ARTICLE I: Name

Section 1: The name of the organization shall be “World Brahman Organization, Inc.”, referred hereto as “The Organization”. It shall also be known by its acronym: “WBO”.

Section 2: WBO shall be a union and an umbrella organization of all the Brahman organizations of the world. It shall be a non-profit, non-political, educational, religious and cultural organization.

ARTICLE II: Objectives

Section 1: The objectives of the Organization are:

(1)     To bring all the Brahman organizations of the world on one platform under the umbrella of WBO.

(2)     To perpetuate the Brahmanic values of universal brotherhood and benevolence for all.

(3)     To rejuvenate spirituality and scholarship in the younger generation.

(4)     To promote studies of Sanskrit and Vedic scriptures and at the same time to encourage studies of modern sciences and arts.

ARTICLE III: Membership

Section 1: Membership of WBO shall be open to all Brahman organizations. A Brahman organization may apply to become a member of WBO by submitting an application form with the prescribed amount of fee. There will be no individual membership. Individual members of member organizations shall automatically become members of WBO.

Section 2: The amount of membership dues from the constituent member organizations, for a period of two years, shall be as follows:

i.                     Organizations with 25 or less members: US$ 25.00

ii.                   Organizations with 26 to 100 members: US$ 50.00

iii.                  Organizations with more than 100 members: US$ 100.00

The amounts may be changed appropriately by the Executive Committee of WBO from time to time.

ARTICLE IV: Officers

Section 1: The officers of the Organization shall be: President, Vice Presidents, Secretary General and Treasurer. These officers shall form the Executive Committee, abbreviated EC hereafter, of WBO.

Section 2: The term of the EC shall be two years, from one convention to the next. The EC shall not succeed itself for the next term under any circumstances.

Section 3: All the officers, mentioned in Section 1 above, must be members of the constituent Brahman organizations.

Section 4:

i.          The President of the constituent Brahman organization, which will host the next World Brahman Convention (WBC), shall automatically become the President of WBO and will remain the WBO President for next the two years or until the end of the next WBC.

ii.               If the host country Brahman organization elects a new President of its organization before the end of the term of WBO President, the original WBO President selected under section (i) above will continue to serve for the entire two-year term unless he/she voluntarily transfers the position to the newly elected host Brahman organization President.

iii               There will be no separate election of the President or EC.

Section 5: The decision to elect the next President of WBO, and thus the host organization for the next WBC, shall be made in a meeting during the World Brahman Convention.  The decision shall be announced publicly to the attendees of that convention and shall be published in the newsletter of the Organization.

Section 6: If there are more than one Brahman organizations volunteering to host the next World Brahman Convention, the EC shall vote and decide as to which organization shall host it.

Section 7: For a better coordination and smooth running of the Organization the newly elected President shall nominate Secretary General and Treasurer of WBO from his own organization and inform the names of these officers to the Presidents of the constituent organizations within two months after his/her selection as President. At the same time the new President shall also inform about the venue of the next convention, if it was not done during the convention.

Section 8: The number of EC members shall be decided on the basis of the number of constituent organizations in WBO and at the same time the number of countries in WBO. Presently the number of EC members shall be as follows: 4 from India, 3 each from Europe and North America, one each from Nepal, Malaysia, Mauritius, South America, Australia, New Zealand. The nominations of EC members shall be announced within two months after the last World Brahman Convention if it was not decided at the time of the convention. The EC members other than President, Secretary General and Treasurer shall be called Vice Presidents.

Section 9: If the WBO President is unable to perform his/her duties of the office temporarily or for rest of the term, the new President of the host organization (for the next WBC) shall serve as President.

ARTICLE V: Duties of Officers

Section 1: President: The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Organization and shall perform all duties normally associated with such positions that include, but are not limited to, the following:

i.                     Preside at the meetings of the EC and the Organization.

ii.                   Make appointments of various committees, their chairs and members, with the approval of the EC, to ensure that the Organization functions effectively.

iii.                  Serve as an ex-officio member of the committees.

iv.                  Represent the EC and the Organization to the Board of Trustees.

v.                    Perform all other duties sanctioned by the WBO Constitution and those necessary for efficient and effective operation of the Organization.

Section 2: Vice Presidents (VPs). The Vice Presidents shall assist the President in all matters as assigned by the President.

Section 3: Secretary General (SG). The Secretary General shall prepare agenda for EC and Organization meetings, write minutes and maintain their records, handle correspondence for the Organization as needed, and perform other tasks assigned by the President.

