AN APPEAL FOR A CAUSE
– India Sindhi Consolidating Centre
By Prem Tolani
Firstly, we Sindhis have neither land nor Province nor the government that could take care of our community in the various fields covering all the aspects and aspirations of various dimensions so that cohesion of the community may be retained.
Secondly, we Sindhis who are scattered, now inhabit permanently more than 3000 villages, towns and cities of our country. With the result, we have become victims of the influences and effects of various provincial languages, habits and to some extent the traditions. Sometimes we have observed, that habits so identified with Sindhi souls have changed, such as food, clothing and accent etc. Hence, we are apprehensive of losing our identity of Sindhyat.
Thirdly, though we have earned wealth and have acquired some social influence at various places, we have become individuals and have lost Community Sense. Thus the community ethos, the social bindings, customs and conventions, so dear and connected with our ancient civilization fabric has weakened. Once the fabric of the community is weakened, community sense is its first casualty. Therefore the future of the community, in retaining its identity with its language, art and civilization, rather the culture, will become a matter of uncertainty.
Fourthly, there is the remote possibility that neither our Sindhi community will be recognized by the government as a State without land, as is being demanded irrationally by some quarters of the community, nor we can have a land to be called 'Miniature Sindh' where we could flourish and cherish our language, art and culture.
Fears and Apprehensions :
These aforesaid are the facts and we can call them the premises on which we have to find out the solution so as to consolidate our community, which is spread in more than 3000 places. There are hundreds of instances where 5 to 50 families of Sindhis are living far away from the mainstream of our Sindhi population belt particularly in the North-East provinces such as Assam, Orrisa and Pondicherry etc. They do not fall within the main stream of Sindhiyat. With the passage of time, during the next 2 to 3 decades, their identity will vanish and they will be assimilated in the local community.
Moreover the fabric of our community, we may say candidly, is weakened. In fact, the fabric of community is woven when the inhabitants of common land and with geographical boundaries live together for centuries, sharing the properties or art and culture, bearing the weals and woes during the centuries. This is compounded and called ethos of community. The survival of every community positively depends upon preserving these ethos. Therefore, if this trend of fading of ethos is not controlled or salvaged, our community will loose its identity within next 20 to 30 years.
Before we place our views on Sindhi Consolidating Centre, that is our second conception, we would like to elaborate on our initial conception of this gigantic movement, on which we have been working since last 9 years.
We have been ceaselessly endeavoring since last 9 years through a movement which is based on organizational knitting. The regular features of our activities are motivating all the layers of Panchayats, Matru-Shakti, various guilds, students, journalists, Sindhi Management of Schools and Colleges, Trustees of Jhulelal Mandirs, Sindhi Sadhu Samaj, Industrialists Saints and Sages. Conducting All Maharashtra Sindhi Mahila Conference, Teachers training workshop, Sindhi ladies study seminar, and propaganda for motivating Sindhi masses in different parts of the country.
All these activities of promoting Sindhi Language, Art and Culture by our eminent writers, educationalists, academies, social workers and even by several individuals or local NGOs right from 1952, have never emerged in the form of a movement. Hence, our organization realized that unless every single Sindhi soul living in villages, towns and cities (in far off provinces also) is motivated, by visiting these places in order to educate them about our great history, culture, art and language, this task of integrating the Sindhi community will not be achieved. Therefore to kindle in the minds of Sindhis this concern, we established an NGO – Sindhi Shiksha and Sahitya Sangat (A Registered Trust) and started this movement in 2001. We are ceaselessly endeavoring to visit every place, where 10 to 15 families of Sindhis live. There we form working committees of Sindhi Shiksha and Sahitya Sangat, Sindhi Sanskritik and Sakhi Sangat and Sindhi Youth Sangat. This is the base of our working and we have established the network in provinces of Maharashtra, North Karnataka, Orissa, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and parts of Andhra Pradesh till date.
But still, all these ceaseless efforts can be termed as 'Patch Work'.
Therefore there is the need of an All India Consolidating Centre, which will cater to the essential needs of the Sindhi community. Thereby the integration and consolidation of Sindhis in India could be made possible.
