Some home truths for Ravi Singh Khalsa Aid

[proactive 4,152]

Here is a report where even the Langar at the Gurdwara is being affected by the cost of living crisis in the UK. The local families have a rotation system where they organise the langar in the Gurdwara and because of the number of non-Sikhs coming for the Langar this is causing them to get into financial difficulties. This just shows how pointless the donations to KA and other such charities are. When our own people even in the west are facing financial difficulties then should this not cause us to rethink what we are doing. There is no doubt that the Langar should always take place but maybe the Gurdwaras should insist on just basic langar of daal and roti and  take off the pressure off Sikh families in the area to make Langar with costly dishes. 

 

 

[MisterrSingh 8,530]

1 hour ago, Ranjeet01 said:

Found this tweet. More Singh's are questioning:

Sikhs are a community that, in the midst of their own struggle for survival, cares more about others than its own. I no longer know if it is a good thing or not

When this world continues along its unjust, and illogical trajectory, expect the next generations of Sikhs who aren't sheep to turn on the ones within our own community who led us into this situation. They aren't going to hold back. I may seem like I cross the line at times, but I know I definitely hold back. Future Singhs with anakh especially in the West aren't going to be so "chal ho". Going up against rival religions who outnumber us in the millions is impossible. So they'll turn their attentions to cleaning up in-house to ensure whoever we have left will have a stark reminder of what happens when you act stupidly and hurt your own interests. It won't be pretty.

[MisterrSingh 8,530]

9 minutes ago, proactive said:

There is no doubt that the Langar should always take place but maybe the Gurdwaras should insist on just basic langar of daal and roti and  take off the pressure off Sikh families in the area to make Langar with costly dishes. 

With the benefits of increased wealth and general economic prosperity of Western Sikhs, this seems to have had a negative affect on attitudes regarding these particular issues. I've seen it myself where our people's nakhre when it comes to the dishes available for langar are becoming quite obscene. Langar isn't a catering service. It's a reminder to be humble and nourish yourself with basic staples. 

[Premi5 3,302]

@shastarSingh how well known is Ravi Singh and Khalsa Aid in Panjab?

Do you seem him in Panjabi newspapers or TV?

[shastarSingh 3,469]

21 minutes ago, Premi5 said:

@shastarSingh how well known is Ravi Singh and Khalsa Aid in Panjab?

Do you seem him in Panjabi newspapers or TV?

I don't really watch much tv news or read newspapers.

Ravi Singh is not a bad guy. He is a good sikh. He needs to be panthic and shud not waste panth's money.

[dallysingh101 7,457]

2 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

When this world continues along its unjust, and illogical trajectory, expect the next generations of Sikhs who aren't sheep to turn on the ones within our own community who led us into this situation. They aren't going to hold back. I may seem like I cross the line at times, but I know I definitely hold back. Future Singhs with anakh especially in the West aren't going to be so "chal ho". Going up against rival religions who outnumber us in the millions is impossible. So they'll turn their attentions to cleaning up in-house to ensure whoever we have left will have a stark reminder of what happens when you act stupidly and hurt your own interests. It won't be pretty.

The quicker this happens the better. 

[californiasardar1 984]

The criticism of Ravi Singh is ridiculous.

Here is why:

If he devoted 100% of his charitable efforts to Sikh causes, Khalsa Aid would bring in only a small fraction of what it does in donations. More people are likely to donate to a charity that presents itself as serving all kinds of people all over the globe.

So basically, Ravi Singh spending X% of whatever Khalsa Aid brings in right now probably ends up being more than if Ravi Singh spent 100% of what would be a MUCH smaller pot of donations on Sikh issues.

[proactive 4,152]

6 hours ago, californiasardar1 said:

The criticism of Ravi Singh is ridiculous.

Here is why:

If he devoted 100% of his charitable efforts to Sikh causes, Khalsa Aid would bring in only a small fraction of what it does in donations. More people are likely to donate to a charity that presents itself as serving all kinds of people all over the globe.

So basically, Ravi Singh spending X% of whatever Khalsa Aid brings in right now probably ends up being more than if Ravi Singh spent 100% of what would be a MUCH smaller pot of donations on Sikh issues.

That's one of the more ridiculous defences I have read of Khalsa Aid. KA has always stated that they get the vast majority of their donations from Sikhs. In an interview in 2017 he stated that 98% of donations are from Sikhs. They even target Sikhs by claiming that donations to them are Daswandh which these donations clearly are not. The 98% quote is below

Funding comes mainly from the Sikh community; Khalsa Aid does not receive any government funding. “About 98 percent is funded by the Sikh community from around the world. If it is a major disaster, then the gurudwaras step forward as well,” says Singh, adding that the organization has had a lot of non-Sikh supporters from UK in the past couple  of years.  

