Dear Brother/Sister:

In a recent message, a TS member stated:

"According to the Annual Report of the TS for 1973, the year John
Coats was elected president, the Indian Section had 7,821 members and
the rest of the world had 24,448. Today, according to the 2007 Annual
Report of the TS, the Indian Section has 12,444 members and the rest
of the world 16,570."

This shows that in India, the membership has increased by 59%.
In rest of the world, it has declined by 32%.

"The organisation of the Society today remains much as it has been since the
early days. Local groups called branches or lodges consist of seven or more
members. They are autonomous in their own affairs. When there are seven or
more branches in any one country they usually form a National Section.
Sections are likewise autonomous within their own areas, except that their
rules must conform to the rules of the International Society. The government
of the Society at large is vested in its officers and a General Council that
meets at least once a year in India. Each section has its own Rules"

Since each section is fully autonomous in their own affairs, it looks like
the growth of the membership is the result of the activities at the branch
or lodge level and to some extent at the section level.

All the sections in the West, have academicians in leadership with
impressive formal credentials, have access to modern communication and
modern theories and tools of management and administration and hence in
spite of this, if there is drop in the membership, then we need to look to
the local causes rather than International.

I do not know if in each of the sections, including the USA, was a review
done to see the root cause for the drop in the membership, and what steps
were taken to fix them and the results thereof. If this has not been done,
it is high time to do it. Also the impetus for vivifying the activities must
take place at lodge and national levels and can only be done at local levels
due to the autonomy of the Sections.

On the other hand, we also need to research the reasons why during the above
same period, how the Indian section showed a dramatic increase in
membership. Many may not know that there are 13 official languages in the
country and there is no widespread common language such as we find English
in the USA, and the literacy rate is low. Even with this, the increase in
membership is impressive and we should look into it. Obviously, the lodges
in India are doing something right which attracts new members.

Any comments?

M K Ramadoss, Member, San Antonio, Texas, USA

THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN TRUTH

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