What kind of information, assistance and services will this centre provide to our Sindhi community, living all over India, in order to integrate and consolidate despite having no land or State as such.
INFORMATION ABOUT :
1. Large Hospitals all over India managed by Sindhis, their location, kind of medical facilities available and concessions offered.
2. Sindhi Management's School and Colleges : Engineering, Medical, Information Technology, and several other facilities with reserve quota for Sindhi students.
3. The Universities or Higher Secondary Boards where Sindhi as an optional subject is being taught. More over Sindhi subject for M.A., M. Phil., and Phd. etc.
4. The large scale industries managed by Sindhis having the facilities of science laboratories and research centres, where our Sindhi science post graduates could get an opportunity on stipend basis to work in the laboratories to conduct research.
5. To connect all Sindhi Matrimonial Centers working in different parts of India and abroad with world wide network.
6. Details of Sindhi Panchayats at the level of taluka and district in every province all over India.
7. Sindhi Charitable Foundations, Social Institutions, NGOs. : The details about the kind of assistance they provide for our promising and deserving students, destitutes and Sindhi weaker sections.
8. The list of Centers namely Chamber of Commerce and other identical institutions managed by Sindhis, where one can acquire, gather and store information for global trade and industry.
9. Sindhi Business Tycoons : Industrialists in more than 120 countries who can provide placements to our young qualified persons.
10. Details about The location of magnificent Jhulelal Mandirs and Ashrams of Sindhi Saints, Philosophers and Kirtans as well as their days of festivals etc.
SERVICES :
1. To pursue Sindhi Daanveers in the league of management of big colleges to provide hostels in the big educational centers for our Sindhi students.
2. To Promote and Motivate promising young Sindhi graduates for IAS, IFS, IRS and IPS to produce District Collectors, Commissioners and Secretariat rank officers.
3. This Centre will identify the Caste and Sub-Castes of the migrated Sindhi Hindus for OBC (Other Backward Caste) category and prepare record on the basis of British government Sindh Gazette (1942) and thereupon get its notification by the Central and State governments.
4. This centre will put its efforts in the right direction, judiciously and constitutionally to achieve the political rights, reservations for few parliament seats and legislative councils on the basis of double parliamentary constituency at least in the provinces where Sindhis live in substantial number.
5. This centre will arrange once every two years a Big Sindhi Festival in one of the big cities of India for a week, to provide an opportunity to our Sindhi industrialists to display their products. All India Sindhi cultural programmes will also be arranged along with photo exhibition so as to introduce our artists and their performance. This will go a long way to induce Provincial as well as Central Government to consider the participation of our State artists, dance and dramas, sangeet etc. in National and International cultural festivals.
6. To bring awareness among the Sindhi people living in villages, towns and cities about our culture, heritage, through the exhibition of Sindhi Films, Dramas and other VCDs concerned with our achievements in India and abroad through mobile vans.
7. Inter-district, State vacation tours of Sindhi boys and girls aged 9 – 14 years would be conducted by the Centre.
8. This centre will undertake the project of conducting Census survey of Sindhis all over India within 2 years.
9. Sindhi philanthropists will be encouraged to build auditoriums in the capital cities of seven provinces, where regular, vocational teaching classes for instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama etc. will be conducted under the certificate and diploma examination course of State and Central Government.
ASSISTANCE :
1. To Create Sindhi News Agency to cover all the global Sindhi News and distribute them to our news papers.
2. To collect full details regarding loss of life and property of Sindhi families who suffer in case of natural calamities such as Earthquake, Tsunami, Floods and in communal riots and get them rehabilitated through various government and non-government organizations. And to arrange for Free Medical Treatment of such victims in Sindhi Managed Big Hospitals.
3. At least 20% of the allotted government properties and occupation of plots in the Refugee Camps declared as in Maharashtra State are not settled yet. This Centre will ceaselessly endeavor to solve these problems.
This is the only alternative to bring the whole community under the secretariat of Sindhis i.e. All India Sindhi Consolidating Centre. Any viable suggestions will be welcome.