Ishar Bindra | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | August 12, 2015 94) [1] | (aged
Alma mater | Dayanand Anglo Vedic College |
Occupation | Chairman of Jeetish Group of Companies |
Ishar Bindra (1921-2015) was a Sikh American investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was also the founder-trustee of the Sikh Forum of New York, senior vice president of the Hemkunt Foundation, and patron of the Sikh Art and Film Foundation. [2] [3]
Bindra has received numerous awards and has been recognized in many national and international events. In 1999, Bindra was honored as Humanitarian of the Year by the Interfaith Nutrition Network. In 2000, he was honored with the “Punjab-Ratan” award by then-First Lady Hillary Rodham-Clinton. In 2006, Bindra was awarded with the “Lifetime Achievement” award for his service to the community by the World Punjabi Organization during its International Convention in New York. [4]
Bindra was born to a Gur Sikh family in Kallar, a small village in Punjab. He was the first in his family to attend college and graduated from Dayanand Anglo Vedic College in 1939. During his second year in college, he became engaged to Kuljeet Kaur. Three years later, the two were married on February 20, 1940. Bindra eventually became the father of seven children: Amrit, Pritam, Inderjeet, Kuldip, Virinder, Kanwaljeet, and Tejinder. [3]
Towards the end of World War II, he became an officer of the Indian Army in Riwalpindi in the Ordnance Corps, where he was first stationed in Jahanpur, India, and later Singapore.
During the partitioning of India in which the country gained its independence from British rule while also separating from Pakistan, Bindra along with his family was forced from their homes in Northern Punjab. Approximately five and half million people traveled each way across the New India-Pakistan border in Punjab. [3]
In June 1948, Bindra left the army and started his career as a telecommunications engineer in India's Telephone Department. He began as a technical assistant and quickly moved his way up to an officer heading the department and maintaining the telephone services of several major district headquarters, sub-district headquarters and business centers in India. [3]
In 1960, Bindra was promoted to deputy divisional engineer at the Telephone Department in Ambala but quickly transferred to Srinagar in 1961 to become the assistant engineer Trunks Telelphone System. He later held posts in Jammu, Patalia, Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. In 1975, he transferred to Dharamsala and was promoted as divisional engineer, the pinnacle of his career in the Telecommunications industry. [5]
On January 31, 1979, Bindra retired after 30 years of government service in the Telephone Department of India. [3]
Soon after his retirement, Bindra moved to the United States and immediately started a business selling garments with his sons Kuldip Singh Bindra on Long Island, New York. They introduced Indian fashions into the markets they sold in such as ghaghras, gauze kurtas, bagroo skirt (block-printed skirts), which all quickly became a very popular. The business started with one booth at a flea market but quickly expanded to multiple booths, becoming profitable enough for them to expand their business into a garment wholesale company. The company came to be known as Jeetish, a combination of Jeet (short his Ishar's wife's name Kuljeet) and Ish (short for Ishar). [3]
The Jeetish Group of Companies began as an importer of primarily women's apparel that catered to major retailers as well as boutiques and local vendors all across the United States. The initial product line started with ladies garments such as dresses, skirts, blouses, jump suits and skirt sets. In 1984, it began importing crinkle ladies dresses from Greece and became one of the first companies to successfully launch the product in the US, allowing the company to establish a reputation that gave it access to mainstream department and chain stores in the US. [3]
In 1987, Verinder joined Jeetish. Soon after, the company opened a showroom in the main garment district in New York and grew to become a multimillion-dollar company. It has become a diversified business with interests in apparel, commodities, real estate, and imports and exports. [6]
Bindra has been married for the past seventy years to Mrs. Kuljit Kaur, a very religious and pious lady. They have seven children, seventeen grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren. The children are very well educated and professionally qualified in their respective fields. [3]
Bindra is heavily involved in many charitable and humanitarian causes. His efforts have been acknowledged by the Interfaith Nutrition Network, which honored him with the “Humanitarian of the Year” award. He was the first Indian American recipient of the prize. He has also been honored by President Bill Clinton for his work. Bindra was awarded with the “Lifetime Achievement” award for his service to the community by the World Punjabi Organization during its International Convention in New York. [4]
He was honored by the Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to the support of medical facilities in India. He is also the founder-trustee of the Sikh Forum of New York, senior vice president of the Hemkunt Foundation, and Patron of the Sikh Art and Film Foundation. [7]
One of his most notable contributions is the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies established at Hofstra University. [8] The chair was established in April 2000, and its principal aim was to promote academic study of the Sikh religion, culture and history. [7] In order to do so, it would support the appointment of a faculty member in Sikh Studies, build Hofstra University library's holdings in Sikhism, provide scholarship assistance to students interested in Sikh religion and culture, and fund annual conferences and lectures directed toward the academic community as well as the general public.
