Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: Integration of All Chapters of Association of Jats in America

  1. #1

    Integration of All Chapters of Association of Jats in America

    Dear All Members of Jat Community in America and Canada,

    Through this thread, I intend to draw your attention to make our commitment to fulfil the dream of our elders who worked hard to create the AJA (Association of Jats in America)

    To begin my request, I would like to reproduce an email sent by one of the founding members of the AJA to another founding member a few days ago:

    Quote:
    Hi Baljit!

    I found details on The Jatland site about the July 1, 2006 meeting of the Northeast Chapter of Assiciation of Jats in America. I appreciate Col. Tavathia' leadership in AJA.

    While I will not be able to attend the picnic, I was thinking about how we started AJA in 1980 and how far we have come in our community. I remember our first meeting in 1981 in Chicago. We had close to 80 persons in attendance. My wife and I had driven from Texas and it was nice to meet so many families and friends, including Dr. Prem Singh Jaglan and his clan from Kalamazoo (it was nice to have home-made laddos from them), krishna Kumar, Dr. Virendra Bisla, Hersh Kumal, and so foerth. We had a great time and elected Dr. Bisla as our president for the coming year.

    I started Jat Patrika, a monthly newsletter, and distributed address lists among interested people in this country, Canada, Europe, and India for over12 years. Many friends, including you and Late Himmet Singh, helped paying for the cost of our activities. Beside uou and Himmet, persons like Ram Sarup Arya, Dr. Surendra Pal, Krishna Kumar, Virendra Bisla, Dr. S. P. Chaudhary, Hersh Kumar, Ishwar Singh, Dr. Yesh Pal Singh, B. D. Singh, Dr. Jagbir Singh played role in moving AJA into the future. We started various regional chapters in the U> S> to conduct picnics and Holi & Diwali meetings.

    In 1987, the Board of Directors met in Texas. Dr. Surendra Pal took the responsibility to incorporate AJA under an international charities name. We appreciate the help from Ram Sarup Arya as well in moving the charities funds going. You and Himmet gave leadership in so many ways. We have missed Himmet's leadership during the past several years.

    It is very gratifying to see AJA activities still going on. It is great to share our heritage and develp family collaborations and friendships.

    Best regards. Raghu Nath Singh

    unquote,

    This email is self explanatory. Dr. Surendra Pal did an excellent job by incorporating the AJA, however it could not achieve the status of a charitable organization due to tax laws and some legal intricacies, which is out of the purview of this post. Mr. Ram Arya was given the task to get the tax exempt status to a charitable organization for the community, and I must say he did very well by doing so. However it could not be done in the name of AJA and hence the NAJC was born.

    There are a lot of chapters of AJA in US. As the strength of the community is increasing, there is a need to create few more, probably one each in the areas where the population of the community is dense. Some members like "Vinod Sangwan" had mentioned this on another thread. How do we go about it. I have few suggestions which I am mentioning here. You all may be having some more. Let us all get together and put forward a practical and viable plan to have a National Level Organization of AJA which shall act as a cordinating plateform an umbrella for the smaller organizations or the local and regional chapters.

    1. Let us create a core group of the people, who would be responsible of contacting all the Jats in North American Continent. Having ascertained the total strength of the community, this group can project the need of local chapters in some areas. The regional chapters are already active and should continue at their current location. The Regional Chapters should act as an Umbrella over the local chapters in their territory.

    2. There should be only one website of AJA, which is curently existing. Mr. Harish Dhayal has done a great job in creating this site. The site needs to be made user friendly and need to have a lot of forms and options for members to interact, including the chat and if possible video chatting.

    3. As we move forward, there may be scope for having some own meeting place (owned and operated by AJA) in each region. (Will require a lot of money though, and we need to find out as to how to get the funding) May be AJA can own a motel in each territory which has a lounge, a meeting place and a restaurant on premise. These motels can be run by some of the AJA members who will get the compensation. The income of these motels could be used to help community within the North American Continent as well as could be used to contribute the charitable givings to NAJC. Having this kind of facility will ensure that all the members driving or flying to attend AJA meetings can be accomodated for free during the convention and will have more time to interact with other community members.

    4. A formal constitution of AJA could be drawn by the general body (the core group) and approved by all members/office bearers of each regional and local chapters.

    5. There will be small issues to run the organization smoothly. These difficulties can be ironed out as we move forward.

    6. The success of this proposal will depend only on one sacrifice that each member has to make. We as a community do have a tendency of following the principal or belief "Either My Way or No Way". If we can get rid of this factor, I am sure rest is just a matter of time.

    I will be prepared to perfom any duty that the organization or the community would like to entrust on me.

    Let us get comments from all of you.

