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Commemorating 35 years of community bonding

01 August 2011 0 comments

Innovation and creative approaches to engage more youths to participate in grassroots activities. That was the challenge posed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the Indian Activity Executive Committees (IAECs) during the Narpani Convention 2011 held on 17 July at the Raffles Convention Centre.

This year’s Narpani Convention was special to the IAECs as the event served as a platform for the IAEC Council, commonly known as Narpani Pearavai, to launch the celebrations for IAECs’ 35th Anniversary.

About 1,200 IAEC members gathered at the convention to commemorate 35 years of community bonding. PA’s IAECs had grown vastly since 1977 when the first IAEC was formed in Kallang CC with the aim of integrating the Indian community into the larger multi-racial society of Singapore. With its existing strength of 94 IAECs islandwide, PA’s Narpani Pearavai had spearheaded various events and programmes to promote family bonding, educational excellence and community well-being.

To commemorate IAECs’ 35 years of community bonding, the Narpani Commemorative Book titled “Our Journey – Building and Bridging Communities” was launched by Prime Minister Lee during the Narpani Convention 2011. The book launch also marked the official kickstart ofthe IAECs’ 35th years Anniversary Celebrations.

“Through this publication, Narpani Pearavai salutes all the past and present IAEC members for their selfless and passionate service in building and bridging communities”, said Ms Sithara Doriasamy, Vice-Chairman of PA’s Narpani Pearavai and key member of the Editorial Team.

Look out for more exciting events and activities that would be organised throughout the 35th Anniversary Celebrations. Narpani Pearavai would continue to work with existing and new community partners such as the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA), the Singapore Indian Education Trust (SIET) and the Singapore Indian Association (IA) to roll out programmes with special emphasis in the areas of education, financial assistance and sports.

To rise up to PM Lee’s challenge to engage youths through creative means and extend reach to more residents through various channels of communications, Narpani Pearavai also launched a new website which incorporated interactive features, vibrant layout and dedicated webpages for each IAEC. The newly revamped Narpani Pearavai’s website would allow residents to locate the contacts of the nearest IAEC and stay updated on upcoming events and activities. “The newly launched website allows us to publicise our programmes and activities which will definitely encourage more people to participate in our events”, said Mr Joseph Steven, Chairman of Chua Chu Kang CC IAEC.

View highlights of the Narpani Convention 2011 including the launch of the Commemorative Book and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with SINDA, SIET and IA in this Narpani Convention 2011 video and photo gallery.