Rotary News - March 2016

/RotaryNewsIndia

March 2016

Vol.66, Issue 9

Annual Subscription Rs.420

@NewsRotary

CSR: Enlightened Self Interest

The senior Rotary leaders discussed with the Nepal President what the local Rotarians, with the help of Rotary International, had already done in terms of relief after the devastating earthquake of 2015. They promised to work closely with the Government of Nepal in rebuilding a few of the affected regions.

RI President calls on Nepal President

RI President K R Ravindran and Vanathy Ravindran along with Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari; (from right) Sharmishtha Desai, RID Manoj Desai, DG Keshav Kunwar (RI Dist 3292) and spouse Durga.

10

Celebrating Generosity

Through an elegantly organised Black Tie Dinner in Mumbai, Rotary India honours its largest benefactor, Rajashree Birla.

Contents 24 Giving transgenders right opportunities Rotary Clubs of D 3230 organised a unique event — a talk show with transgenders to highlight their struggles.

30 25 years and going strong A massive public image exercise, Rotaractors’ Meet and an inspirational address by RI President K R Ravindran marked the silver jubilee celebrations of District 3000.

34 Rotarian spouses at San Diego Zoo

16

She considers CSR “Enlightened Self Interest�

Long before CSR became fashionable, a young woman from England, who made Bombay and Vapi her home, did just that ‌ and much more.

26 Exceeding TRF goals

While the Rotary leaders were engaged in Rotary business at the Board meeting in San Diego, their spouses were performing service of a different kind.

36

Vintage Rotarians

PDG Prem Agarwal of D 3110 recalls his 60 years of Rotary experience.

53 One more attack on a polio centre in Pak Yet again a polio immunisation centre and vaccinators were VCTIGVGF CV 3WGVVC &GURKVG UWEJ JQTTKĹżE CVVCEMU 2CMKUVCP KU making strides towards eradication of polio from the country.

during trying times

54 Exquisite Vavs of Gujarat

District 3292 (Nepal and Bhutan) have reached a new high of $1 million, in a year the country was rocked by a devastating earthquake.

Gujarat and Rajasthan have ancient treasures in the form of intricately carved step wells; discover two such Vavs of Gujarat.

58 Ireland — Where

history comes alive

On the cover: Sandra Shroff, Vice Chairman of UPL. Picture by K Viswanathan.

LETTERS Jaipur Institute Wonderful! A festive news.

Raja Saboo is perfectly right to hope that Rotary International will get the Nobel Peace Prize for its contribution to a polio-free world. Your coverage of Rotary Institute at Jaipur was wonderful - A feast of colours and packed with information.

Rtn Korukonda Butchi Raju RC Anakapalli-D 3020

T

he January magazine was very interesting with your outstanding editorial and RI President’s Report Card.

Institutions these days need men of such stature at the helm.

But his remark that the RI dues of $57 need to be hiked, will adversely impact membership, particularly in Asian countries.

It was very exhilarating to know that our two PRIPs were decorated with Rotary Crystals.

T

he January editorial Gender Sensitivity at Jaipur was not only a reflection on the deliberation at the Rotary Institute in Jaipur, but it was a message highlighting this terrible malaise. Your views on women’s emancipation and the burning problem of gender discrimination speak of the existing realities. Your editorial columns are always ennobling my mind and that of my fellow Rotarians.

Rtn Arun Kumar Dash RC Baripada-D 3262

Wonderful Coverage ats off to the wonderful coverage of the different avenues of services in the February issue. The key note speech of the incoming TRF Trustee Chair Kalyan Banerjee stressing the various aspects of Rotary was simply wonderful. In the article Tell our Foundation story to the world, he spoke about combating breast cancer, the goals to strengthen all Rotarians’ knowledge, engagement and financial support to TRF. I am happy to say that I am amongst the first batch of DGs, who had worked to support the TRF towards a polio-free world.

Let us all follow the guidelines of incoming TRF Trustee Chair and “Be a gift to world.”

PDG K Nagabhushanam RC Anantapur Central-D 3160

H

I

went through the article A wish list from Raja Saboo, where he expressed his desire that Rotary should get the Nobel Peace, and I firmly believe this will happen by 2020. He was the first to take a team of doctors for medical missions to Africa from

Praise for Rotary Samachar

E

very month I wait eagerly for the arrival of the Rotary Samachar magazine and reading it has now become a habit. I have always enjoyed reading the noble thoughts of the RI President and the RI Director in their monthly columns. Cheers to Rotary Samachar!

Rtn Suahil Poddar RC Patna Mid Town-D 3250

I

am proud to say that I am a regular reader of Rotary Samachar/Rotary News for several years, but from the day you have taken over this magazine as Editor, your articles

4 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

have changed its face. They are both interesting and informative. I believe writing is an art which you have perfected. In the January issue, the coverage of the Jaipur Institute was

extremely detailed and interesting. The beauty of your articles is that you compel us to read them till the end. I am confident you will take this magazine to greater heights. I pray to God to grant you greater success.

