OSA Constitution

Dear Members of OSA,

As you know, the electronic voting period for the revised  Constitution, ratified during the General Body Meeting on July 6, 2013, ended at midnight July 31st, 2013. Following on the heels of the unanimous vote of support at the GBM, the electronic votes collected were near unanimous as well. With the exception of one e-mail setting  forth a “disapproval”, all others vigorously supported the revisions made during this year’s review.

In accordance with the new Constitution, our Outgoing General Counsel,  Esha Bandyopadhyay, has worked with our new General Counsel, Niraj Rath, to file the requisite paperwork for officially changing the name of our organization to The Odisha Society of the Americas. Today, August 1, 2013, marks the effective date of the name change, and accordingly, the effective date of the new Constitution. Our website and other relevant documents will be updated to reflect the newly ratified version.

Now that the Constitution review has finally come to an end, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your respective participation in this important process. Each question posed, and comment shared, was crucial in shaping the document that serves as the very foundation of our organization. I sincerely appreciate all those who took the time to communicate their thoughts and ideas. I would also like to thank each member of the Constitution Review Committee (namely, Sanjiv Behera, Barnali Dasverma, Biswajit Khandai, Amiya Nayak, Nick Patnaik, and Deva Pattanayak) for spending countless hours in considering the proposed draft and providing thoughtful feedback.

And, most importantly, I would like to thank our Outgoing Treasurer, Sushant Satpathy, for overseeing each and every aspect of this long project from start to finish. I will forever be grateful for his willingness to take on any project, and his ability to do so with a smile.

As you know, this year’s process was unlike any other. By having our General Counsel review each and every word of the document to ensure that we remain consistent and comply with all necessary legal provisions, by utilizing an independent Constitution Review Committee comprising of volunteer members from diverse backgrounds, and by maintaining absolute transparency throughout the entire process, we were confident that the end product would be a far stronger document, capable of guiding our organization for years to come. We could not be happier that nearly each and every one of you agreed. And now that this critical review process has taken place, as many of you have expressed, we look forward to allowing the document to rest.

I would like to single out the efforts of our general counsel, Esha Bandyopadhyay and former General Counsel and Past President Nick Patnaik in revising the constitution, and answering all the questions in the revision process. I was amazed to see their commitment, otherwise these high powered attorneys would not have spent their priceless time on this task.

Sushant Satpathy’s heroic efforts can not be described in words. At the cost of everything, he took this task and brought it to fruitful conclusion. I hope and pray that OSA will continue to attract such selfless volunteers to do the community service.

Besides the Constitution revision, I speak for each member of the 2011-13 Executive Committee in saying that it has been our great pleasure to serve you for the last two years. We are happy to have seen OSA grow and flourish during this time, and look forward to seeing our organization reach even greater heights in the future.

With warm regards,

Annapurna Pandey
OSA President, 2011-13

Dear Members,