Sudhakar Arakere

WHITE PAPER
ON
THE PARTICIPATION OF KANNADA VRINDA OF HOUSTON, WITH ANY NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE KANNADIGA DIASPORA
Prepared for
Board of Directors of Kannada Vrinda
Prepared by
Three-Member Special Subcommittee

Dinesh Udpa

Sudhakar Arakere

Subby Subramanyam

January 2004

January 11, 2004

The participation of Kannada Vrinda of Houston, with any national organization for the Kannadiga Diaspora

Executive Summary and Recommendations:

Consistent with the bylaws of Kannada Vrinda, the President and the Board of Directors of Kannada Vrinda (“the Board”), authorized the formation of a three-member special subcommittee to study Kannada Vrinda’s representation and participation in the AKKA (Association of Kannada Kootas of America), past, present and future. This deliverable to the Board consists of a set of recommendations, criteria for support and minimum organizational standards to evaluate the future national organizations, and a brief summary of this White Paper’s study process.

The following are the unanimous recommendations of the White Paper subcommittee that studied the subject matter in its entirety; the relevant advisement along with an outline on the background work that was done to arrive at these also follows. The Board has pledged that all unanimous recommendations would be binding on the Board, and can only be modified or nullified by the General Body. Where relevant, the initial AKKA now led by Amarnath Gowda is designated as: AKKA-A; and the newly constituted body lead by Dr. Jayaprakash Subbanna and V. Kumaraswamy is designated as: AKKA-B.

Recommendation 1. Kannada Vrinda of Houston should sever its membership and participation in both AKKA-A and –B, with immediate effect and withdraw all support.

Recommendation 2. Over the next few years, Kannada Vrinda should monitor any Kannada national organization that is active and see if that national organization meets with the criteria for support and minimum organizational standards listed in this White Paper summary.

Recommendation 3. Kannada Vrinda should rejoin the particular national organization, if in the opinion of the Board-in-office at the time along with the Kannada Vrinda general body, the national organization meets this White Paper’s criteria for support as well as the organizational standards listed below. In addition, the national organization must have done so continuously for a period of at least two years, that is to say, a two-year track record would be a prerequisite.

Recommendation 4. Kannada Vrinda should have no objections for its members to participate in the Kannada conference 2004 at Florida, or any other national Kannada event sponsored by any of the groups. This recommendation includes cultural troupes and on-stage participation. However, Kannada Vrinda’s name, banner, and other official effects will not be used.

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Listed below are the criteria for support and minimum organizational standards and processes by which the future national organization will be monitored and evaluated (AKKA-N is the generic abbreviation used to illustrate). Under advisement of the points below, the future Boards of Kannada Vrinda would do well to contemplate rejoining a national organization provided that at least 80 percent of the below-listed criteria are met.

1. A single organization: There should be only one national organization; for example “AKKA-N” -that would represent the Kannadiga Diaspora in the United States.

2. Participation on the Constitution: All Kootas should have actively participated in framing the articles of incorporation (Constitution) and at least 75% of the Kootas’ should conform on the articles and ratify, if not unanimous.

3. Organizational decisions and funding: All member-Kootas must be participants in the decision-making including funding and budgeting of the AKKA-N.

4. Kootas’ ratification: A majority of the member-Kootas should ratify all the projects and events that are planned by AKKA-N.

5. The audit: Annual accounts and event-budgets should be audited by the member Kannada Kootas (or their representatives) and ratified by the entire member-Kootas. The income and expenses, list of donors’ and donations, including non-American sources, etc., should follow an approved format year after year. (For example, a classic model of accounting format is the WMKC-2000 financial statement, which is now being copied by many Indo-American nonprofit organizations.)

6. Administration and communication: There should be regular E-mail communications between AKKA-N and member Kootas; important emails will have to be archived.

7. Information flow: The information from the AKKA-N shall be internally communicated within the various Kootas by the Kootas’ own office bearers. A line of communications should be established such that, the ideas from any member of any Koota can reach AKKA-N and relayed over to other Kootas and their members for their consideration.