PDG PN Agarwal RC Agra-D 3110

I

enjoy reading your editorial in Rotary Samachar and the magazine has become more and more readable. Looking forward to read more interesting articles in the forthcoming issues.

Rtn Ramesh Chopda RC Ratlam-D 3040

LETTERS A past RI President lauds Rotary News

I

PRIP Charles C Keller

District 3080 to serve the poor people. Under his leadership, the image of Indian Rotary Clubs has flourished.

Rtn T D Bhatia RC Delhi Mayur Vihar-D 3012

have been receiving The Rotarian magazine and regional publications for many years and I enjoy them because they give a full picture of what Rotary is doing worldwide. I have just finished reading the January issue of Rotary News and find it one of the best issues of a regional publication I have ever seen.

To start with, the colour pictures were extraordinary and very attractive. The various reports on the Jaipur Institute were interesting and informative.

The coverage of the Centennial plans for the Rotary Foundation were well done. I think the article

and sustain the tempo and spirit is not easy. Here comes the monthly Rotary News to enthuse and motivate us to work with more gusto. At RC Bajpe

A Spouse speaks

R

I Director Manoj Desai’s column was very inspiring. Going by the universal values of non-violence, tolerance and peace preached by the Mahatma, he added his own understanding of those values which was refreshing. “If you continue to ignore the rage within, the storm outside will never subside.” Let’s practise and preach these values till they become a habit.

Rtn P Balasubramaniam RC Karur Amaravathi-D 3000

C

ongratulations on the wellcovered news and articles in the monthly Rotary News magazine.

Whenever my morale is down the reading of Rotary News elevates my spirit. To join any organisation may be easy and interesting, but to keep

I

n the February issue an interview titled A veteran Rotary Spouse down memory lane of Mrs Usha Saboo, spouse of PRIP Rajendra K Saboo, was very interesting as it reflected the views and thinking of a member who freshly joins Rotary. In her own words “What was in it for me, I thought. All that I knew of Rotary at that time were routine meetings and boring speeches.”

Once we get involved we begin to appreciate the actual service done by the Rotary clubs around the world.

Rtn M T Philip RC Trivandrum Suburban-D 3211

on how Rotary International chooses its presidents, written

by PRID Thomas, was interesting and exceptionally informative.

President Ravi’s “Report Card” was very well done.

Over all, it gave a very enlightening picture of how Rotary performs and develops in India. It honestly reports the pluses and the minuses, the tremendous service activity on the one hand and the election disputes on the other hand. I write to congratulate you on an outstanding issue.

PRIP Charles C Keller 1987-88 we had a course similar to that of RC Ankleshwar’s women’s empowerment centre, where we offered tailoring classes to marginalised women.

Rtn PHF Robert Franklin Rego RC Bajpe-D 3180

T

hank you for sharing different projects done across India. We love reading Rotary News every month.

Rtn Dr Aruna Tantia RC Salt Lake Metropolitan Kolkata-D 3291

I

am a regular reader of Rotary News and there is a remarkable improvement in the quality and content under your editorship. My hearty congratulations. My affair with Rotary began in 1986. I was the president of my club during 1994-95. For many years now I send a gift to my lady love (TRF) on Valentines Day, and this year too I have sent a cheque of Rs 6,600.

Rtn Dilip M Jani RC Bombay Harbour-D 3140

We welcome your feedback. Write to the Editor: rotarynews@rosaonline.org; rushbhagat@gmail.com MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 5

Board of Permanent Trustees

Governors’ Council RI Dist 2981

DG

Dr Gunasekaran Chinnathambi

RI Dist 2982

DG

R Vasu

RI Dist 3000

DG

R Theenachandran

RI Dist 3011

DG

Sudhir Mangla

RI Dist 3012

DG

Jitender Kumar Gaur

RI Dist 3020

DG

M Jagadeeswara Rao

RI Dist 3030

DG

Dr Nikhil Arvind Kibe

RI Dist 3040

DG

Sanjeev Gupta

RI Dist 3051

DG

C A Lalit Sharma

RI Dist 3052

DG

Pradhuman Kumar Patni

RI Dist 3053

DG

Anil Beniwal

RI Dist 3060

DG

Parag Sheth

RI Dist 3070

DG

Kuldip Kumar Dhir

RI Dist 3080

DG

David Joseph Hilton

RI Dist 3090

DG

Dharam Vir Garg

RI Dist 3100

DG

Deepak Babu (Acting DG)

