Profile of Surinder Jit Singh Pall
Early Life and Government Service
S. Surinderjit Singh Pall, was born on 25th November 1945 at Delhi. He had his education up to Masters in English literature in 1968 and thereafter was selected for Indian Revenue Service (1970 Batch) on the basis of Indian Administrative and allied services exam 1969. During his brilliant career in the income tax department, he worked in almost all the wings of the department viz, administration, assessments, appeals, intelligence gathering, as a legal representative of the department before tribunal and auditing of big cases. He also functioned at different stations like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Allahabad and various places in Punjab. He retired as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Punjab with his headquarters at Ludhiana on 30th November 2005. He was highly appreciated for his judicious decisions as an assessing and appellate authority and his investigation work for which he was awarded not only with appreciation certificates, but also a cash prize of more than Rs. Five lakh to the team of which he was the leader.
Other Important works as an officer
As an officer, he not only gave best of his performance in whatever capacity he served, he also wrote a book on Income Tax law in Punjabi which was the first and till today remains the only book in this regard. This book helped him in reaching the people of Punjab where he worked both as Commissioner and Chief Commissioner for familiarizing them with the necessity and importance of paying income tax. Further, he enlarged the sphere of department by increasing the number of assesses by adopting various methods including publicity as well as opening of new offices like at Moga and Phagwara in Punjab and Khushi Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, where he was Chief Commissioner of Income Tax from 2003 to January 2005. He also maintained best of relations with the public, bar and officers and staff. He was always keen to increase welfare activities for his own personnel. In 2005 when he was the senior most central Government officer at Ludhiana, he founded a housing cooperative society for the welfare of all central government employees. This society has benefitted a number of central governments employees in different departments by procuring for them a piece of land for making a house at a prominent location in Ludhiana.
As a writer
Since his retirement he has been doing social work and writing profusely in different genres, both in Punjabi and English. Whereas, he has written spiritual books on Sikh theology and ethics, he has also written a book on Yoga explaining it with reference to Patanjali’s eight stages up to smadhi and comparing it with Gurmat principles. This rare book in Punjabi was awarded as the best information book by Bhasha Vibhag, Government of Punjab in 2004. Further, as a historian, his books in Punjabi and English, particularly ‘The Story of Valiant Sikhs’ highlights the Sikh achievements in different spheres right from the time of Guru Nanak Dev Ji up to the present times. He has also written poetry in Punjabi and English, of which two compilations in Punjabi have since been published. In addition, as litterateur, he has written three novels and one travelogue in Punjabi. A feature film ‘Mitti Da Bawa’ released recently is based upon one of his novels ‘Dharam Rai Jab Lekha Mange’. He has also written a motivational book on management, named ‘Success Through Spirituality’, which elaborates as how a person can prove an excellent manager or a leader by adopting spiritual methods. His two books, namely, ‘Bhai Gurdas, the First Sikh scholar’ in question answer form and ‘Beloved Forces of the Guru’ show his innovative and research leanings. Whereas the first book was an attempt to write about Bhai Gurdas Ji in English for the first time, the second book was also the first book in English on Nihangs, a prominent Sikh sect.
He is also the man behind two research works, namely ‘500 Sikh Role Models’ and ‘Some Prominent Gurdwaras and Sikh Organisations of the World’. These works reveal his dedication in research as he has brought out five hundred living legends among the Sikhs in diverse spheres of life in different countries of globe. Same is true of the Sikh organisations and their management throughout the world. He has also given his useful comments for improving the functioning and the management of these organisations with view to enable them to achieve excellence. It is his belief that excellent Sikh achievers work for the benefit of not only their community, but for the entire mankind in the true spirit of Gurmat (Sikh religious) Principal of ‘Sarbat da Bhala’ (welfare for all). Thus, as writer he is a historian, novelist, poet, researcher and a motivational writer, all combined in one.
Social and Educational activities
As a social activist, his activities are multifarious covering the fields of education, spirituality and social works. This fact is evidenced by his association with various organisations in different parts of the country as detailed below –
Founder : Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanstha (Regd.) Punjab and Delhi.
