Road Map to an NGO of Bihar Anjuman

Societies Registration Act	Right to Information Act	Grants (ministry of social justice) to NGOs
Foreign Currency Regulation Act (pdf file 64kb)	Govt Schemes for Welfare of Minorities	National Foundation for Communal Harmony

Bank accounts can be had by local chapters (joint account in the name of minimum 2 people trusted by the local community) where funds can be remitted by anybody from anywhere. We can direct people to send to a particular acct, as per their convenience.

Sponsoring Projects is important, and we have to work hard to make them successful. We must remain self-motivated. Expecting ACTION at our end is not strange - that's the main purpose of this Anjuman. So, please wake up, and act!! (a) Join the local chapters. Motivate people to form local chapters, (b) Identify the genuine people from among those who come forward, (c) Motivate them to have an organizational structure - please suggest whether we formulate it for them or they should do it as per their own understanding and requirements (should we impose standard requirements on them - or they identify their own requirements?), (d) Motivate them to have Joint accts as soon as possible, (e) identify some genuine people among each chapter for (i) a central committee, and (ii) as trustees for NGO (let's have an NGO registered by December 2006) - think about a name for the NGO, and formulate its rules and regulations.

So, get going. We are now accountable to 4,750 members (on 31st Jan 2008, as compared with 1,382 at the end of 2006) of Bihar Anjuman (far ahead of other "bihari" and "jharkhandi" groups that were launched before us and have members from all religious communities) and also to over 1.2 billion muslims worldwide. Please never forget our accountability towards Allah Tabarak Wa Ta'ala and our beloved prophet (PBUH).

Road Map for the NGO of Bihar Anjuman

Form local (city and country) chapters >>> Select genuine representatives for a central committee >>> Formulate a charter for the Anjuman’s Central Committee through discussions >>> Formulate the charter for NGO through discussions >>> Select trustees for the NGO >>> Register the NGO.

We have been receiving suggestions and queries about the formal structure of Bihar Anjuman . Our opinion has been to keep the group as a loose network of people until the right people could be identified in sufficient numbers , not just the ones who are experts in talking big, but those sincere people who have proved their worth by doing things. Kindly allow us to put for your scrutiny a proposal for the Central Structure that could include an Executive Committee plus a Governing Body, paving the way for registering Bihar Anjuman as an NGO, based in Patna, Ranchi or Delhi, or in all these places.

Suggestions (as a starting point) from Shakeel Ahmad:

1. I am in favour of the age-old, but proven, proportional representative system that genuinely escalates the news and views from the end of members to the Central Committee end and, of course, vice versa. The possibility of electing Committee members to such a Central body through a chat meting is not possible.
2. The only way a true representative committee can be formed is a four-step process: (a) Members in a city elect their City Executive Committee (City EC)– they know who could be the best brains for the committee, not some one sitting elsewhere in a cyber-chat room, (b) City EC elect their Country Exec Committee (Country EC), (c) The country reps elect their representatives for the Central Executive Committee (Central EC), and finally (d) the Central Executive Committee elects its Office bearers (President & so on).
3. A City EC would be allowed if the city membership (by membership, I always mean “active membership”, i.e., contributing members) has surpassed the level of 10 (ten). Similarly, a Country EC could be formed as a separate EC if there are at least 3 (three) City ECs in that country – otherwise one EC would be enough.
4. Deadline should be set for the election of the Execs at all levels.
5. Central EC should have members from each country in proportion to the number of active members that they have enrolled. The pattern could be similar to the votes with the shareholders in a Corporate AGM. Since each member in the Central EC carries one vote, the country EC sends as many numbers to this committee as it deserves.
6. What share a country EC deserves can be verified by anybody as the details of contributing members would be available on the website, to ensure transparency.
7. Since membership would continue to change with each passing day, the membership to Central EC could continue to change, if left open. But, dates could be set as “book closure date” after which the numbers for the forthcoming financial year (this is another decision point) could be declared – Country A can send 2 members because they have 2X active members from their country, Country B can send 5 members as they have 5X number of active members, and so on.
8. The above ensures that each Central EC member is not just a “talk machine” but a real contributor to the cause. It also encourages the Country ECs to boost their membership – the core capability of the Bihar Anjuman movement.
9. The ECs at all levels should be allowed to nominate few members (of course, in proportion to their strength) who have already earned reputation in the society – being a techno-group, reputation could be in the technology field alone). Thus, Central EC could easily have 10% of its committee filled in by nominations. Nomination would, of course, be done by majority vote in the Central EC.
10. We may have a Central governing body (or a body of Patrons) that acts like the Upper House. Members in this body could be 50% of those who pay Rs. 50,000/= or more, and 50% of the nominated ones, as suggested above. They could be called “Patrons”. Responsibility needs to be defined well. Financial expenditure exceeding a certain amount (say, Rs. 100,000) must need to be approved by them.
11. The country ECs & the City ECs could form themselves in a similar fashion – proportional representation. It should be emphasized that the members elect such representatives who would usually spend relatively more time on the internet than others, and those who have the convenience of participating in future Chat conferences. But this must not be made mandatory.
12. After formation of local bodies in at least 12 cities representing at least 6 countries, and after local-level discussions and international cyber conferences, a constitution should be formulated for the Bihar Anjuman to function in the most efficient way, but in a way that is mostly commensurate with members' expectations and within the realm of a written agreement between members.

I hope the above does help the group function in a way that is acceptable to most of the members of the group, and works as an enabler for fulfilling the objectives of Bihar Anjuman by increasing membership to the maximum (thus, maximizing monthly contribution). Kindly do com forward with your valuable suggestions and advices – the above proposal being a rough sketch submitted JUST for initiating a debate that results in a fruitful and efficient mechanism to formalize Bihar Anjuman as an organization and an NGO.

Best regards,
Shakeel Ahmad