INVC NEWSChandigarh,
The 350 birth anniversary of the 10th Master Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji will be celebrated as a massive event of global magnitude with focus on the Guru’s message on peace humanism, love and universal brotherhood and its relevance in the emerging national and international scenario .
The commemorative events spread over an entire year will future among other things, seminars on the works, history and philosophy of Guru Gobind Singh ji especially in the context of major movements of spiritual substance down the ages. In a world where communal hatred and social divisions have come to threaten the very basis of the ‘One World’ as visualized by great minds throughout human history, a return to the simple but profound message delivered by the Sikh Gurus culminating in the most profound moving and pulsating life and contribution of the tenth master can show the way to a distraught humanity and guide it out of the dark corner in which it finds itself.
For a start, the state government will make a provision for Rs. 100 crore to be spent on the organizing various events throughout out the anniversary year.
These were some of the key decisions taken at a high level meeting chaired by the Punjab Chief Minister at his residence here this evening.
Giving details of the meeting, Mr Harcharan Bains, Advisor to the Chief Minister on National Affairs and Media, told newspersons that a Foundation will be set up under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Punjab. Apart from official representatives, the Foundation will include eminent religious personages, Sikh scholars, including historians, religious and social thinkers etc. An endowment fund of Rs Five crore will be created for the foundation.. The Government proposes to observe the celebrations at a scale befitting the universal saturate of the Guru .
This will also be a great and historic opportunity to educate people, people belonging to different faiths all over the world, about the humanitarian and cosmopolitan message of the Sikh Gurus as contained in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The Sikh masses all over the world as well people from other communities with a concern for human race on this planet are looking forward to the occasion.
The Chief Minister will be holding a series of meetings with eminent scholars of Sikh religion and philosophy and solicit their help and cooperation in helping the government carry the message of the Sikh gurus to every corner of the globe, said Mr. Bains.
Mr Badal is going to Delhi tomorrow to meet some central ministers regarding some of the issues that need to be addressed for a smooth observance of the anniversary. There are issues regarding upgrading and modernizing infrastructure around religous shrine in Patna Sahib as well as un-clogging the traffic arteries in the city for a smooth passage of the procession during the celebrations.
Mr Bains said that the Chief Minister is firmly of the view that there is a need to create awareness not only about the identity of the Sikh religion among people from other communities and countries but even more importantly, there is need to realize that the Guru’s message, which has always had a relevance for the entire mankind, was never more needed than today when society is fraught with divisive bitterness, acrimony and mindless violence. Mr Badal believes that the message of peace and communal harmony is the cornerstone of the teachings of the great Gurus and these ideals are the need of the hour to save not just India but societies and countries across the globe.
The meeting at the Chief Minister’s residence was attended, by Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for Industries, Punjab, Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Mr Harcharan SIngh Bains, general Secretaries of the SAD, the state Chief Secretary Mr Sarvesh Kaushal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr S K Sandhu, Ms. Anjali Bhawra Pricnipal Secretary Cultural Secretary, Mr KJS Cheema, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr Hardeep SIngh Dhillon, ADGP, Law and Order, Mr K D Chaudhary, Chairman , Powercom, and Technical Advisor to the CM General Dhaliwal.