Ravi Singh: Reigniting Faith in Humanity (darpanmagazine.com)

KA's latest accounts on the charity commission website clearly prove your contention wrong. In fact one would assume that Khalsa Aid would be spending more money in India now because Ravi Singh has been defending KA's lack of help to Sikhs as part of a plan to build up KA's profile abroad and then KA would be able to work in Punjab without Indian government blocking its work. In 2020 KA spent £724,000 in India out of 1,910,000 total spent that is 38%. But last year they spent 424,000 in India out of 1,589,000 which is 26%. This does not mean that KA is spending 26% of funds on Sikhs because a lot of these funds would have been spent in states like Kerala, Uttarakhand etc. So if we estimate that half of the money spent in India is spent in Punjab then  KA spends about 15% of it's spend in 2021 on Sikhs. 

The best way to illustrate the mentality of KA is that they spend MORE money on salaries and benefits to its employees (264K in 2021) than it does on HELPING SIKHS! 

So in fact KA is cutting back on both their total spend and their spend in India. Interesting enough the funds spent in Iraq have actually gone up as a percentage of total spend in the last two years, KA spent 15% of total spend in Iraq in 2020 and this went up to 17% in 2021.  

Another disturbing aspect of KA has been that rather than spending a majority of the donations, they are hoarding it even when someone makes a donation they expect that that money will be spent soon on helping needy people. BUT the fact is that KA in the last few years have only been spending less and less percentage of the donations received. In 2020 they spent 40% and in 2021 they spent only 32%. 

 

[Premi5 3,302]

.

[Premi5 3,302]

1 hour ago, proactive said:

That's one of the more ridiculous defences I have read of Khalsa Aid. KA has always stated that they get the vast majority of their donations from Sikhs. In an interview in 2017 he stated that 98% of donations are from Sikhs. They even target Sikhs by claiming that donations to them are Daswandh which these donations clearly are not. The 98% quote is below

Funding comes mainly from the Sikh community; Khalsa Aid does not receive any government funding. “About 98 percent is funded by the Sikh community from around the world. If it is a major disaster, then the gurudwaras step forward as well,” says Singh, adding that the organization has had a lot of non-Sikh supporters from UK in the past couple  of years.  

Ravi Singh: Reigniting Faith in Humanity (darpanmagazine.com)

KA's latest accounts on the charity commission website clearly prove your contention wrong. In fact one would assume that Khalsa Aid would be spending more money in India now because Ravi Singh has been defending KA's lack of help to Sikhs as part of a plan to build up KA's profile abroad and then KA would be able to work in Punjab without Indian government blocking its work. In 2020 KA spent £724,000 in India out of 1,910,000 total spent that is 38%. But last year they spent 424,000 in India out of 1,589,000 which is 26%. This does not mean that KA is spending 26% of funds on Sikhs because a lot of these funds would have been spent in states like Kerala, Uttarakhand etc. So if we estimate that half of the money spent in India is spent in Punjab then  KA spends about 15% of it's spend in 2021 on Sikhs. 

The best way to illustrate the mentality of KA is that they spend MORE money on salaries and benefits to its employees (264K in 2021) than it does on HELPING SIKHS! 

So in fact KA is cutting back on both their total spend and their spend in India. Interesting enough the funds spent in Iraq have actually gone up as a percentage of total spend in the last two years, KA spent 15% of total spend in Iraq in 2020 and this went up to 17% in 2021.  

Another disturbing aspect of KA has been that rather than spending a majority of the donations, they are hoarding it even when someone makes a donation they expect that that money will be spent soon on helping needy people. BUT the fact is that KA in the last few years have only been spending less and less percentage of the donations received. In 2020 they spent 40% and in 2021 they spent only 32%. 

 

[californiasardar1 984]

6 hours ago, proactive said:

That's one of the more ridiculous defences I have read of Khalsa Aid. KA has always stated that they get the vast majority of their donations from Sikhs. In an interview in 2017 he stated that 98% of donations are from Sikhs. They even target Sikhs by claiming that donations to them are Daswandh which these donations clearly are not. The 98% quote is below

Funding comes mainly from the Sikh community; Khalsa Aid does not receive any government funding. “About 98 percent is funded by the Sikh community from around the world. If it is a major disaster, then the gurudwaras step forward as well,” says Singh, adding that the organization has had a lot of non-Sikh supporters from UK in the past couple  of years.  

Ravi Singh: Reigniting Faith in Humanity (darpanmagazine.com)

KA's latest accounts on the charity commission website clearly prove your contention wrong. In fact one would assume that Khalsa Aid would be spending more money in India now because Ravi Singh has been defending KA's lack of help to Sikhs as part of a plan to build up KA's profile abroad and then KA would be able to work in Punjab without Indian government blocking its work. In 2020 KA spent £724,000 in India out of 1,910,000 total spent that is 38%. But last year they spent 424,000 in India out of 1,589,000 which is 26%. This does not mean that KA is spending 26% of funds on Sikhs because a lot of these funds would have been spent in states like Kerala, Uttarakhand etc. So if we estimate that half of the money spent in India is spent in Punjab then  KA spends about 15% of it's spend in 2021 on Sikhs. 

