SPA UK Sandesh 2013 | Page 12

President Message Namaste I will start by saying “Wow!!! What a year!!” Firstly, I sincerely commend the dedication and the hard work from every section of our organisation. The result has been tremendously appreciated as can be seen from our Secretary’s report. When I was entrusted with the President’s role, I listed what we wanted to achieve during the year: • Finalising the revised Constitution to reflect current and future need • Consultation to see what the requirements are for our elder members and arrange a gathering if that is the case • Why the youth participation is limited and how to improve it • Launching a major charity drive to raise money for WaterAid, a charity organisation that supports provision of clean water and sanitation in developing countries • Actively work with major Hindu organisations to get the voices of 10 Hindus heard at local, national and international levels I’m very pleased to say that we achieved successes with the approval of the constitution, Seniors Samelan, WaterAid Charity initiative, and we are making good progress on both youth participation and political involvement. I now look forward to endorsement of our constitution by the Charity Commission, then on to its implementation. I urge all our members to support our drive for Prajapati community cohesion and broader participation. In terms of working with other Hindu Organisations, what can I say but it was an eye opener to be involved in the Caste Legislation issue. We collected nearly 600 petitions during the Mahila Samelan and I was able to present that to Helen Grant, the Minister for Equalities. We aim to do more and be prepared in political engagement. Remember, we are a Hindu organisati