing.
15.
Requirement
of a Home Office for the President, with furniture and a helper, to provide
Secretarial Support at Chandigarh.
Total Cost: Capital - ` 35000.00 (covers a computer, printer and a filing
cabinet) & Recurring expenditure of ` 5000.00 per
month.
16.
To determine the date of the TNCR -
2013
17.
A
presentation by the Secretary General - “Making Live” of the War Decorated
India & Trust website.
18.
Any
other point with the permission of the Chair.
Captain
Reet MP Singh, VrC (Retd)
Secretary General
Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting
held at punjab bhawan, sector-3, chandigarh
on saturday, The 5th
day of November, 2011
The following were present:
1. Brig N.S.
Sandhu, MVC (NSS) - President (in the Chair)
2. Maj Gen LS
Lehl, PVSM, VrC (LSL) - Vice President (Army)
3. Air Marshal
Randhir Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VrC (RS) - Vice
President (IAF)
4. Lt Col HIS
Dhaliwal, VrC (HIS) - Treasurer
5. Brig Amarjit
Singh Brar, VrC (ASB) - State Director (Punjab)
6. Brig Manjit
Singh, MVC (MS) - State Director (CH)
7. Brig BS
Mankotia, MVC (BSM) - State Director (Himachal)
8. Brig KS
Chandpuri, MVC, VSM (KSC) - State
Director (Punjab)
9. Brig JK
Tomar, VrC (JKT) - State Director (U.P.)
10. Col (Dr)
Virender K Sahi, VrC (VKS) - State Director (J & K)
11. Brig RK
Singh, MVC (RKS) - Special Invitee (U.P.)
12. Capt. Reet MP
Singh, VrC (RMP) - Secretary General
The following business was transacted:
NSS welcomed all delegates from various
states. He, however, regretted that not many delegates had been able to come
this time.
NSS started
by giving a brief outline of the day's programme. NSS elucidated that lunch for the day had been organised by the
Hon'ble Minister for Defence Services Welfare (Punjab)
Capt Balbir Singh Bath (BSB); who will also make The War
Decorated website "live" - a formal launch of the website. NSS said that in the evening there is a
meeting of the Punjab awardees with the Hon'ble Chief Minister Punjab, Sardar
Parkash Singh Badal; who has also called his senior bureaucrats to be present
so that on the spot decisions could be taken. NSS said that a Memorandum has been prepared and the same was in
the folders give to the directors.
NSS briefed all present about the
points contained in the Memorandum which is attached along with minutes of the
meeting.
After this
the Agenda Points were taken up:
Passing
of the Minutes of the last EC meeting held on 02 April, 2011
RMP said
that the Minutes had already been circulated and the same formed a part of the
folder given to all present at the meeting. He requested that in case there
were any points about the Minutes, the same may be pointed out otherwise the
Minutes be approved and passed.
HIS proposed and NSS seconded that the Minutes be approved.
Presentation
of Accounts - The War Decorated India
HIS said
that the War Decorated India (WDI)
had 8,86,392.42 in the bank. NSS mentioned
that WDI had only about Rs. 3 Lacs
in the bank at the beginning of the year. The increase of funds has been due to
donations received recently.
Frequency
of Executive Committee Meetings:
The utility
of having a meeting once in every 6 months was discussed in the light of the
economy, participation of various delegates from states and the lack of agenda
points. It was decided that such meetings should be held on as required basis
at Chandigarh.
NSS
said he had made very serious efforts to reduce the expenditure in all spheres.
He said that the last EC meeting had cost around Rs. 30,000.00 while the
present one may not cost even Rs. 5,000.00. NSS said that the meeting hall,
lunch and accommodation was by courtesy of the Minister for Defence Services
Welfare, Punjab Capt Balbir Singh Bath (BSB).
He further said that as far as dinner is concerned he had requested the Chief
Minister, Punjab, Shri Parkash Singh Badal who
had very kindly agreed to host it. NSS further
said that he had managed to get transport from the Punjab Government free of
cost. NSS explained that the last
time a room rent of approximately Rs. 1,000.00 for each room was paid while
this time it was going to cost only Rs. 300.00 per room.
Requirement
of a Secretariat and office at Chandigarh
For
efficient and prompt correspondence regarding WDI and WDT, the
requirement of establishing Secretariat/office at Chandigarh was discussed. The need of having
an office at Chandigarh
was unanimously agreed to. It was further decided that the office accommodation
free of cost be explored by NSS for
the office of WDI and WDT.
RMP
suggested a capital expenditure of Rs. 50,000.00 for setting up a computer,
printer, filing cabinets, office furniture and other consumables like
stationary, tonners for printer etc. be approved and a recurring expenditure of
Rs. 5,000.00 as salary for steno-typist/computer operator be sanctioned and it was
unanimously resolved that since a large portion of correspondence will also
relate to the War Decorated Trust. The amount may be spent out of the trust
funds.
Meeting
with the Chief Minister, Punjab
RMP expressed his difficulty in
continuing as the Secretary General of the War Decorated India. He said he was
not quitting immediately but will try to continue in the shoes of the Secretary
General till the 2013 Triennial National Convention-cum-Reunion. But he felt
that it was important that someone becomes familiar with the nitty gritty of
running the show and gains experience before he gets into the saddle. NSS agreed with RMP's contention. He said that he will consult other members to
find a suitable replacement for the Secretary General.