RI Dist 3110

DG

Sharat Chandra

RI Dist 3120

DG

Ved Prakash

RI Dist 3131

DG

Subodh Mukund Joshi

RI Dist 3132

DG

Dr Deepak Prabhakar Pophale

RI Dist 3140

DG

Subhash Kulkarni

RI Dist 3150

DG

Gopinath Reddy Vedire

RI Dist 3160

DG

Dr Gautam R Jahagirdar

RI Dist 3170

DG

Shrinivas Ramkrishna Malu

RI Dist 3180

DG

Dr A Bharathesh

RI Dist 3190

DG

K P Nagesh

RI Dist 3201

DG

Kamlesh V Raheja

RI Dist 3202

DG

George Sundararaj

RI Dist 3211

DG

C Luke

RI Dist 3212

DG

J Navamani

RI Dist 3230

DG

C R Raju

RI Dist 3240

DG

Chandu Kumar Agarwal

RI Dist 3250

DG

Dr Bindu Singh

RI Dist 3261

DG

Rakesh Dave

RI Dist 3262

DG

Sibabrata Dash

RI Dist 3291

DG

Jhulan Basu

PRIP PRIP PRID PRID PRID PRID PRID PRID PRID RID

Rajendra K Saboo Kalyan Banerjee Sudarshan Agarwal Panduranga Setty Sushil Gupta Ashok Mahajan Yash Pal Das Shekhar Mehta P T Prabhakhar Dr Manoj D Desai

RI Dist 3080 RI Dist 3060 RI Dist 3011 RI Dist 3190 RI Dist 3011 RI Dist 3140 RI Dist 3080 RI Dist 3291 RI Dist 3230 RI Dist 3060

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (In addition to Board of Permanent Trustees)

DG Chandu Kumar Agarwal

RI Dist 3240

Chair - Governors Council

DG C R Raju

RI Dist 3230

Secretary - Governors Council

DG Subodh Mukund Joshi

RI Dist 3131

Secretary - Executive Committee

DG Dr Gautam R Jahagirdar

RI Dist 3160

Treasurer - Executive Committee

DG Sudhir Mangla

RI Dist 3011

Member - Advisory Committee

ROTARY NEWS ROTARY SAMACHAR Editor Rasheeda Bhagat Senior Assistant Editor Jaishree Padmanabhan Send all correspondence and subscriptions to ROTARY NEWS TRUST 3rd Floor, Dugar Towers, 34 Marshalls Road Egmore, Chennai 600 008, India.

Phone : 044 42145666 e-mail : rotarynews@rosaonline.org Website : www.rotarynewsonline.org

From th e E d i t or ’s Desk

Two CSR Champions

T

here was elegance and style, class and grace … the mood was somber and yet celebratory. And there couldn’t have been a better place than Mumbai, the city of dreams and fantasies, glamour, showbiz and big business, to drive home the point that one of its own citizens, Rajashree Birla, Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, could show such an abundance of generosity. She has been the most ardent and consistent supporter of Rotary India in its mammoth battle to eliminate polio, and has donated a staggering $9.5 million to The Rotary Foundation so far, making her the second largest individual donor after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But her giving has been more than just chequebook charity.

As PRIP Rajendra K Saboo pointed out at Mumbai’s Black Tie Dinner, organised so competently by DG Subhash Kulkarni and his team and held to honour her, it was the personal and human touch in her philanthropy that set her apart. She would alight from the car and walk along with Rotary volunteers in slum areas to put the polio drops in the children’s mouths.

I’ve interviewed Rajashree in 2012 for The Hindu Business Line, and remember being bowled over by her simplicity and humility, rare in somebody who was managing a whopping annual budget of Rs 160 crore for the Aditya Birla Group’s CSR initiatives.

She smiled away the question on her simplicity by saying: “Having moved and stayed with Gandhiji, our family ... my parents-in-law and grandfather-in-law (G D Birla) had a very simple lifestyle. There was no glamour or fuss in our home.” Well, pedigree shows!

But generosity has neither borders nor economic barriers. Last fortnight I travelled to Kathmandu to cover RI President K R Ravindran’s visit to District 3292. Along with RI Director Manoj Desai, he was taking stock of the plans and progress Nepal’s Rotarians have made in the relief and rehabilitation of the earthquake victims in the tiny Himalayan nation. Both

Ravindran and Desai were stunned to find that despite such testing times — the devastation caused by the earthquake and further aggravated by the economic “blockade” for whatever reasons — District 3292 had raised a record $800,000 for TRF. The District’s previous best is only $30,000. Desai revised their target to $1 million, saying he would come there again to help them reach this magic mark. But no sooner than he had said this, an AKS member, the District’s first, sprung up from nowhere and the goal was reached!

This issue is replete with CSR initiatives, all of them taken well before the word was even coined!

