President’s Message
Dear Members,
It is my privilege and honor to continue another term as the President of the Bengali Association Singapore (BAS). I am very proud to be associated with BAS which has an extremely rich history, and I am looking forward to a productive and rewarding year ahead. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each one of you for your unwavering support and dedication to our association. It is only through all your collective efforts that we can continue to preserve the essence of our Bengali culture here in Singapore. Through our associations’ various endeavors, we aim to foster a sense of belonging and camaraderie to create a nurturing environment for our community to thrive.
In the past couple of years, we have faced unprecedented challenges due to the global pandemic but we as a community have stood tall and demonstrated unity and compassion. I would like to take the opportunity to commend and applaud the efforts of our dedicated
managing committee (MC) members who have worked relentlessly and shown immense resilience and perseverance. We have collectively combatted the challenges and strived to do the best under the circumstances. We as the MC of 2023 strive to continue the tradition of being an open and inclusive association where each and every member plays a part. It was extremely encouraging to see the enthusiasm and willingness for several new members who have come ahead and volunteered to serve the members. I am also very proud that several new members have joined our previous MC to be part of the 2023 MC. The new 2023 MC remain committed to serve the community selflessly and foster harmony, friendship, and cultural values. We as a team will continue our efforts to engage our members and look at ways to
continue to increase our membership base, bring back old members and continue to build on the community spirit. I on behalf of our 2023 MC request you all to come forward, join hands and move forward with enthusiasm as one big family. Let us together make it our greatest strength and follow our motto of “Tomar,” “Amar”, “Shobar” association..
The MC members for 2023 are as follows:
- Dr. Sowmya (Shoumo) ,Mitra President
- Mr. Raja Chowdhury ,Vice-President
- Mr. Prasun Saha, Treasurer
- Dr. Pratik Mukherjee, Hony Secretary
- Mr. Saurav Chatterjee, Cultural Secretary
- Dr. Basab Bhattacharya, Member
- Ms. Saswati Bhattacharya, Member
- Mr. Siddhartha Chatterjee, Member
- Mr. Kanab Banerjee, Member
- Mr. Amartya Chakraborty, Member
- Ms. Sumana Mallick, Member
- Ms. Devleena Sanyal, Member
During our AGM members requested the MC to organize a brainstorming workshop to explore options on how we can increase our membership base. This not only included bringing in new members but also to reinstate members who had left the organization in
the last few years. We are organizing the workshop on the 22nd of July at the SINDA auditorium on Beatty Road from 4:00 pm till 6:30 pm which will be facilitated by one of our esteemed member Mr. Koushik Ghatak. I would request our members to make some time and join the workshop. We have sent a survey out and the MC would really appreciate it if members kindly complete and submit the survey.
We also have been discussing about ways on how our association can engage our youth and we are really happy to share the news that we in the process of formalizing a BAS youth wing with a few enthusiastic youngsters. Our MC would encourage our youth members to join the youth wing and share their views on how we can engage our youth. We also received feedback from members expressing their desire for the MC to organize cultural events so the cultural secretary and the cultural sub-committee are in the process of pulling together a cultural extravaganza which will be organized in early September this year. Let us all continue to forge ahead, empowered by our shared cultural heritage, and help our association grow from strength to strength. With rays of hope for a brighter year ahead and warmest regards for all,
Kind regards