RMP said that there was need to enroll
more members and 100% if possible. He said that we had the most logical, and
nominal, fee structure in the world. NSS
requested all State Directors to help in enrolling more awardees.
At
this stage Mr. Davinder Singh Sandhu f/o
2/Lt Rajeev Sandhu, MVC joined the meeting. NSS informed all present that Mr. Sandhu had donated all his
property to the Assam Regiment to which his son belonged. All present welcomed
Mr. Sandhu with loud applause.
Taking
up the next point RMP said that it
was important to have a functional State Director in every State. He pointed
out the case of the Haryana State Director, Col Jatinder Kumar, VrC, who had literally
'disappeared' from the scene.
On
the matter of seeking exemption from paying Income Tax RMP explained that while an exemption existed for the Trust income
there was no such exemption for the War Decorated India. Against a suggestion
that an exemption be sought now for War Decorated India RMP said that as per his opinion such a move may not be prudent at
this stage as we might be asked to produce old accounts and pay tax on them. HIS was asked to go into the details in
consultation with the CA.
VIII
Triennial National Convention-cum-Reunion
The
dates for holding the Convention-cum-Reunion were discussed. After all pros and
cons it was unanimously agreed that the TNCR
be held in the first week of March, 2013. However, it was left up to the
president and three Vice Presidents to determine the exact dates and place for
this TNCR and to inform the
Secretary General well in time to issue notices regarding the same.
Pension
of Widows:
VKS pointed out that at present the
pension that a widow is eligible to receive passes on to two categories: 1.
Eldest child if he/she is below 21 years of age otherwise to the daughters or
handicapped children for lifetime. The Gallantry Decoration Allowance which is
a part of pension is not passed on. He regretted that he had passed on this
point twice earlier also but it appeared to him that it was not pressed
earnestly. LSL ordered RMP to make a draft and said he will
get in touch with the AG on this subject.
Memento
to Brig Sant Singh, MVC** ex President:
KSC said that as we were giving a
memento to Brig Sant Singh, MVC** we should also present a memento to the Ist
President of the organisation, Brig Sukhdev Singh, VrC, MC. KSC exhorted that there should not be a
disparity among Presidents and mementos should be presented to all Presidents.
After an animated discussion RS said
he will donate Rs 25000.00 for a memento to be presented to Brig Sukhdev Singh,
VrC, MC. LSL said he would like to
share ½ of the total amount of Rs. 25,000.00. It was agreed that both RS & LSL will pay Rs. 12,500.00 each towards presenting a memento to
Brig Sukhdev Singh, VrC, MC.
At
this point the Punjab Minister for Defence Services Welfare, Capt
Balbir Singh Bath walked in and the proceedings of the meeting were halted.
All delegates were introduced to the Minister. While welcoming the minister NSS said he was most considerate
gentleman and understood the problems that were being faced not only by the
Gallantry Award Winners but ex-serviceman at large. NSS said it was courtesy Capt
Balbir Singh Bath that we were sitting in Punjab Bhawan and he had also
helped us to arrange for the accommodation as well. Capt Balbir Singh Bath was also the host for the lunch NSS said.
Making
live of the War Decorated India Website:
RMP introduced the War Decorated India
and Trust Website to all those present. He explained the contents of the
Website which he said will include the number, name, unit, address, telephone,
date of award, gazette notification, citation etc. of the awardees. He said he
was proud to announce that this was a unique venture and maybe the only website
of its kind in the world which will contain details of the families of the
awardees as well. RMP said that the
WDI was keen to maintain close contact with the families of even those awardees
who had passed away. At this stage a question was posed as to why was such a detailed
information required about the awardees? He said that the Website was an
attempt to keep the memory of all awardees alive. We do not want the awardees
to fade away into oblivion. The aim is to keep alive the memory of all awardees
in times to come. RMP further
elucidated that Agenda and Minutes of all Triennial National
Convention-cum-Reunions and Executive Committee meetings of the War Decorated
India will be available on the Website.
Gratitude
& Thanks:
RMP expressed his gratitude to Mr. S. S. Gandhi, the author of the
book: "Portraits of Valour" RMP
acknowledged the help received
from Mr. S. S. Gandhi in compiling
the date for the website, RMP also
thanked Mr. Kirti Singh who had made
the War Decorated Website and that too for peanuts. RMP praised Mr. Kirti
Singh's patience that he so very willingly made modifications and sometimes
even had to change the basic structure of the website as well. He also
appreciated efforts put in by Shri
Jagjeet Singh who had done a major job of data input. RMP also thanked SS, NSS
and the whole Executive Committee for the unending encouragement they provided.
RMP requested that any discrepancy noticed in the Website maybe pointed out
so that we may make corrections. He also informed the members that it will take
another six months to complete data input.
Capt Balbir Singh Bath suggested that
the family background of the awardees should also be included in the website so
that the visitors come to know more about the awardees. He made a special
mention of NSS who he said comes
from a distinguished family of defence personnel.
The
meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.
The
Minutes have been duly scrutinised, modified, qualified and approved by the
President, Brig NS Sandhu, MVC.
Being
circulated by Secretary General under orders from the President.