Cyber cafe at Golden Temple, Gurbani on the Net

Cyber cafe at Golden Temple, Gurbani on the Net
JAGTAR SINGH

CHANDIGARH, JULY 8: A Cyber cafe is in the offing on the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, and this is but one step in an ambitious proposal by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) to keep pace with the time. Suddenly, in a language far removed from the usual affairs of the body, the SGPC is talking of e-commerce, leased lines, bandwidth and cordless microwave link cameras.

SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur today said the cyber cafe, to be run on a contract basis, would provide free service to foreigners. There are also plans to expand the service later and set up additional cyber cafes.

SGPC, the statutory body entrusted with the management of the notified Sikh shrines in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, has already got a 64 kbps lease line installed, and the capacity can be doubled if required.

Live transmission of gurbani from the Golden Temple would be on the Internet within the next six months in the second phase of this drive. It would be followed by video linking within a year depending upon the bandwidth available.

The installation of cordless microwave link cameras is also on the agenda. The recording system presently installed is inconvenient for devotees and priests due to the high temperature in the sanctum sanctorum. The programmes are recorded and telecast after three or four days by some of the TV channels, so a proposal for uplinking facilities is also under consideration.

Meanwhile, the SGPC has got yet another website designed at a cost of about Rs 14 lakh. This would provide details about the organisation and historical gurdwaras. All the three monthly publications of the SGPC, including the Gurdwara Gazette, would be available on the site.

The first SGPC site ws launched when Gurcharan Singh Tohra was the president of the organisation. It provided only some basic information. The SGPC went in for another site after Jagir Kaur replaced Tohra. The third one is exhaustive with provision for e-commerce facilities. It would also have information about the educational institutions being run by the SGPC, the number of seats in professional colleges and the rules of admission.

Jagir Kaur said the SGPC was giving top priority to education and more money would be required for that purpose. The new technology would enable the SGPC to acquire donations from abroad as there is no ban on the inflow of donations. The money transaction requires adequate security against cyber crime and this aspect has been taken into account.

The SGPC also proposes to start computer courses in all SGPC-run schools and colleges. Jagir Kaur added that for the first time the SGPC had decided to market kirpans and kakars as part of the drive to spread Sikhism. The kakars would carry the SGPC's emblem.