The cover story relates the journey of Sandra Shroff, Vice Chairman of UPL; a British woman, she came to India in her teens, and adopted it as her home after marrying Rajju Shroff. When UPL’s first factory was set up in Vapi in Gujarat, it had virtually nothing in terms of educational and healthcare facilities. When the Warlis or the tribals from Bombay, who were brought to Vapi by the Shroff family to work in their factory, refused to bring their families as there was no English medium school there, it was a wake-up call for Sandra. Along with PRIP Kalyan Banerjee, a member of RC Vapi and a Director of UPL, through sheer grit and focus she initiated the transformation of Vapi and surrounding areas through her passion for anything to do with education. The two English medium schools in Vapi and an excellent institute of chemical engineering and technology in Ankleshwar have resulted thanks to Sandra Shroff teaming up with Rotarians to bring major changes in the lives of the people of Vapi.

It’s no surprise to me that both the CSR champions covered in this issue are women!

Rasheeda Bhagat

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 7

President

Speaks Dear Fellow Rotarians, Some years ago, I was asked to speak at an Interact club in my home city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. I have always taken my interactions with Rotary youth very seriously, so I prepared my remarks carefully and put the same effort into my presentation that I would for any other event. After the meeting, I stayed to chat with a few of the Interactors, answering their questions and wishing them well.

I came out of the classroom where we had met into the autumn afternoon.

The bright sun was shining directly into my eyes, so I found a bit of shade behind a pillar where I could wait for my ride.

As I stood there, hidden from view, I overheard a group of the very Interactors who had just listened to my speech. Naturally I was curious: What would they be saying? What had they taken away from my presentation? I quickly realised that what they had taken away was not at all what I had intended.

They were not talking about what I had said, the stories I had told, or the lessons I had come to their school to impart. To my astonishment, the major topic of conversation was my tie! I listened with amusement as they chattered about my Western clothes, my background, my business; every aspect of my appearance and behaviour was dissected and discussed.

Just as they began to speculate about what car I drove, my ride arrived and I stepped out into view. They were perhaps a bit embarrassed, but I just smiled, got into the car, and drove off with a wave.

Whatever they learned from me that day, I learned far more. I learned that the lessons we teach with our examples are far more powerful than those we teach with words. I realised that as a Rotary leader and a prominent person in the community, I had, for better or worse, become a role model for these young people. Their eyes were on me in a way that I had never before appreciated. If they chose to emulate me, they would model themselves on what they saw, not what I told them.

All of us in Rotary are leaders, in one way or another, in our communities. All of us bear the responsibility that comes with that. Our Rotary values, our Rotary ideals, cannot be left within the confines of our Rotary clubs. They must be carried with us every day. Wherever we are, whoever we are with, whether we are involved in Rotary work — we are always representing Rotary. We must conduct ourselves accordingly: in what we think, what we say, what we do, and how we do it. Our communities, and our children, deserve no less.

K R Ravindran President, Rotary International 8 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

T

hank you for wholeheartedly accepting RILM and making it the talk of the town! Union Minister Smriti Irani was so happy to hear that Rotary in India will send 100,000 children back to school! This is the need of the hour.

Sachin Tendulkar has said, “There are over 200 million illiterate women in India.

This low literacy negatively impacts not just their lives but also their families’ and the country’s economic development. A girl’s lack of education also has a negative impact on the health and well-being of her children.”

Are not most of the problems India facing only due to this?

Rotary India Literacy Mission is one holistic approach to fight this. Your predecessors have put their might into it and made the difference. Now it is your turn to change the lives of many more.

Rotarians of India have proved their might in eradicating polio. Now we have signed two flagship projects — Literacy and WinS. All districts are geared up — some are slow and some are really fast. I really wish we focus our attention and create an impact.

Famous American singer Grace Slick has made a great visionary statement, “Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two, there is you, unstoppable.”

Yes, my dear friends, you are the unstoppable till we reach the goal of total literacy in India. I am reminded of Swami Vivekanand who had said: “Awake, Arise and Stop not till the goal is reached.”

Friends, let us attend the Presidential Conference at Kolkata from March 11–13. This is one of the five Presidential conferences. RI President K R Ravindran, Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith and many other dignitaries are coming to witness India’s performance and innovation in Literacy and WinS, our flagship projects. Please do not miss the opportunity as Chair Shekhar Mehta and Chair for HOC Kamal Sanghvi have planned a fascinating conference.

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.

—Kofi Annan Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

—Frederick Douglass

Manoj Desai Director, Rotary International

Let’s make India Literate

From right: RI President K R Ravindran with Rajashree Birla, PRID Ashok Mahajan and PRIP Rajendra K Saboo.

Celebrating

Generosity Rasheeda Bhagat Through an elegantly organised Black Tie Dinner in Mumbai, Rotary India honours its largest benefactor, Rajashree Birla.

A A more dignified way to celebrate Valentine’s Day would have been difficult to find in aamchi Mumbai, where Rotarians had turned out in their elegant best to celebrate The Rotary Foundation’s honouring its biggest benefactor in India — Rajashree Birla, Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development.