Section 4: Treasurer. The Treasurer shall be the custodian of all assets of the Organization and monitor all income and expenses. He/she shall prepare and present financial reports to the EC and to all the attendees at the World Brahman Convention and arrange for timely audits of all financial records of the Organization.

Section 5: The EC shall be the policy making body of the Organization. The following shall be the responsibilities of the EC:

i.                     To formulate policies and procedures for efficient and effective implementation of the Organization’s objectives, and to develop programs for improvements of its operations

ii.                   To monitor all financial activities and make decisions on all matters of the Organization.

iii.                  To assist the President in formation of various functional committees of the Organization.

ARTICLE VI: BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Section 1: The Board of Trustees (abbreviated as BOT) of the Organization shall consist of members who have made significant contributions to their community, their profession and/or to their organization. The BOT shall provide advice and guidance to the President and the EC in establishing and implementing the Organization’s objectives.

Section 2: The number of members in the BOT shall be: 4 from India, 3 each from North America and Europe and one each from other countries, which have member organizations in WBO.

Section 3: Term.  

i.                     The term of each BOT member shall be three years.

ii.                   The President, with the consent of the EC, shall make appointments to the BOT. To maintain continuity, the appointments shall be made in a staggered manner, that is, one third of the retiring members shall be replaced by new members every year.

iii.                  The members of the BOT shall elect their chairperson from one of their own members. .

iv.                  The BOT shall perform the role of the mediator in case of conflicts within the EC, or on matters not explicitly addressed in the constitution.

v.                    In its role as mediator (section 3-iv), the BOT may form a subcommittee of the BOT for fact finding or conducting hearing, and making recommendations to the full Board, which will make final decision by a majority vote. The decision of the BOT shall be binding on all parties within WBO.

ARTICLE VII: Meetings

Section 1: Type of meetings. Meetings can be of three types:

i.                     Meetings in person, which will be possible only at the time of the conventions,

ii.                    Teleconferences and video conferences, and

iii.                  E-mails.

The President shall convene and preside over all meetings except the committee meetings which are normally convened and presided over by the committee chair.

Section 2: Quorum. The quorum requirements for a meeting of EC shall be 60%.

Section 3: Vote.  A simple majority vote of the members present will be needed to pass or adopt any motion, resolution and /or agenda item. The presiding officer shall vote only in case of a ‘tie’.

Section 4: Agenda. 

i.          The Secretary General, in consultation with the President, shall prepare the agenda for the meetings.

ii.                   Any EC member wishing to include additional items in the agenda should contact the SG and/or the President for getting them included.

iii.                  During a meeting the presiding officer may introduce more items or accept suggestions from the floor for inclusion of items in the agenda.

Section 5: E-mail meetings. E-mails may be used to propose an item for discussion among the EC members and for arriving at a decision by voting. The discussion period may be spread over several days. The guidelines given below must be followed:

i.           The meetings are initiated by the President, his/her designee or the Chairperson of a committee.          

ii.          The convener of the meeting shall send the agenda items and allow a reasonable time for discussion.

iii.       When the discussion period is over, the convener shall call for the vote and set                                                   a time limit before which all votes must be cast. If within the time limit, enough people have not cast their votes to reach a simple majority for or against the item, the convener may allow extra time or reopen the discussion.

iv.                  Members may cast their votes via e-mail, telephone, FAX or any other efficient media. The votes must be sent to the SG or an official designated by the convener to monitor and record the votes.

v.                    For further verification, the SG or the authorized recorder shall announce the final result identifying persons voting for and against the item. If no one disputes the vote count, the result becomes official.

Section 6: Decisions.

i.                     In order to become official, all decisions must be made by voting in a meeting.

ii.                   The EC shall make policy decisions, make procedural rules and establish guidelines necessary for efficient operation of the Organization through voting.

ARTICLE IX: COMMITTEES

Section 1: Standing Committees. The EC shall appoint various standing committees in order to manage certain business of the Organization regularly and effectively. These committees, known as standing committees, shall be permanent in nature and continue to perform their duties unless explicitly dissolved by the EC.

Section 2: Ad hoc committees. The EC may also appoint ad hoc committees to handle certain one-time business, especially matters that require certain research or fact finding. The ad hoc committee may be dissolved after making the final recommendation to the EC unless the EC votes to extend their term for further work on the matter.  All committees shall carry out their directives from the EC and report to the EC.

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