Thank you for the question.
You're right. I think the statistics we have is that 53% is the rejection rate at Chandigarh. We're approached by people who come to us and say that a family member has come here before and was rejected a second time. Gurdwaras, places of worship for the Sikh faith, have what's called a spiritual deficit right now, in that congregations are growing and there are not enough people to service those congregations. The issue has been that people who have been here in the past are even being turned down.
Certain areas, from the Punjab specifically, have a much higher rate of being turned down. For example, in the Amritsar district—which I mentioned in my presentation as being quite disturbed in the late eighties and early nineties—I understand that ragis, or preachers, are turned down regularly from that area, which is unfortunate, because the centre of the Sikh faith is, in fact, in Amritsar district.
What definitely needs to happen is some measure of consistency. If someone is here in the past, we can't figure out on our end why they wouldn't be able to come back again. I know gurdwaras have forwarded a number of suggestions with respect to better communication with them. Often these preachers will show up without the gurdwaras knowing that they're coming or not. So I think communication, definitely.... Consistency is also something that I would recommend.