Her solidarity and support to Rotary through the last couple of decades as it battled on to end the scourge of polio from India is well known, and as PRIP Rajendra K Saboo pointed out at the Black Tie Dinner, when the history of polio eradication in India is written, her name will figure prominently. He announced that after Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rajashree’s contribution to TRF for polio eradication was the second highest — a whopping $9.5 million. “I’ve just confirmed it with the incoming TRF Chair Kalyan Banerjee,” he added.

But even though mammoth, her contribution was much more than money and came with

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 11

Rajashree Birla being honoured by RI President K R Ravindran; also seen Vanathy Ravindran (left).

a human touch. Her organisation was involved in many projects; the Group spends Rs 1.6 billion a year in education, health care, water and sanitation and women’s empowerment. “But she got involved in polio eradication, Rotary’s highest priority project, as she felt Rotary is a platform she could work with. I have seen Rajashreeji going to the slums herself, putting the drops in the mouths of the children. She never stopped to think whether that place was hygienic or not; she would alight

from the car and walk with us, the volunteers.”

In Rotary, he added, AKS was the highest level of giving, but she had gone well beyond that goal. Describing her as “a citizen of the country,” Saboo said she was born in Bikaner, did her schooling in Madurai, got married and graduated in Kolkata, and lived now in Mumbai. Her initiative and caring had touched millions of lives in India, and had been an invaluable help in Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio.

The Gates could have skipped Rotary as a partner, and gone to work on their own in polio eradication. But they came to us.

– K R Ravindran

D

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee with PRIP Rajendra K Saboo.

12 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

escribing the event as “one of the most elegant I have seen in India in the last 15 years,” RI President K R Ravindran said in India, the culture of philanthropy was second to none.

“Gandhi had exhorted businessmen: ‘You should regard yourself as the trustees and servants of the poor. Your commerce must be regulated to benefit the toiling millions and you must be satisfied with earning an honest penny.’ ” In Gandhi’s freedom struggle were embedded several CSR initiatives.

Such as when he cautioned Indian businessmen: “Earn your crores by all means. But understand that your wealth

is not yours; it belongs to the people.

Take what you require for your legitimate needs, and use the remainder for society.”

One of his greatest supporters was G D Birla, “who put himself and his resources at Gandhi’s disposal — not only for the freedom movement but also for removal of untouchability, popularising khadi and village industries, promoting basic education and Hindu–Muslim unity. The exact amount donated by Birla for Gandhi’s causes is not known to the public, except I suppose to the family, but, according to his biographers, the amount ran into millions of rupees,” he added.

In this kind of generosity, the Birla family was generations before its time, and looked at CSR “as an obligation long before the idea even had a name.

And clearly their investment is one that continues to earn its returns, not only for the Group companies but for all of India.”

Ravindran added that Rajashree’s support for polio’s elimination “which we are recognising here today, goes far beyond generosity … it is visionary.

Her gifts have had a real and significant impact on making and keeping India polio-free.

They have changed the course of India’s history and moved the entire country forward, into a healthier and

RI President K R Ravindran and spouse Vanathy Ravindran with TRF Trustee Sushil Gupta (left).

more stable future. And for that, we thank her, and recognise her tonight.”

In this journey, I’ve seen ordinary

C

people doing extraordinary work to save

SR has today become so important for major corporates that at the British giant retailer Marks & Spencer lobby in London, the huge electronic ticker talks not about the country’s stock price.

It details “worthy targets” such as educating 15,000 Ugandan children, saving 55,000 tons of CO2 in a year, tripling sale of organic food, etc.

CSR, “once considered a luxury in the corporate world has today become a necessity,” and features prominently on the curricula of prominent B schools, added Ravindran. In the US, $1 out

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee with RI Director Manoj Desai and spouse Sharmishtha Desai.

children from polio.

– Rajashree Birla

of every $9 under professional management now involves an element of “socially responsible investment. And an increasing number of investors are choosing socially and environmentally responsible investments, even when the returns are not as high — choosing the welfare of their communities and the planet, over maximum enrichment to their own wealth.”

Giving an example of the Gates Foundation, the largest philanthropic body in the world with some $43 billion in current assets, the RI President said, “They have the clout to achieve just about anything, if they chose to pick just one thing.

But they’ve diversified, and formed partnerships, to get the most bang out of every one of those 43 billion bucks.

They’re looking at global humanitarian issues in the same way that Rotary is — looking to see where they have the greatest chance of making a significant impact.”

The Gates could have skipped Rotary as a partner, and gone to work MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 13

RI President K R Ravindran and spouse Vanathy Ravindran with Rajashree Birla.

on their own in polio eradication. “But they did not. Instead, they came to us.