    I have deliberately posted this thread on this forum as this is the most visited forum and we do need to get it going. I would request the moderators to leave this thread here itself.

    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  2. #2
    Tavathiaji, good thoughts. I think members should write their views here. Some experienced people from NJ should take lead and gather work force of core volunteers (lets say 10-12 people) which can include 2-3 people from each region. But this work would require lots of dedication and time. Those people also need to be contacted who are not on Jatland. Its good idea to be sure of it before starting because if we start this and leave it in middle it may take toll on morale and enthusiasm of people and people may not be ready to put efforts later in future. I am ready to help in my small way but can't get too involved because of other committments. Its good to discuss it here but experienced people need to discuss it offline and plan.

    -vinod
    Last edited by vinodks; July 5th, 2006 at 12:17 AM.

  3. #3

    Thanks

    Dear Vinod,
    Thanks for your reply and views. I thought that it was a wastage of time to start this thread. I guess the most work has to be done by the young crop of community. We all are busy and that will continue till we reach our grave, but if we have to do some thing, we can always find time. Again, earning the livelyhood will be the priority over this project for each member, yet we can always contribute a little to the cause.
    I think if we all contribute a little each, then we shall be able to achieve the aim of the organization.
    I will give it a good shot and let me see, if I can do it. We would never know, that we can do it or not, unless we try.
    So, let us at laest try it.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  4. #4

    I Think Members Missed This Post All Together

    Dear Vinod,
    I think either members have missed this post all together or have decided not to take part on the subject. Probably those who need to contribute have not even read this post. Any way we need to move forward.

    Let us call or send emails to all those in this area. I have received your email and will be sending you the directory list with me. I do have a lots of email. Send me your contact number and we will discuss this on phone as we could not do the same during picnic.

    Let me know your views on each point that has been raised.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  5. #5

    History of AJA

    Dear Tavathia ji and vinod, here is brief history of AJA as I recollect it.

    HISTORY OF AJA

    Association of Jats in America came into being in 1980, mainly by the efforts of Dr. Raghu Nath Singh Dahiya, Professor in the Department of Sociology at East Texas State University at Commerce, Texas. Help was provided by Baljit Singh from South; Krishan Kumar, SP Singh Chaudhary & Prem Singh Jaglan from Mid-West as well as Dr. Surendra Pal, Rajender Pawar & BD Singh from North-East. It was and still is a very loosely knit social organization. Efforts were made to streamline its legitimacy and to have some written documents right from beginning. However it took almost nine years to arrive at some consensus with regards to its name, registration, Constitution and Bylaws. This included the efforts of Raghu Nath Singh, BD Singh, SP Singh Chaudhary, Surendra Pal and Ram S. Arya besides a host of others.

    On May 29, 1989 a meeting was held in Chicago area which was attended by Dr. Raghu Nath Singh and Baljit Singh from Texas, Surendra Pal from Pennsylvania, Ram S. Arya from New Jersey, SPS Chaudhary from Minneapolis, Krishan Kumar and Dhiraj Pal from Illinois and Dr. Prem Singh Jaglan from Michigan. Dr. BD Singh from Pennsylvania was missed for his inability to attend. At this meeting the Constitution and Bylaws were finalized and signed by the attendees. However, after reaching back to their places, some controversy arose about revising some of the paragraphs that had already been agreed to. AJA was finally incorporated in Delaware on November 12, 1990 by Dr. Surendra Pal as a non-profit, Section 501(c)(3) organization. As per the Articles of Incorporation, it is governed by its Bylaws.

    The Constitution and Bylaws were followed for a few years whereby Directors for the national AJA were elected by regional chapters (at least three chapters namely Mid-West, North-East and South) and then President, VP, Secretary and Treasurer were selected by the Board. This continued till 1993 when some fissures sprang up in Mid-West chapter and became pretty acrimonious and thus other chapters lost interest in National AJA and continued with their own agendas. Since then North-East chapter has continued its picnic and Diwali gatherings regularly and without any acrimony and is one of the more active chapters, thanks to people carrying the responsibilities without any egos.

    As I had mentioned in an article in Jat Patrika in 1992 before NAJC came into being that AJA has its Constitution and Bylaws but these need to be called only Bylaws and approved by a resolution of national AJA to be effective. Also AJA was incorporated as a non-profit tax exempt organization but tax-exempt status was never obtained and therefore, I am not sure if we still can use that incorporation. May be Dr. Surendra Pal can throw some light on it.

    It is good idea as proposed by Tavathia ji and Vinod to bring all the chapters under one umbrella and interact together for the benefit of the society. I wish them good luck which they will need plenty of. If I can of any help, I am here. I do have the copies of so called approved Constitution and Bylaws of AJA if someone needs to follow these and recreate national AJA.

