bio of baba iqbal singh ji of the kalgidhar society, baru sahib
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Name: Baba Iqbal Singh Parents: Sanwal Singh & Gulab Kaur D.O.B.: 01 May 1926 Marital status: Never-married Qualifications: M.Sc (Agriculture), retired Director Agriculture (Himachal Pradesh) Taking over charge of the Kalgidhar Society in 1965 after his guide/mentor Sant Teja Singh (MA. LlB, A.M. Harvard) passed away, Baba Iqbal Singh after retiring in 1987 operationalised the mission of “combining modern education with faith to produce good global citizens”. He started a 1 room school in 1986 with only 5 students which today is a chain of 129 CBSE affiliated English medium schools, 42courses/programs, 2 private universities benefitting around 60,000 rural students. These institutions are in deep rural hearts of North India “away from urbanisation” imparting value-based education to rural marginalised children who otherwise are exposed to the menace of drugs and alcohol abuse in rural north India. Furthering the cause of women empowerment in rural areas by setting up educational institutions dedicated to women, teachers training programs and employment centres within the villages. Today more than 2000 rural girls have been imparted free teachers training and inducted into own schools as worthy Teachers. With millions of beneficiaries/volunteers worldwide, Baba Iqbal Singh has been working relentlessly in the direction of imparting education in the rural marginalised areas of North India. He believes that rural children are getting pushed away from the mainstream and cannot really contribute much to the nation’s growth hence the drive to “educate-enshrine-empower” these large masses is the need of the hour. So much so that in 2012, Baba ji was rated as the most powerful non-political Sikh in the world by the "Top Sikh 100" Organization in UK. In 2014 he was awarded a Citation from the New York State Assembly as an exceptional individual, one which is worthy of the esteem of USA and the great state of New York for fostering Tolerance for people of all races and cultures. Now, above 88 years of age, he has undertaken the task of realizing the 10th master Sri Guru Gobind Singhji’s blessing of ‘Guru kiKashi’ for Damdama sahib by building the Akal University ‘Guru ki Kashi’ at Talwandi Sabo at a huge cost of Rs. 500 crores. And his message for all is “it is the duty of every Sikh to support Guru ki Kashi with his Tithe ‘Daswandh’”. He is also vigorously working to achieve the short-term goal of 150 schools by 2016 and long term goal of 500 schools within the next decade.TRANSCRIPT
Biography
Name: Baba Iqbal Singh
Parents: Sanwal Singh & Gulab Kaur
D.O.B.: 01 May 1926
Marital status: Never-married
Qualifications: M.Sc (Agriculture), retired Director Agriculture (Himachal Pradesh)
Taking over charge of the Kalgidhar Society in 1965 after his guide/mentor Sant Teja Singh (MA. LlB, A.M. Harvard) passed away, Baba Iqbal Singh after retiring in 1987 operationalised the mission of “combining modern education with faith to produce good global citizens”.
He started a 1 room school in 1986 with only 5 students which today is a chain of 129 CBSE affiliated English medium schools, 42courses/programs, 2 private universities benefitting around 60,000 rural students. These institutions are in deep rural hearts of North India “away from urbanisation” imparting value-based education to rural marginalised children who otherwise are exposed to the menace of drugs and alcohol abuse in rural north India.
Furthering the cause of women empowerment in rural areas by setting up educational institutions dedicated to women, teachers training programs and employment centres within the villages. Today more than 2000 rural girls have been imparted free teachers training and inducted into own schools as worthy Teachers.
With millions of beneficiaries/volunteers worldwide, Baba Iqbal Singh has been working relentlessly in the direction of imparting education in the rural marginalised areas of North India. He believes that rural children are getting pushed away from the mainstream and cannot really contribute much to the nation’s growth hence the drive to “educate-enshrine-empower” these large masses is the need of the hour.
So much so that in 2012, Baba ji was rated as the most powerful non-political Sikh in the world by the "Top Sikh 100" Organization in UK. In 2014 he was awarded a Citation from the New York State Assembly as an exceptional individual, one which is worthy of the esteem of USA and the great state of New York for fostering Tolerance for people of all races and cultures.
Now, above 88 years of age, he has undertaken the task of realizing the 10th master Sri Guru Gobind Singhji’s blessing of ‘Guru kiKashi’ for Damdama sahib by building the Akal University ‘Guru ki Kashi’ at Talwandi Sabo at a huge cost of Rs. 500 crores. And his message for all is “it is the duty of every Sikh to support Guru ki Kashi with his Tithe ‘Daswandh’”.
He is also vigorously working to achieve the short-term goal of 150 schools by 2016 and long term goal of 500 schools within the next decade.