And instead of saying to the WHO we’ll give you a few hundred million dollars, they came to us in Rotary and said, we are going to match whatever you give.” They did this because they found Rotarians are “passionate in what they do, have a readymade network with which they could reach the whole world, and most importantly, are trustworthy with low administrative costs, a well-managed Foundation to receive their funds, and the ability to disburse them correctly and cost effectively. So the ROI was at its highest.”

And surely for the same reason the Aditya Birla group had decided to work with RI in supporting the Indian government in its polio eradication drive, and had, till date, helped Rotary

administer polio drops to over 16 million children. “If we want our children to live in a better world, we need to do what we can, working alongside many others. Because it is the correct thing to do, the ethical thing to do, and the time to do it is now,” concluded Ravindran.

R

aising a toast to TRF, its incoming Chair Kalyan Banerjee said individuals, corporates and governments of various countries find TRF

a “trusted and totally dependable ally and partner, who is adept at handling some of the most complex issues of the world. When the TRF gives a call, people hear it and respond, as all of you have done tonight.”

Banerjee added that TRF had done over $3 billion worth of service over the world, and spearheaded the demolition of polio from almost every country and was “on the verge of getting Pakistan and Afghanistan polio-free perhaps this very year.”

TRF had not only been changing the world for good, it has been doing so now for almost 100 years. “Today

Whether it is the WHO, UNICEF, or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have all chosen to partner with TRF. – Kalyan Banerjee

14 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

RI President K R Ravindran with RI Director Manoj Desai and spouse Sharmishtha Desai.

I have seen Rajashreeji going to the slums herself, putting drops in the mouths of children; she never stopped to think whether that place was hygienic or not.

– Rajendra K Saboo

whether it is the WHO, UNICEF, or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,” they had all chosen to partner with TRF. “But Rajashree Birla’s support to polio eradication in India has been unmatched by anybody else.”

And now Rotary clubs in India were engaged in fighting illiteracy, and trying to make India totally literate in a few years. “And when that happens, it will be an event as big as polio. This is what our TRF does: literacy, safe water, rebuilding houses and schools after earthquakes and other natural disasters, providing hundreds of scholarships to students around the world to promote and perpetuate peace and friendship, development and progress across the world. That’s what we have been doing all this time and we are ready to do more.”

But all this wouldn’t have been possible but for support from “individuals who have believed in the causes we espouse, whether they’re Rotarians or non-Rotarians. They are rich not because they have but because they give ... to causes they believe in and because they want to change the world.

TRF gives ordinary men and women extraordinary opportunities to serve.”

I

n her response Rajashree said she was “overwhelmed by the affection showered” on her and had “no words to say how much I appreciate this. We at the Birla family cherish our association

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee (right) with D 3140 DG Subhash Kulkarni and spouse Swati.

with Mahatma Gandhi and many such great visionaries and have always said we should strive to set higher standards of service to humanity.”

She said her association with Rotary started when she was introduced to its polio programme by PP of RC Mumbai South Shambhu Kumar and PRID Ashok Mahajan. “We understood that this opportunity to help eradicate polio was another important vista opening up for our Foundation.”

Happy that she and her Foundation were “of some service to the community through Rotary,” Rajashree said, “It is important to see that the sacrifices made by so many people across the world are not in vain and the world is declared polio-free soon.”

Striking a poignant note, she said, “Some of the most memorable experiences came from understanding how you were able to overcome the resistance of the Muslim community in this immunisation drive when India was really struggling to stop the polio virus.

In this journey, I’ve seen ordinary people doing extraordinary work to save children from polio. It was very inspiring for me to see what people would give of themselves for the children and their country.”

Congratulating Rotary for the great work it was doing across the world,

Rajashree added, “Unless someone like you cares to bring some of the social causes to the forefront, nothing is going to get better.”

RID Manoj Desai said a black tie dinner in our part of the world is a rare event and it had been organised to honour a benefactor as generous as Rajashree Birla. “You are humility personified and your magnanimity makes India proud.”

By the sheer range and breadth of its work, whether it was polio eradication, disaster relief and management after the Gujarat quake, tsunami or Uttarkashi floods, Rotary had proved that it meets the community’s expectations. At present Rotary India’s two flagship projects were Literacy and Wins, and Ministers in the Government of India were happy to work with Rotary as a “preferred partner,” Desai added.

DG Subhash Kulkarni said District 3140 was forging ahead with many great projects, including TB Bhagao, Zindagi Bachao, through which it hoped to save thousands of lives.

Mumbai Rotarians are also engaged in the Swachh Rail Abhiyan, targetted at keeping our railway platforms clean.

Pictures by Rasheeda Bhagat Designed by S Krishnapratheesh MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 15

She considers CSR

“Enlightened Self Interest” Rasheeda Bhagat

Long before CSR became fashionable, a young woman from England, who made Bombay

UPL Vice Chairman Sandra Shroff at the Rotary Jaipur Institute.

and Vapi her home, did just

Picture by K Vishwanathan

that … and much more.