8. Information exchange: The national organization should appoint area coordinators to get updates on the Koota committees, elections, etc., in the various cities and parts of the country, including Canada. These coordinators would not be elected persons or would not hold any office. These area coordinators would be long term volunteers who will keep up the liaison work of continuity of information, links, relationships, and goodwill between the changing committees of various Kootas on one side, and the changing office bearers of the national organization on the other. These coordinators will have no constitutional standing on any side and therefore neutral. The coordinators at the first instance are chosen by mutual agreement between the Kootas and the national organization as a matter of reciprocal and collective benefit that complements the objectives of cooperation. The Kootas and the national organization have to make sure that the area volunteers are in the information loop at all times.

9. Information dissemination: There should be at least two newsletters per year and one annual report with an audited financial statement, published on time. The income tax filings and submittals should be in the public domain.

10. Kannada conferences: Once a Koota has been selected by an agreed method to be the venue of a Kannada Conference, the selected Koota should have the exclusive responsibility for the planning and delivery of the conference without any interference from the AKKA-N. The mode of agreement

for selecting the Koota-venue belongs in the domain of all Kootas and the national body, alike. Please note that the organizing and delivering the Kannada Conferences is a really a small part of the national organization’s responsibility, and is never its primary objective. For reasons of resources and such, there are many worthwhile objectives that the individual Kootas cannot pursue but a national organization could.

11. Conflicting interests: The office bearers and directors of the national organization (AKKA-N) should not have any conflicting interests because of their simultaneous participation in any of the other associations or groups.

12. Elections and the general body meeting: The General meeting and the elections for the national organization should be held on time, preferably biennially, and must be above all criticisms and must meet with the approval of at least 80 percent the of member-Kootas, and should follow the 501C3 tax code.

The study process: Refer to Appendixes 1, 2 & 3.

The appointment of the subcommittee by the Kannada Vrinda Board is specified in the Appendix.1. The three-member subcommittee after the first meeting, sent out a survey to a majority of Kannada Kootas (Koota presidents), a number of respected Kannadiga-old timers’ across the country and to a few in Canada, and to a few of the younger-generation Kannadigas’ as well. The intent of the survey, the format and text etc., are detailed in the Appendix 2. In its second meeting, the subcommittee reviewed the results of the survey, analyzed the raw data, derived conclusions from the survey results, and discussed possible extrapolations that are applicable to the general Kannadiga Diaspora. These are summarized in the Appendix 3.

Furthermore, the subcommittee also debated each of the survey responses, the ambiguities that were in the responses and their validity, the history and performance of AKKA-A and –B, and pondered over a set of core recommendations and alternatives. Some minor points, which did not meet with any unanimity, were discarded. Through various telephone conversations, survey results, E-mail communications across the country and feedback by various Kootas, big and small, the subcommittee has brought forth several criteria for support and a minimum set of organizational standards that are expected of a national organization. These expectations also subscribe to the opinions of the Kannadiga’ Diaspora at large. To the subcommittee’s surprise, if these listed standards of organizational behavior had been followed from 1998 onward, the present imbroglio and predicament at the national level could have been avoided. Also, the subcommittee has been particularly careful to remove any subjective judgements and feedback on the matter both from within the subcommittee and from interested Kannadigas who freely discussed the questions.

At its third and final meeting, the subcommittee discussed the White Paper draft summary and signed off on the final version; the subcommittee would be glad to present the summary to the Vrinda Board and answer any questions. The procedural due process now for the Kannada Vrinda Board, is to present this summary to the General Body at the next annual meeting.

Epilogue:

Kannadigas’ in the US and Canada continue to aspire for a well-run national organization that represents the spirit of Kannada heritage and the expanding Kannadiga Diaspora; Kannadigas’ are also one of the highly educated and successful groups in America. For the Land of Karnataka, which is well advanced in the eyes of the world, it is indeed a matter of disgrace that Amerikannadigas are unable to organize themselves to any notable degree. All the Kootas do strongly agree that the integrity of the organization at the national level depends on the integrity of the individual office bearers and Directors involved at various times. Perhaps, Kannada Vrinda of Houston, with its leadership and good intent, could lend a healing hand over the widespread dissonance and help resolve the many quarrelsome issues among the participants at the national level. We recommend that this White Paper summary without the detailed Appendixes be placed in the public domain for all the Kootas to see. We wish to record our thanks to the Kannada Vrinda Board for the confidence placed on this subcommittee.