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Sikh Bank


MrDoaba
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In the last episode of Panth Time on Sikh Channel they were talking about the idea of a Sikh bank. A non profit bank which would invest in the Sikh community.

Theres already something similar in Canada called the Khalsa Credit Union. Has anybody here used their services??

What do you guys think? Is this idea viable? We disagree with each other more than we agree so are we mature enough to run our own bank? How would we decide where the money is spent, what would be our priorities? How would we keep out corruption?

I think those who are doing real seva, actually doing something for Sikhi would benefit greatly as they lack funds.

Any input from those with a greater understanding of the financial sector would be appreciated.

Theres many more questions but lets just start with these. :smile2:

http://www.khalsacreditunion.ca/

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Where would the money come from? Will it be from sangat's daswandh?

If the sangat gave their daswandh directly to the organisations they'd wish to support, they can do it as per their own will.

I'm assuming that if there was such a bank...it would control where the money went. (or the donors could be provided with choices).

Transparency is a MUST is such 'non-profit' organisations.

A non profit bank which would invest in the Sikh community.

^^^ I believe this would be the hardest part to decide on, 'coz the words Sikh and Punjabi are generally always intertwined.

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There was a private Sikh bank in Punjab some time ago I read but then Indira gandhi took it over. A private Sikh bank would be a great idea and essential if we want to move foward the goal of independence from Indian rule. As for daswaand I dont think that applies in countries of non-sikh rule, in Sikh history daswaand is a mandatory religious tax that Sikhs gave to run the political independent state instead of other taxes people pay these days like income tax, VAT, national insurance. So daswaand 10% charitable tax no longer applies as there is no political setup where it can be truly practiced and implemented yet unless you volunteer to give daswaand thats up to you. A 2%-3% tax taken from the accounts would be more rational and reasonable and will attract more people to join up.

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If the sangat gave their daswandh directly to the organisations they'd wish to support, they can do it as per their own will.

I'm assuming that if there was such a bank...it would control where the money went. (or the donors could be provided with choices).

I believe this would be the hardest part to decide on, 'coz the words Sikh and Punjabi are generally always intertwined.

Our community has problems voluntarily parting with money.

I dont think it would work like that. You wouldnt pick and choose which organisations you want to support. The banks income would be the source of the investments. Technically this would not be counted as daswandh.

In Panth Time they mentioned The Co-operative Bank which is involved in ethical investments.

Why do you think that would be hard to decide on? If Sikhs wish to set up a bank for Sikhs which invests in their own religion then Punjabi wouldnt come into the equation. It would clearly be outlined as a Sikh bank.

Check out the link for Khalsa Credit Union.

However, it’s much more sophisticated. Who will run the bank? Setting up charters that the bank is primarily responsible for protecting the public from unsafe banking practices? Identify directors, a chief executive officer (who usually has to have past experience running a bank) and other executives? Competition from other Banks? Raising the capital/stock for the Bank (massive working capital required)? Safeguarding the deposits?

This is just off the top of my head...There’s loads to think about...

These are some very valid points. All of these things are what make me sceptical about the theory of a Sikh bank.

So daswaand 10% charitable tax no longer applies as there is no political setup where it can be truly practiced and implemented yet unless you volunteer to give daswaand thats up to you. A 2%-3% tax taken from the accounts would be more rational and reasonable and will attract more people to join up.

This is the idea!

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I think the idea of a Sikh bank is just playing to the hand of some of our critics who dismiss Sikhism as simply an unoriginal religion that copies concepts from other faiths.

Muslims have their own banks because a stated banking system is at the very heart of their religion. Therefore their religion insists that they have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Christian religion and thats why christians don't have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Jewish religion and thats why jews don't have their own banks (although it could be argued that they already own all the other banks)

A banking system is not part of the Hindu religion and that is why hindus don't have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Bhuddist religion and that is why bhuddists don't have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Sikh religion either.