W

hen the Shroffs — Rajju and Sandra — established the first United Phosphorus facility in Vapi way back in the late 1960s, “there weren’t suitable workers, so we brought workers from Bombay. They were the Warlis or tribals; when I met and asked after their families, saying they must be much happier here than in Bombay, they said, no, our families haven’t come. I asked why not? And they said because there is no English medium school here.”

That set Sandra Shroff, Vice Chairman of UPL Ltd, thinking. Her own family hadn’t shifted from Bombay to Vapi because there wasn’t an English medium school at Vapi. “I decided there and then that there would be an English medium school in Vapi.

It was the Warlis, or the tribals, who actually set me in motion. In addition, we needed an English medium school to employ many bright engineers and other professionals who’d eventually have their families, so an English school was a must.”

B

ut Vapi required not only a decent school but also a hospital.

Sandra recalls that when they went to Vapi, “we were fortunate to have with us somebody all Rotarians hold very dear — (PRIP) Kalyan Banerjee. He is a socially responsible person as you all know, and it’s been a joy to work with him and to argue with him.”

One of these arguments pertained to Banerjee saying, “the hospital had to come up first and I saying no the school has to come first. The result was both a school (Gnyan Dham, where Banerjee’s children started their education) and a very small hospital were started within the UPL quarters. Later, in 1977, when we got land, we built a cottage hospital which has grown into a prestigious hospital and is now a big Rotary project, and we are both very proud of it. Banerjee has worked

I’ve got a very bad habit. I go around with my eyes open and I actually see things. I know a lot

I first ask her if anyone has mentioned her strong resemblance to Hollywood star Meryl Streep. “Yes,” she smiles, adding, “That feels good as she is absolutely wonderful … I’ll watch any film she is in.”

of people who go around with their eyes open but don’t see anything.

day and night for it. First thing in the morning he’d go to the hospital and last thing at night again … until he became more and more of a globe trotter, but when he is in Vapi he visits the hospital at least once a day, if not twice!”

L

ooking back, she is grateful that this hospital was established with the vision that it should be as good as any hospital in Mumbai, and it has treated her husband and prevented him from getting a terrible stroke, and stabilising him before his being shifted to Bombay for further treatment. “And the hospital treated Banerjee too, when he injured his head.” It saved him from very serious consequences, which could have resulted from this accident, she adds.

Apart from the two schools in Vapi, this educationist later got fully involved in setting up a high quality chemical engineering college in Ankleshwar, (Shroff S R Rotary Institute of Chemical Technology) under the leadership of PDG Ashok Panjwani (see Rotary News, September, 2015), as well as a School of Nursing alongside the Vapi hospital.

But before detailing the transformational social service she triggered in Vapi and other areas, let’s look at how an Englishwoman like Sandra ended up in India.

C

oming to how she met Rajju Shroff, Sandra says her family had a factory in London, where he too had a factory. “There everybody knew everyone else; my father had a workshop and Rajjubhai asked him to do some work.”

Sandra was an expert in taking her younger siblings to museums and other educational places. The teenager took Shroff sightseeing, and they fell in love. She was all of 16. He went back to India, two years later Sandra came to India, she was “19 and a half.”

With Shroff very certain that he would live in India and work in his own company (then Excel Industries), the only option was to live in India after marriage. “My father said you have to first go and see if you like the place, only then you should get married.”

So on the “ides of March”, the young woman came to Bombay and “survived the hottest season.” She lived in YWCA, where she made many friends and would commute every evening by suburban train to Goregaon where Rajju and his joint family lived.

The school couldn’t get a loan and banks were giving Rs 300 donations at that time. So I took a loan of Rs 30,000–40,000, enough to pay two months’ salary.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 17

“My mother-in-law used to feed me and I loved her food.”

Didn’t she object to having a foreigner as a daughter-in-law? “Oh, she did ask him what have you brought!

And he said: ‘If you don’t like her, I’ll send her back.’ She was taken aback and said: ‘No, no don’t do that … and she loves my cooking too’!” Sandra got married when she was 20.

Actually, there wasn’t much work for Kalyan Banerjee in the initial years; he is a workaholic and can’t stop working.

W

As chemical

hen Rajju Shroff left Excel to start his own venture, they zeroed in upon Vapi. Sandra recalls that Vapi then was little more than a vast expanse of grassland. After setting up Gnyan Dham, a fine English medium school, she next took over the management of Eklavya, a government school. “When we visited the school, there were children all over the place, washing their clothes next to the river and their toilets were in a terrible condition. We sent our contractor to redo the hostel toilets, trained the children to use them properly and keep them clean. Six months later, some dignitaries visited Eklavya and asked, ‘What is the best thing that has happened since the new management came, and the girls replied: The bathrooms!’ ”

industries grew in Bharuch district, their was need for setting up a quality institute of chemical technology.

