Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle

The Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle (GGSSC) is a Sikh educational and social organisation with its head office in Model Town Extension, Ludhiana. It describes itself as a non-governmental, non-political, educational and socio-cultural voluntary organisation.

How it began: its own history says it began in 1972, when a group of students met on the football ground of Government College for boys in Ludhiana. They were worried by communist leanings among young Punjabis and by what they saw as a decline in moral values and in the Sikh ethos. They met weekly to discuss current issues, history and personal growth, and the work spread from colleges to schools and universities with the help of teachers. It was first registered as Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle (Colleges); the site gives no year for that and says it took its present name in 1980. It later ran awareness campaigns against liquor and drugs.

Who leads it: the site does not name a founding president. It lists a Supreme Council for 2022 to 2024 under Chairman Baljit Singh, with Gurcharan Singh as Secretary General. It also names five co-founders (Jatinderpal Singh, Gurmit Singh, Manmohan Singh Sailani, Balwinder Singh Sagar and Harpal Singh) without saying they were the 1972 students.

What it runs: the site lists about a dozen initiatives, among them the Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Institute of Management and HR Development, Gyan Anjan Public School, the Bhai Samund Singh Gurmat Sangeet Institute, Gurbani Khoj Vichar and Sanchar Kendra, Sikh Book Trust International and Virsa Publications, and a monthly, Study Circle Smachar. It says it was a UNESCO Messenger of Peace partner for the Decade of Culture of Peace, 2001 to 2010; this is its own claim and we did not find UNESCO confirming it.

Key moments

• 1972: founded in Ludhiana. 1980: takes its present name.
• May 2001: GGSSC Canada begins with classes and weekly kirtan in Toronto basements. It now claims more than 1,000 members.
• 7 January 2002: The Tribune reports that the SGPC's Dharam Parchar Committee approved in principle an international advisory council, described as non-political, with the Study Circle among the bodies to nominate members.
• 9 to 14 June 2014: an annual youth camp at Baru Sahib, run with the Kalgidhar Trust, with about 400 students.

Where it stands: it is active, with a monthly newsletter. Its site shows the logos of Punjabi University, Adesh University, Punjab Agricultural University and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as partners.