Posted by Gurdip Hari on Jul 11, 2019

At the  Jul 11, noon meeting,  in the  absence of President Crosthwaite, assisted by member Joe Wang, LUSD Chief  Business Official, Greg Fromm, called the meeting to order.

Before Daniel introduced the speaker, Bruno Naulls, City of Lynwood staff member, and President of the Lynwood National Block Watch organization, presented a letter requesting that the Lynwood Rotary again provide hotdogs, relish and buns for the Aug 6, National Night Out Annual Event.  With the support of Lynwood Club officials present at the meeting, a call was made to President Crosthwaite, to obtain his concurrence for this expenditure.  The president immediately responded by cell phone, and thus Bruno obtained the necessary decision by the Lynwood Rotary Club at that moment.

There was also a discussion about the LASD Sheriffs support for and attendance at the monthly Block Watch meetings (4th Tue evenings in Bateman Hall) to review issues of importance with the Block Watch leaders present.  (There currently are about 40 Block Watch units within the City of Lynwood.)   Greg Fromm stated that he thought that LUSD Security Officers would be interested  in participating in some of the discussions at the monthly Block Watch meetings.  Bruno concurred that some of the safety and crime issues discussed are of mutual interest between the Block Watch leaders and LUSD concerns.

Daniel introduced the speaker, long time member, Rajinder Dhaliwal (Raj), by reading the description of his presentation in the weekly meeting update.  Daniel noted that Raj's daughter, Tamana Dhaliwal, and his grandson, Eman Goodloe, were in attendance to hear Raj's presentation.

Raj talked about the origins of religion in India, current practices, and some descriptions of the economy of India from a historical perspective. 

Raj described the religions of India by describing the gradual settlement of ethnic groups from the north into what is now India  over the last 10,000 years.  The predominant religion is Hindu, which includes a caste system of four groups, starting with a ruling group, and then consisting of another three groups, each with a particular type of labor.  The lowest group, sometimes referred to as the untouchables, are the poorest, with the lowest form of labor.    The laws do not recognize these categories, but they still exist.  For about 200 years India was a British colony until about 1950.  English is widely used, although there are many dialectics in different areas of India.

India's economic output, expressed in GDP, is one of the world's largest, but so is the population of India.  Raj compared the statistics of China, India and the US.  After the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the productivity per person in the US is much higher, even though the total productivity of India and China is much larger than the US.  India is one third the size of the US, but has four times the population.

The religion of Raj is the Sikh religion.  The adherents of this religion are located in the NW portion of India in the  sector called Punjab.  The Sikh religion does not believe in or practice a caste system.  One interesting aspect of the religion is the practice of serving food to everyone on periodic festival days.  The Sikh people have a tradition of personal defense and of serving in the India military. 

The government of India is similar to the form of government of Great Britain. 

    Daniel Miller    Public Relations/ Community Outreach Lynwood Rotary Club