The best way to illustrate the mentality of KA is that they spend MORE money on salaries and benefits to its employees (264K in 2021) than it does on HELPING SIKHS! 

So in fact KA is cutting back on both their total spend and their spend in India. Interesting enough the funds spent in Iraq have actually gone up as a percentage of total spend in the last two years, KA spent 15% of total spend in Iraq in 2020 and this went up to 17% in 2021.  

Another disturbing aspect of KA has been that rather than spending a majority of the donations, they are hoarding it even when someone makes a donation they expect that that money will be spent soon on helping needy people. BUT the fact is that KA in the last few years have only been spending less and less percentage of the donations received. In 2020 they spent 40% and in 2021 they spent only 32%. 

 

 

Ummm, how does this prove anything that I have written to be wrong?

I am not sure why you think that is impossible that many Sikh individuals/organizations are more likely to donate to a charity that presents itself as one with a global outlook interested in assisted all kinds of different people than they are to a charity that is entirely focused on Sikh related issues.

In fact, I would guess that Sikhs who are well off and have money to spare are especially more likely to donate to a Sikh organization with a "global" outlook than to a Sikh organization focused on Sikh issues.

 

Anyway, if the Sikhs who donate to Khalsa Aid want their money to be spent only on Sikh-related issues, they clearly shouldn't be donating to Khalsa Aid. It has been obvious for years that Khalsa Aid spends money all over the globe to assist all kinds of different people. The fact that they donate to Khalsa Aid indicates that they are more-or-less happy with how the money is spread around.

If you guys have an issue with how Khalsa Aid spends their money, you should convince people who donate to them to donate elsewhere.

[Premi5 3,302]

4 minutes ago, californiasardar1 said:

 

Ummm, how does this prove anything that I have written to be wrong?

I am not sure why you think that is impossible that many Sikh individuals/organizations are more likely to donate to a charity that presents itself as one with a global outlook interested in assisted all kinds of different people than they are to a charity that is entirely focused on Sikh related issues.

In fact, I would guess that Sikhs who are well off and have money to spare are especially more likely to donate to a Sikh organization with a "global" outlook than to a Sikh organization focused on Sikh issues.

Anyway, if the Sikhs who donate to Khalsa Aid want their money to be spent only on Sikh-related issues, they clearly shouldn't be donating to Khalsa Aid. It has been obvious for years that their money is spent all over the globe to assist all kinds of different people. The fact that they donate to Khalsa Aid indicates that they are more-or-less happy with how the money is spread around.

If you guys have an issue with how Khalsa Aid spends their money, you should convince people who donate to them to donate elsewhere.

Ravi Singh presents himself as the face of KA. And the name 'Khalsa Aid' implies it is a Sikh charity, but it does not seem that KA is putting Sikhs first. There are many other charities out there who are helping other communities/projects; KA's work in those settings are likely very small to the overall financial help those projects get. KA could instead make a relatively bigger difference for Sikh projects if they chose to. 

I don't know exactly who are the donors to KA, but many of my parents' generation see Ravi Singh as the 'face' and think instantly that this is a 'Sikh' charity putting Sikh needs first, but KA does not seem to be. Many 'liberal' Sikhs think the same way. 

I thought you were more 'conservative' from everything you have said about Monay etc ?

Quote

you should convince people who donate to them to donate elsewhere.

I tell anyone I know, and would like us all to speak about it here. 

It would be better if other organisations like Your Sewa could get more publicity

[californiasardar1 984]

57 minutes ago, Premi5 said:

Ravi Singh presents himself as the face of KA. And the name 'Khalsa Aid' implies it is a Sikh charity, but it does not seem that KA is putting Sikhs first. There are many other charities out there who are helping other communities/projects; KA's work in those settings are likely very small to the overall financial help those projects get. KA could instead make a relatively bigger difference for Sikh projects if they chose to. 

I don't know exactly who are the donors to KA, but many of my parents' generation see Ravi Singh as the 'face' and think instantly that this is a 'Sikh' charity putting Sikh needs first, but KA does not seem to be. Many 'liberal' Sikhs think the same way. 

I thought you were more 'conservative' from everything you have said about Monay etc ?

I tell anyone I know, and would like us all to speak about it here. 

It would be better if other organisations like Your Sewa could get more publicity

 

I think a lot of people would take exception to the notion that the mission of the Khalsa is supposed to be "Sikhs first."