  6. #6

    What do we get out of this?

    Dear Elders:
    Why cant at least one member from each chapter in our vast kingdom write and update us on their activities? We need more information about the activities of each chapter...and it will by itself make sufficient progress...i would love to go to other chapters in near future...I guess if we cant fulfill this very simple objective the other harder goals may be even more difficult to attain despite our intentions.
    What do we attain upon integration is the natural question to be answered before we devote energy to this matter...and i guess elders can guide us here more than we can on our own...
    Apologies for late posting Tewathia ji...
    Last edited by ratananmol; July 7th, 2006 at 12:42 PM.

  7. #7

    Thanks

    Dear Arya Ji,

    Thanks a lot for giving a very detailed account of the history of AJA. I am not sure if we need to go ahead and find out about the tax exempt status of AJA if we need for a charitable purpose, because we already have NAJC for that.

    I know, we would be needing a lot of luck to get every one together. I guess, there is no harm in trying it out, for we would never know otherwise whether or not we can do it.

    I am sure people will come out of their ego, and realize the importance of AJA, the purpose for which it was created and need to move forward. I had already mentioned in my post earlier, that as a community we need to get out of our thinking of "Either my way or no way".

    Even though it may look like a wishful thinking, but I feel, that we can have a try. We would be needing a lot of help from you and other founding members of AJA to take the next step.

    I once again thank you very much for the historical account you have give to us.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  8. #8
    Thanks Aryaji for writing up that piece. Your contribution has been invaluable and this step of unifying all Jat chapters will also need you help.

    Tavathiaji, I agree that this work can be done and since you have taken lead your experience with AJA and networking will make it easier. Before we decide what step should we take to bring all chapters together, lets discuss more on what would be the long term vision, how a united community is better and what do we aim to achieve by all this.

    Suppose most of AJA chapters (just for name's sake lets say NJ, DC, Midwest and Calif) agree with this idea then most of people would ask us "Ok we agree with you. Now what do yo offer? and what do you expect from us?" We say "See its better to have a single united organization than we all working separately." They ask "How?"

    Few points that I could think of are (please add more)
    -Though its hard to realize but just to keep each other updated on events through proper communication is worth it. There is more to to it than sending flyers of picnics and functions, e.g. if someone wants to undertake some other initiative for community, he/she has access to reach out to more people. What exactly these initiative can be is matter of separate discussion but bare minimum necessity for any such effort is to have integrated orgn.

    -Another advantage could be making people aware of how they could contribute through charity and otherwise. In case of small community fund raising is done mostly through personal contacts, not through forums and internet (there are exceptions of course). Its more effective to talk to people and answer their queries personally and build up confidence and sense of accountability. If all chapters agree to cooperate, everybody doesn't have to be in all meetings but people can fit in their roles more comfortably and contribute in whatever ways they can.

    -Other thing is standardisation. For example, NJ chapter has picnic and Diwali function, its comparatively hard to conduct events first couple of times but once a chapter is running people come out automatically and it just happens. This initial difficulty can be eased if new chapters are helped with "standard" ways of conducting events (I'm not talking of picnics here, we don't need to prepare documents how to have one, thats funny... but e.g. a more formal event of fundraising). Other possible options are, e.g. if one chapter conducts some presentation on lets say "Jat history for dummies", this could be replicated at other places too...

    Similarly there are other things too. So how do we go about it? I think first of all we could try to make contact with people that Arya ji mentioned in his post, people who were involved in starting up the orgn. Then we could make contact with current officials or coordinators of each chapter and talk about it. Other things will make clear as we go along.

    But before that we should make a team and then responsibilties can be divided.

    -vinod
    Last edited by vinodks; July 8th, 2006 at 02:57 AM.

  9. #9

    Let Me Know

    Dear Vinod,

    Yes, we can start working. Please do let me know who all are willing to work towards this cause?

    The first thing would be to contact all the jats or the maximum jats in different areas to find out their views on this subject.

    There are two ways that we can do it. Firstly by calling them on phone or sending the bulk emails. It is easy to find out the contact phone number of the people than the emails. Once we call them, we can take their email addresses and also tell them to visit one of the web site whether it is this site of the actual site of aja. I personally feel, if all can visit aja site then it will be easy to proceed further. Harish Dhayal Ji has to do a lot of works or let us do a lot of work on the website to make it user friendly, and to have more options. The website itself needs to look a little more attractive for younger people's taste.