President : The Kendriya Vihar Officers Sehkari Makan Usari Sabha Ltd. Ludhiana.
Member : Delhi Punjabi Urban Co-operative Thrift and Credit Society Ltd.
Trustee : Mai Kamli Wali Jan Kalyan Charitbale Trust, Delhi.
Member : Indian Art Academy, Amritsar.
Member : Chief Khalsa Dewan, the oldest and leading Sikh organisation in the field of education.
Member : Governing Council United group of Educational Institutions, Allahabad and Greater Noida.
Member : Guru Nanak Dev University Senate, Amritsar.
Among his social works, he is known for counselling on spiritual living, value based management, educational and career planning. He also provides legal advice on business laws, family laws, general legal matters and tax problems. The entire counselling and advice is provided by him free of charge. This is not only provided to the affected individual persons, but also in various programmes where he delivers motivational lectures on related subjects. His gift of gab and writing skill are his tools for doing all kinds of social works. The organisations as mentioned above have also been benefited by his contribution in this regard. Whereas, the cooperative society at Ludhiana has benefited various government servants by solving their housing problem, Delhi-Punjabi Urban Cooperative Society has also been seeking his advice by including him in its advisory council. He was the founder Chairman of The Bridh Ashram being run under the control of Mai Kamli Wali Jan Kalyan Charitable Trust, Delhi. Although he is of the view that the children must look after their parents so that they need not go to Bridh Ashrams, but, when the said trust planned to help those parents whose children had gone abroad and they needed support, the task of starting a Bridh Asharm was entrusted to him as he is one of the trustees.
His advice on improving the quality of education has been appreciated by the three organisations referred to above of which he is the member. His contribution in the field of education is not only confined to giving valuable suggestions, but also covers many other activities like speaking in seminars, holding of personality development camps, organising of talent competitions among the students and helping the poor and intelligent students in pursuing their education by provided finance in the form of scholarships as well as career counselling so that they could choose the right stream for further studies. His social activities include many other things. For example, During this period of Corona Pandemic he has not only written various poems and songs to make the people aware of the necessary precautions and govt measures and donated for various funds including PM CARES Fund. He was also mainly instrumental for bringing a scheme in june 2020 to help those poor children who were unable to pay their fees and buy books for the new session due to fall in income of their parents during this corona period. All these and various others activities find further details in the various issues of magazine ‘Jeewan Rishma’ which is being published by Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanstha since the last 20 years. He is the main editor of this trilingual (Punjab-Hindi and English) quarterly magazine being published from Amritsar.
As a nationalist, he tries to achieve the objects of Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanshta of which he is the chairman in conformity with the government policies. When the Prime Minister introduced skill development policy, the Sanstha took a decision to start skill development programme for the youth with a view to rehabilitate them in their lifes. The skill development centre has been setup at Sanstha’s office at Amritsar and different courses have been started for giving training free of charge. Although, these programmes have been started very recently, some of the batches who completed short duration courses like Network Technician have also been helped in getting suitable placements. Some other students have started their own start-ups after getting the requisite training. More and more courses were to be added in due course, but because of corona pandemic, the programs in this regard had to be postponed.
As a Sikh Preacher
In addition to being a writer and a social activist, Sh. Pall is well known as a Sikh preacher. Although, he believes that traditional methods of preaching like listening to gurbani and spiritual discourses are highly significant, he resorts to some new innovative methods also with a view to keep the youth connected to golden values and religious concepts of the olden days. Some of the innovative methods like holding of spiritual camps, youth interactions, essay competitions and personality development programmes including career guidance workshops have been successfully adopted by him along with his team. As the Sikh youth sometimes shaved off their hair because they did not know how to tie a turban, Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanstha of which Shri Pall is the founder and Chairman, started a free Dastar Sajawan Sikhlai Kendra at Amritsar in 2000. Since then it has been imparting free training for turban tying and more than 12000 young ones have availed of this benefit. This achievement has figured in India Book of Record 2020. As a Sikh preacher, he has also toured various countries in Asia and Europe wherein his group recited Kirtan and gave discourses, and also shared views with relevant leaders regarding interfaith understanding with other religions. He is the first person to write a commentary in English on Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the first part of which is awaiting publication (delayed because of lockdown). A part of this commentary relating to Japji Sahib was, however, released last year to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
As a team leader, he has all the qualities of leadership like giving patient hearing to others, motivating others, providing guidance and raising their spirits and finally, sharing valuable views, suggestions and even credits for achievements. He knows as how the failures can prove stepping stones to success. He is a soft spoken and well behaved person who keeps his calm and balance in all the circumstances. He is fair, honest, dedicated to his works and indefatigable in making efforts for achieving the desired results.