On April 4, 2006, Bindra established the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize. On the recommendation of the selection committee, the prize is given biennially to individuals (or organizations) who have made significant contributions in promoting inter-religious dialogue, have made efforts to end religious and ethnic violence, or have the ability to use the prize to further the cause of religious dialogue. [9]
The Kuljit Kaur Bindra Foundation established the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize as an endowment and it carries a cash award of $50,000, which is awarded at a gala dinner. In 2007, the Dalai Lama was approved as the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize's inaugural recipient, and was later accepted by him. [10] [11]
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, and Religions for Peace, a worldwide multi-religious coalition, was awarded Hofstra's Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize for 2010. [12] [13]
On September 17, 2006, the exhibition entitled I See No Stranger: Early Sikh Art and Devotion was opened in the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan, the first Sikh exhibition ever held in New York. It was made possible by Bindra and his son Tejinder, who had established the Sikh Art and Film Foundation in 2004 and serves as its president. The exhibition brought together works of art from international and national collections that identified core Sikh beliefs. [14]
The exhibition opened with a grand gala and was inaugurated by the then Indian Ambassador, Ronen Sen, Member of Parliament Sardar Tarlochan Singh and Honorary Patron of the Sikh Art and Film Foundation, and Congressman Gregory Meeks. The Assemblymen Thomas Di’Napoli and Upendra J. Chivukula, Ambassador Lewis, and Consul General Neelam Deo were also present at the exhibition. [3]
Sikhism or Sikhi is a religion originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. Sikhism is one of the youngest of the major religions and the world's fifth-largest organized religion, with about 25–30 million Sikhs as of the early 21st century.
Sikhs are people associated with Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term Sikh has its origin in the word śiṣya (शिष्य), meaning 'disciple' or 'student'.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21. His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
The following outline is provides an overview of Sikhism, or Sikhi.
The principles of Sikhism state that women have the same souls as men and thus possess an equal right to cultivate their spirituality with equal chances of achieving salvation. Women can participate in all religious, cultural, social, and secular activities including lead religious congregations, take part in the Akhand Path, perform Kirtan, and work as a Granthis. Although equality for women has always been a major attribute of Sikhism and a great number of women have made significant contributions, it is important to note that it is still a work in progress.
Sobha Singh was a painter from Punjab, India.
Kartarpur is a town located in the tehsil Shakargarh, Narowal District in Punjab, Pakistan. Located on the right bank of the Ravi River, it is said to have been founded by the first guru of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, where he established the first Sikh commune.
Jat Sikh is a sub-group of the Jat people and the Sikh ethnoreligious group from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in the Punjab owing to their large land holdings.
Sikhism is the fourth largest religion in India contributing 1.7% of the population and has existed since the late 15th century. The Sikhs are predominantly located in Punjab State, but are also present in many other parts of India. It is the fifth largest organised religion in the world after Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, and the fourth largest in India with 25-30 million adherents worldwide. These adherents were also known as Khalsa Sikhs.
The Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize is a biannual, $50,000 award to "an individual or an organisation in recognition of propagating Guru Nanak’s philosophy of discovering oneness of humanity by exploring the differences that separate people". The prize is administered by Hofstra University, New York as part of its efforts in the advancement of religious study, and is supported by the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Foundation, funded by a gift from the family of Ishar Singh Bindra.
Gurū Nānak, also referred to as Bābā Nānak, was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak Pooranmashi, i.e. October–November.
The Panjab Digital Library is a voluntary organization digitizing and preserving the cultural heritage of Panjab since 2003. With over 30 million digitized pages, it is the biggest resource of digital material on Panjab. There are many historically significant documents stored and made available online. Its scope covers Sikh and Punjabi culture. The library funded by The Nanakshahi Trust was launched online in August 2009. Its base office is located at Chandigarh, India.
Chabhal Kalan in Gurmukhi ਝਬਾਲ ਕਲਾਂ is a village in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab, India and is located 13 miles away from Amritsar city.
Harbans Singh was an educationist, administrator, scholar and the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. He was respected for his contributions to Sikh scholarship and Punjabi literary studies and had a vital and pervasive influence in the field of religious studies, with special reference to Sikhism.
Jagtar Singh Grewal is an Indian writer, historian, scholar and a former vice chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU). After securing his PhD and DLitt from London, he joined the Guru Nanak Dev University where he founded the Department of History. He was the first Dean of the Academic Affairs of the University and is a former member of faculty at Panjab University, Chandigarh. After his superannuation from GNDU in 1984, he joined the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla as its director.
Phulan Rani is an Indian painter.
The Kartarpur Corridor is a visa-free border crossing and religious corridor, connecting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan to the border with India. The crossing allows devotees from India to visit the gurdwara in Kartarpur, 4.7 kilometres from the India–Pakistan border on the Pakistani side without a visa. However Pakistani Sikhs are unable to use the border crossing, and cannot access Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian side without first obtaining an Indian visa or unless they work there.
Rama Avatar, or Raja Ram had an important place in Sikhism. Rama is mentioned as one among the 24 incarnations of Vishnu in the Chaubis Avtar, a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed to Guru Gobind Singh. The discussion of Rama and Krishna avatars is the most extensive in this section of the secondary Sikh scripture. The important sources for depiction of Rama can be found in the Sikh holy book, Dasam Granth and is described as the 9th Avatar of Lord Vishnu. Though there have been many claims that the Ram in Sikhism is not related to the Rama described in the Ramayana. In Gurbani there is difference between Ram Chander and Ram. Guru Nanak in Asa Ki Vaar says that there are many Rams and Krishnas with many stories.