    Do call me or send me emails as and when you get time and come up with some thing concrete.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  10. #10

    Good Idea

    Quote Originally Posted by ratananmol View Post
    Dear Elders:
    Why cant at least one member from each chapter in our vast kingdom write and update us on their activities? We need more information about the activities of each chapter...and it will by itself make sufficient progress...i would love to go to other chapters in near future...I guess if we cant fulfill this very simple objective the other harder goals may be even more difficult to attain despite our intentions.
    What do we attain upon integration is the natural question to be answered before we devote energy to this matter...and i guess elders can guide us here more than we can on our own...
    Apologies for late posting Tewathia ji...
    Dear Anmol,

    Firstly it is a good idea to get a historical account of all the chapters, as well as their current status to get a starting point.

    Your question is very genuine to find out the purpose of national level intigration.

    Firstly we do have a very small community as compared to other communities. If we unite, and have every thing under one umbrella, we would be looked up by all other communities on various issues of regional, national and internationl nature, where views of Indian community as such may be crucial.

    As we move forward, we would know exactly what resources are available in what areas. This will help the community people coming to this country in settling down. May be at some stage we might reach a situation, where we would be able to help the new comers in this country with financial help for further studies as well as to establish businesses. I am sure some of us would be in a position to help people to get right jobs as well.

    All this can happen, if we all share with others what we do? How much and how can we help. Many of our folks are very shy, and some time don't even ask for help from community members.

    There is a lot one can write about the scope. But the first and foremost question is whether or not we as a community agree on this kind of plateform?

    As has been mentioned by Arya Ji, we would be needing a lot of luck to get success.

    I think unless we try we would never know, and in any case fortune favors the brave.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  11. #11

    Chapter for the South-East area....

    ...Is there one that envelops the South-Florida area???....
    If yes, who is the Chair, and/or members list, contact info etc. etc.

    Of course in any case, the point is if something needs to be jumpstarted to get things rolling for the Jats associations here in America, of course get is involved by all means!
    ...Wouldn't follow the trodden path, but shall leave a blazing trail!!!...

  12. #12

    First Thing First

    Dear Shailendra,

    First thing is to find out as to how many jats are living in Florida. There is a good possibility to have one chapter involving states like Florida, SC, Georgia and other neighboring states. NC, VA and WVA probably may get involved at one place either in DC area or so.

    Another thing we need to work out is the center of these chapters. The idea should be that distances travelled by majority of members should be less. Let us work on the project. Try and contact as many Jats in your area as possible. Get their addresses, contact phone numbers and email addresses.

    Thanks for showing interest. Together we can achieve any thing.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  13. #13
    Dear Tavathiaji,
    People in NC are very enthusiastic about having a chapterof their own in NC itself. In fact, gang of people like Adityaji, Hemant and Anjuji showed interest in having Diwali function in Raleigh(NC) too. All of these people were interested in coming to VA (15th July) but becuase of busy schedules only Anjuji is coming to VA meeting and that would be one of the thing we will talk about. People would be free to join any chapter but best way would be let them decide what they want with regional autonomy and others can help them.
    Keep it up!

    -vinod

    Quote Originally Posted by raj2rif View Post
    NC, VA and WVA probably may get involved at one place either in DC area or so
    Last edited by vinodks; July 11th, 2006 at 06:04 AM.
    It may be that universal history is the history of the different intonations given to a handful of metaphors. -J L Borges

  14. #14

    Yes They are the One who will Decide

    Dear Vinod,
    I know there are a lot of Indians and Jats in NC (Golden Triangle as they call Relaigh, Durhum and Carry area). I think I have a clear vision of how to get them organized. While they will decide themselves where to meet, we would just be suggesting the regional affiliations that would be beneficial for them. I personally believe in Federal kind of bond, where the local chapter decides where to join. However in any set up if we want to have some bylaws, a little moderation would be useful.
    As Arya Ji has said "We would be needing plenty of luck", We might get stuck on this point itself.
    Let us move on.
    The first thing is to let people know who all are in their own area. Let us organize a meeting of their own and let them decide where they want to go from there.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  15. #15
    Dear Col Virender Tavathia Sahib
    RAM RAM
    Thank you very much for the mail. You are very much welcome to Visit any time and talk on phone.
    You & other Jats family are Always welcome . There is no condition who will make frist move. My way or your way from our side It is and always will be our way. We are willing to co-op with all AJA chapters on = equal term.. I know most of AJA people over 25 years.
    Only thing Chicago is 6 hrs drive NJ- LA- DC is long way. I understand that It is easier to come from London to NJ.
    We need people like you. who can see right, left, back & forward.

    with best wishes
    Dharmpal Dudee
    Jay Jawan Jay Kisan Jay Shaheed

  16. #16

    Thanks

    Dear Dudee Ji,

    Thanks a lot for your invitation. I shall try my best to be part of the function.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •