Washington (February 20, 2005) The Washington-based Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) has awarded 102 scholarships to needy students in Punjab and neighboring states for the academic year 2005.

Picture shown above of  the fundraising event of the SHDF in Washington where $63,000 were raised for scholarships: From Left to right; Surinder Singh, Gajinder Singh Ahuja, Jagdeep Singh, President and CEO of Infinera, an IT company based in Silicon Valley, Amarjit Singh Sodhi, Anita Kaur Arora, Dr. Rajwant Singh, Manmohan Singh, an IMF official in Washington

Amar Jit Singh Sodhi, Chairman of SHDF and former World Bank official, stated: “I am glad that we have exceeded our target of 100 scholarships for the current academic year. We had started with 22 scholarships in the year 2000-01. We hope to set a more ambitious target in the coming years.”

SHDF, focused to task of poverty alleviation and gender equity, is perhaps the only Sikh organization which grants scholarships to needy students for higher professional education in Punjab. Founded by a group of Sikh professionals in the Washington metropolitan area in 1999, the Foundation has awarded over 300 scholarships to Sikh and non-Sikh students.

Mr. Sodhi added, “The inspiration for this effort comes from the Sikh principle of Seva, which is to render service to humanity. We have seen dramatic difference this financial aid is making to the lives of our disadvantaged youth back home. This provides them with an opportunity to shape their own destiny and become productive citizens.”

According to Mr. Sodhi, most of the recipients face serious economically challenging situations; their per capita family income is less than a dollar a day. “It is a soul uplifting experience to see how timely financial assistance is helping the sons and daughters of poor widows, terminally sick breadwinners of the family, daily wage laborers, peons, pensioners, bicycle repairers, laboratory assistants and the like, pursue costly medical, engineering and similar professional degree or post graduate courses, and build their lives”, added Mr. Sodhi.

“It is also gratifying to see a wholesome trend emerging”, said Dr. Rajwant Singh, a founding member of the SHDF. “Some of our earlier scholarship recipients, who have by now completed their degree courses and have been employed, are in turn financing the cost of higher education of their siblings. The cascading impact of this trend will, over time, be a solid contribution towards poverty reduction and building of intellectual capital in the country”.

“If I am able to succeed with the help of this scholarship, it would be a lighthouse for those in my area who don’t get into the higher education in technical fields just because now-a-days education is ‘NOT’ for the poor”, writes Kiranjyoti Kaur Minhas, one of the scholarship recipients this year from a village in Jalandhar District. “Many students don’t opt for these”, continues Kiranjyoti, “as they know that a lot of money would be needed and they have their younger siblings also along with them.” The most important thing is that this scholarship would be “a motivation for me to work hard as my self-conscious would keep on reminding me that along with my parents, there are many other people waiting for my success. It would direct me to the right path, if I tend to go wrong. My goal in life is to be on the top.”

Mr. Sodhi said that “success stories of these students inspire us and helps us to reach out to more donors within USA. This gives an opportunity to people to share the fruits of their prosperity in the West and make a profound difference in the life of some one less fortunate back home. We are also encouraged by the tremendous support from the Sikh gurdwaras abroad and individuals. We now plan to go nation-wide and reach out to the community in different states for their support to expand our program.”

Mr. Sodhi also stated that the executive council members of SHDF have been touring Punjab and other states to create a network to identify needy students. Harbaksh Singh Sethi, a SHDF member, during his extended stays in India, is continually making contacts for this purpose. SHDF has partnered with both the Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana and the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, and is planning to reach out to more educational institutions, particularly in the rural areas.

SHDF has also assisted Hindu and Muslim students in Gujarat after the earthquake in 2001 and is contemplating assisting students hit by Tsunami disaster in South India.

According to Gajinder S. Ahuja, Secretary General of SHDF, special attention is paid by the organization to support female students. Over 52% of these scholarships have gone to female students. Overall, 56% of the scholarships have been given to students from rural areas. These students were drawn from the states of Punjab, J&K, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh. The scholarship amount is calibrated to the needs of the student and is renewed with the recipient maintaining a minimum academic score.

Mr. Surinder Singh, SHDF Treasurer stated that the average cost of an annual scholarship is around US$ 350. Other members of the executive council of SHDF are Harbaksh Singh Sethi, Veena Kaur Oberoi, Anita Kaur Arora and Dr. Rajwant Singh.

To contact Sikh Human Development Foundation, write to: 15129 Winesap Drive, North Potomac, MD 20878 or http://shdf.org/

About Sikh Human Development Foundation:

The SHDF Mission is to financially assist meritorious and needy students in selected parts of India to improve their access to higher professional education, and thereby help them grow to their full potential. In this effort, SHDF pays special attention to those affected by natural calamities and social upheavals; it is also committed to gender equity in the award of financial assistance. The term ‘professional education’ includes disciplines like medicine, engineering, agriculture, nursing, home science, information technology, business administration, architecture and accountancy. SHDF provides its donors an institutional mechanism, which cost-effectively facilitates the identification of the right kind of students, assesses their financial status, calibrates the size of the scholarship to each applicant’s needs and makes arrangements to monitor their academic performance. The SHDF program gives an opportunity to persons of Indian origin in USA as well as others to share the fruits of their success and prosperity and make a profound difference in the life of some one less fortunate. The beneficiary students includes orphans, and wards of widows, sick parents, drivers, bicycle repairers, pensioners and others; most of them from families with gross family income not exceeding US $ 2000 per year.

In India, SHDF operates largely through the Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council (Nishkam), a registered NGO. Nishkam has two decades of unblemished record of social service. Nishkam invites applications, holds a written moral science test at selected locations, conducts interviews, sends its recommendations with relevant documents to SHDF, and upon approval by SHDF, disburses the scholarships and follows up on the student’s performance. Nishkam maintains separate accounts for SHDF, which are regularly audited. The SHDF has also some direct links with the vice chancellors of universities in Punjab, to stay current with the state of professional education as well as to provide financial assistance to some really needy students who could not be captured through the Nishkam net.

The SHDF is inspired by the concept of Seva (service) in Sikh religion. In the Sikh way of life, rendering service to humanity (i.e. God in man), and responding to the pain and need of others, is the prime duty of a householder. The Sikh scriptures require that true service must be guileless, in humility, with purity of intention, with sincerity, and in utter selflessness. The daily prayer of millions of sikhs, whether in congregations or individually, ends with a supplication for the welfare of all. This ideal of service transcends distinctions of caste, color, gender, religion and nationality.

SHDF believes that investment in education will brighten the future of these young people like no other form of investment. Investment in knowledge always pays the best interest, draws the best out of a human being and provides the best ability to meet life’s challenges.

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