Jaspreet Singh likes to begin his day early. At 5.30 am each day, he takes a dip
in the holy sarovar at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in central Delhi before moving to
the prasad counter. Singh hands over some money and hums the gurbani, while the
sewadar at the counter passes him the prasad, some flowers and an IBM
desktop-generated receipt for Rs 21.
On his way out, Singh makes a cash donation at the gate. He is promptly
handed another receipt for this, and both transactions are fed into the gurdwara’s
brand-new ERP system.
Does it seem far-fetched to picture computers whirring away in places of
worship, in perfect sync with sabads, kirtans and gurbani? Especially in the
Indian context, where large sections of business are yet to be touched by
information technology? Perhaps yes, but that is exactly what the Delhi Sikh
Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has done. In a bid to centralize the
workings of gurdwaras under its purview, the committee has implemented an
ambitious project to integrate Delhi’s four major gurdwaras–Bangla Sahib,
Rakab Ganj, Sis Ganj and Nanak Piao.
The project was initiated by a team of consultants from Delhi-based Multiple
Zones India and Webuzz Software, which devised and implemented a solution for
the automation of all processes at the four gurdwaras. "With IT influencing
every sphere of life, I had this dream–a computer network that would
streamline all our functions and bring in transparency," says DSGMC
president, Avtar Singh Hit.
Thanks to the very progressive and religious Sikh community, the DSGMC
collects an annual Rs 100-120 crore in donations, its primary source of cash
inflow. The more devout and prosperous make cash donations running into a few
lakhs, or in kind–property, gold and silver. These funds are used for
management, maintenance and expansion of the gurdwara, including the cost of
running the regular langars that gurdwaras are so renowned for. A part of the
funds are utilized to run the committee’s educational institutions and
hospitals. According to Hit, "The idea was to make the system vitreous and
accessible at the click of a button, right from collection to the last penny
spent."
It was this endeavor to integrate all functions in the major gurdwaras in
Delhi, that saw Multiple Zones and Webuzz Software entering the picture. Webuzz,
a Delhi-based startup, which provided computer education at Guru Harkishan
Public School in New Delhi, was approached by the DSGMC. The numbers thrown at
them–an average day, about 20,000 transactions take place in each of the
gurdwaras. On weekends and festival days, the number rockets to 1.5 to 2 lakhs.
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