But anyway, anyone who has internet access can easily see that Khalsa Aid uses its resources all over the globe for various causes. Except for maybe a few 80-year-old bajurgs, I have a hard time believing that the people who donate to Khalsa Aid think that they are donating to an organization that entirely or almost entirely focuses on Sikh issues.

If someone is mistaken about what Khalsa Aid does, then that is on them. It is important to be resourceful enough in this day and age to be able to access information that is readily available to everyone.

[proactive 4,152]

2 hours ago, californiasardar1 said:

 

Ummm, how does this prove anything that I have written to be wrong?

I am not sure why you think that is impossible that many Sikh individuals/organizations are more likely to donate to a charity that presents itself as one with a global outlook interested in assisted all kinds of different people than they are to a charity that is entirely focused on Sikh related issues.

In fact, I would guess that Sikhs who are well off and have money to spare are especially more likely to donate to a Sikh organization with a "global" outlook than to a Sikh organization focused on Sikh issues.

 

Anyway, if the Sikhs who donate to Khalsa Aid want their money to be spent only on Sikh-related issues, they clearly shouldn't be donating to Khalsa Aid. It has been obvious for years that Khalsa Aid spends money all over the globe to assist all kinds of different people. The fact that they donate to Khalsa Aid indicates that they are more-or-less happy with how the money is spread around.

If you guys have an issue with how Khalsa Aid spends their money, you should convince people who donate to them to donate elsewhere.

Let me refresh your memory, You wrote  Khalsa Aid by being a charity that helps all and not just Sikhs is likely to get more donations because non-Sikhs will also donate to it and thus it will have more money at hand with which to possibly help Sikhs than if it was solely a Sikh charity which would restrict its donations to just Sikhs. I showed that they get the vast majority of donations from Sikhs ONLY anyway (98% in 2017) so your contention is false and I have shown clearly it is false.

What Ravi Singh has successfully done is subvert both the concept of Langar and the concept of Daswand. Our community in the early 2000s instead of challenging him allowed the subversion and now the next generation do not even realise what Langar and Daswand is. 

 

[Premi5 3,302]

 

Selected parts of article

https://www.darpanmagazine.com/people/newsmakers/ravi-singh-reigniting-faith-in-humanity/

 

98 percent funding from Sikhs, but "a lot of non-Sikh supporters from UK in the past couple  of years" .

Those 2% are not doing 'a lot' it seems

 

Quote

Funding comes mainly from the Sikh community; Khalsa Aid does not receive any government funding. “About 98 percent is funded by the Sikh community from around the world. If it is a major disaster, then the gurudwaras step forward as well,” says Singh, adding that the organization has had a lot of non-Sikh supporters from UK in the past couple  of years. 

 

 

Quote

Ravi Singh ...has taken it upon himself to achieve this world vision. Through Khalsa Aid, he has been reaching out to various corners of the earth helping those in need and in turn rekindling people’s trust in humanity. 

 

 

 

The idea of taking the concept of langar aka Sikh community kitchen to people or regions that needed it the most gave birth to Khalsa Aid...

 

“In April 1999 so many refugees in the border were fighting for a piece of bread. That year Sikhs were celebrating 200 years of the Khalsa as an identity,” adds Singh who began questioning himself and the community on the concept of langar and its purpose. The fact that there wasn’t any method of taking langar to where it is needed most disturbed him immensely. “Each gurudwara has four doors which means anybody from four corners of the world can eat in the gurudwara.  So why haven’t we gone out into the four corners to those who can’t reach us?” he wondered. This triggered in Singh the need to take the real meaning of langar to where it is required – to reach out to those who had no access to it. This materialized with the formation of Khalsa Aid. 

 

The organization is based upon the Sikh principle to ‘Recognise the whole human race as one’. 

 

Sharing the origin of the name, Singh says that it was chosen because the word ‘Khalsa’ is driven by humanity. “That we don’t hate or judge any faith; we respect and get along with everyone.”

 

 

 

Funding comes mainly from the Sikh community; Khalsa Aid does not receive any government funding. “About 98 percent is funded by the Sikh community from around the world. If it is a major disaster, then the gurudwaras step forward as well,” says Singh, adding that the organization has had a lot of non-Sikh supporters from UK in the past couple  of years. 

 

Khalsa Aid does not work with larger organizations for two main reasons – one, to keep away from corruption, and two, to avoid disrupting the economy of the country they are helping. We work with a Rotary Club, a Lion’s Club, mosque, church, or temple because you get a lot of volunteers at grassroots levels who have the passion of serving the people but don’t have funding. So we provide the funding, they provide the knowledge on the crisis, and we work together,” explains Singh. 

 

We never stop believing in humanity because then you spread more love in the world. It makes you driven to do more,” he emphasizes. 

 

The message we have from the gurus is Sarbat Da Bhala – well-being of all. Sikhs are always praying for the well-being of the whole world, not just Sikhs. Also Vand Ke Chakna – which means share what you have.