He is fond of acquiring knowledge as be believes that a Sikh means who always learns and one can learn till his death. That is why, even during his successful service career, he added his qualifications by studying law, management and comparative religion and added master degrees in Punjabi literature and history. His acquisition of knowledge has proved very useful in his role as a Sikh preacher. Whenever he attends some religious functions for his own faith, Sikhism or for other religion, he is able to convince all the attendees that the best religion is that of humanity and all the scripture teach love for all the human beings, irrespective of their caste, creed, sex and nationality. He has travelled almost all important countries of the world and wherever he went as a leader of his team, he clarified the concepts of Sikh religion which are based upon unity of God and universal brotherhood. His team consisting of the member of Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanstha visited many Gurdwaras, both historical and non-historical in Pakistan, European countries, USA, Canada, East Asian countries, Dubai, Australia and New Zealand and most of the places this team not only recited Gurbani, gave spiritual discourses, but also shared their views with prominent Sikh personalities of those places. Mr. Pall is invited at many prominent Sikh gatherings. When the 350th Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji was to be celebrated at Sri Patna Sahib, the Bihar Government held a conference of prominent Sikhs all over the world to discuss as how the great occasion should be celebrated. Sh. Pall was not only one of the invitees, but also a key speaker on the given subject. He was also honoured by the Government of Bihar. Many other prominent organisations have also honoured him for his social and missionary activities. He was also honoured by the Cooperation of the City of Brampton (Canada) for promoting Sikh values and the Sikh identity in the year 2017.
As a human being, he is a believer in God and possesses many human qualities of head and heart. As discussed above, he is quite social, meets all the people, remains happy and cheerful and himself works and motivates others. He is fond of reading literature of Punjabi, Hindi and English as well as literature of other countries translated into anyone of the three languages. He is an Amritdhari Sikh who spends maximum time in useful persuits which benefit the people of all communities and religions. He is married and his three daughters (in Punjab) and son (in Canada) are presently well settled in their lives. In conclusion it can be said that he is a multifaceted personality, who has been an outstanding officer, a prolific writer, an indefatigable social worker, a dedicated preacher and an excellent human being.
Mrs. Sharanjit Kaur Pall
Mrs. Sharanjit Kaur Pall, the Founder Trustee, was Born on 24th-January-1949 in Mumbai. Mrs. Sharanjit Kaur Pall graduated in Honors in Commerce (B.Com) in 1971. Like her parents, she was highly influenced by Sikh Religion and had a love for the Sikh way of living. She was married to S. Surinder Jit Singh Pall in the year 1971. Since then, she has been associated with several social and religious organizations and activities. She was member of senate of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar from 2000 to 2002. She was also member of Telephone Advisory Committee, Amritsar. She has been Honoured by some organizations including Chief Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar.
Er. Judgebir Singh
S. Judgbir Singh was born on 10th-March-1971 at Amritsar. He graduated in the year 1990 in Civil Engineering. He is presently engaged in the business of Real-Estate, covering various activities like construction designing, interior decoration, valuation etc. He is well known for his architectural designs and construction of diverse projects like Hospitals, Schools, Hotels, Bank Branches, private and government buildings S. Judgbir Singh is also an active social worker and takes keen interest in welfare activities of several social and religious organizations. Education is his special sphere. He is one of the trustees of a famous educational institution, namely, in Amritsar. He is also presently the member of Guru Nanak Dev University, Senate, Amritsar. He takes keen interest in the welfare activities of the students and also in helping poor students to carry on their studies. The youngest trustee of the Sanstha, being a devout Sikh, also takes considerable interest in the religious activities of Sikh religion as well as other religions.