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I think the idea of a Sikh bank is just playing to the hand of some of our critics who dismiss Sikhism as simply an unoriginal religion that copies concepts from other faiths.

Muslims have their own banks because a stated banking system is at the very heart of their religion. Therefore their religion insists that they have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Christian religion and thats why christians don't have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Jewish religion and thats why jews don't have their own banks (although it could be argued that they already own all the other banks)

A banking system is not part of the Hindu religion and that is why hindus don't have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Bhuddist religion and that is why bhuddists don't have their own banks.

A banking system is not part of the Sikh religion either.

No I think a financial banking system is at the heart of the miri puri concept of Sikhism. Sikhs need to be active in localised, national and international politics and aswell personal religious affairs. Daswaand wasnt created out of no where it was an essential religious tax to run the affairs of the state and its a fair tax as opposed to Islamic jizya to non-muslims and christian-judaic usery/interest tax which is currently plunging the world in crisis greed and destruction. Guru hargobind Sahib Ji's genius was to take the fight on a political and military level so Sikhs were self sufficient and relied on their own defence to safeguard a just society based on Sikh teachings and concepts.

However the critics will always bark they have done always in Sikh history and they will be the enemies who will want military action against the Sikhs as they have done so in the past because greed, envious and jealously will come in their minds instead of trying to uplift their own people the right way.

Look at Libya it was self sufficient before Gaddafi was toppled, and its people were free without debt because of Gaddafi's system of governance did not allowed Rothschild jewish owned banks into the country to have a financial hold over its government. His mistake was to try and setup a currency based on the gold standard which would have lifted African nations out of European christian-Judaic debt and hegemony western nations have had since 16th century and plunged the western world in more economic turmoil. So the western nations saw as it a direct threat to their economic well being and attacked him using a pretext of human rights abuses in bengazi when they were actually islamist Al-aeqda jihadi salafist khalifat gangs and other nationalist separatists trying to split libya up for their own interests. Similarly Indira gandhi took over the Sikh bank to try and suppress the Sikh aspirations for political independence from Brahminwad Indian hegemonic grip over their affairs of the Sikh nation who were ment to be autonomous as promised by nehru in 1946.

The sooner the Sikhs create their own banking system the better it will be in the longer term also short term charitable goals will also be accomplished this way.

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No I think a financial banking system is at the heart of the miri puri concept of Sikhism. Sikhs need to be active in localised, national and international politics and aswell personal religious affairs. Daswaand wasnt created out of no where it was an essential religious tax to run the affairs of the state ......

Nobody is denying the role of the state in Sikhism and the role of tax (again...collected by the state) and charity, But none of these things has anything to do with the concept of a bank. You are confusing the role of the state and people with that of a bank. The muslims have to have their own separate banks because a fundamental concept of their religion is the fact that they can have no dealings with institutions that make money on the back of interest. This is of course taken from the money-lending fables of the 3 abrahamic faiths but has absolutely no bearing on us the Sikhs. Unless in comes to light that Barclays, HSBC and Santander only exist in order to make cigarettes in their branches we Sikhs have absolutely no religious justification for having our own banks.

As Sikhs we're so busy dealing with the hurtful remarks of those that hate us we sometimes overlook the fact that most of the negative things non-sikhs say about Sikhism is that sikhs simply copy ideas from other religions and is thus not a religion at all with its own ideas.

This sikh bank idea simply hands it on a plate to such people.

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the sikh panth is not ready for a sikh bank, we can't even look after our own people, let alone manage their money.

noble idea, however I feel that we are not ready for it.

one member here said we have a problem parting with money, of course we do, who do we trust? when you have so many people misusing funds in gurdwaras, how do you expect people do trust them with their money in a bank?

I can just see the headlines "sikh bank needs your help, give your dasvand and reap the guru's happiness"

you can setup the whole charter, etc, however I feel as a panth, we need to start working on the concept of "the sikh panth".

some people may disagree, which is understandable.

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