Next came the need for a good chemical technology and engineering institute, as chemical industries were growing in Bharuch district.

When she thought of setting up such a quality institute in Ankleshwar, there were many doubting Thomases and nay-sayers. The Chancellor of the Gujarat Technical University said, “you’ll build a great building but you’ll

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee and Sandra Shroff examine a project in Vapi.

Also seen is Binota Banerjee.

SRICT Technical Committee during the construction period; Sandra Shroff with PDG Ashok Panjwani (on her right).

never get good teachers. But we got teachers … a dedicated Principal, Prof Wagh, who worked extremely hard to realise our dream, and Professors came because we paid more and they got a good working environment and the freedom to implement new ideas.

I believe if you really want to do something, you can do it anywhere.”

Students who didn’t get admission anywhere “came to us. We have a there are no bad students, only bad teachers policy.” And then there was Panjwani, without whom this project would never have been started, who produced a piece of paper and asked the students to write down what they proposed to achieve by the end of the year. “After 6 months that piece

of paper came out to review their progress. This happened every six months urging the students to work harder. Four years later we got a 94 per cent pass rate, with 23 students doing extremely well.”

S

upported by Shroff, and helped

by Banerjee and Rotarians — she is an Honorary member of RC Vapi — Sandra worked hard on ushering in the much-required development in

Vapi. So what motivated her? “For doing such work you need patience; actually I don’t have much patience, but somehow patience comes when I do this work!”

As for support, “of course my husband; he has encouraged me in everything I’ve done. I don’t know if he would have actually done it himself, but he is very happy and proud of all this. He thinks I am extravagant, and I apply my own standards to all projects!”

And then there was this “wonderful team of people in this journey; we

With Rajju Shroff.

I talk to the girls and tell them there is nothing that you can’t do, nothing that only the men can do. If you work for it the sky is the limit.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 19

K Vishwanathan

Bombay 50 years ago

W

hen I first came to Bombay, it was much cleaner; they used to wash the roads in the night around the Fort area … can you believe it?

They had machines to do it. The tallest building was the Rajabai Tower, of the Bombay University, and it stood out.

Bombay was beautiful.

Indian cities While India has developed and things are getting much better on many fronts, the big cities, such as Bombay and Delhi, are a real mess, and cities need to be taken care of because they are important. The smaller Indian towns too badly need improvement to take care of local needs. They should be developed without slums. Rented accommodation should be planned and available for those coming to the cities/towns.

Rentable accommodation In Bombay, what we need is rentable accommodation. You can’t rent anything. I am going to plague (Union Minister) Piyush Goyal (who spoke at the Jaipur Institute where she was interviewed). We have the Bombay Port Trust land which is now free as most of the activities have shifted (to the Jawaharlal Nehru or Nava Sheva Port). It belongs to the Government and provides an excellent opportunity to build rentable accommodation.

Another crusade!

Religion and visiting church My mother was a Catholic who didn’t go to church. My father was a Protestant. We went to Sunday School. I am not religious in a ritualistic way, but I am a very religious person. I think religion is also ethics, the way in which you believe and look at the universe.

I respect all religions and that is what my mother-in-law expected from me.

She tied my kanthi ... tulsi mala. If she hadn’t done that, there would have been a big problem. So do I go to church? No. I never went to church in England either. Now I like to go to church during Christmas. I celebrate Holi, Diwali, Navratri and all Indian festivals.

Food I loved my mother-in-law’s food.

I love Indian food and its spices. I eat roti, daal, bhaat, shaak every day.

I also love Idli, sambar, osaman, farsan, handwa, batata wada, samosas, khandvi (Reels off the delicacies in one breath!). Problem is I eat too much of it. My mother-in-law taught me to cook, and I can cook most things, though I’m out of practice now. The problem is you can’t eat all that you cook. But I used to make Mysore pak, Kopra paak, laddoos and such things.

Gender equity in India It’s a problem but a problem that women have to solve. It is a problem even abroad, and it comes out in so many different ways. If you don’t look

When I first came to Bombay, it was much cleaner; they used to wash the roads in the night with machines … can you believe it?

after your children because of work pressure, they go haywire and if you give up your job, you lose out. But it is changing. Men do become adept in taking responsibility in house chores.

Educational background (Laughs) Do you really want to know?

I’ve done my O-levels, which is equivalent to your Class 10. I didn’t do HSC. At that time, I did a secretarial course-cum-job for two years in England, which was very useful.

This, before coming to India. I knew deep down that I would go to India.

The type of school I went to is what I’m trying to get here. Even in England today, they don’t teach the kind of things we learned.

Dream for future I’ve got a very bad habit. I go around with my eyes wide open and I actually see things. I know a lot of people who go around with their eyes open but don’t see anything. I go around my factories and see things that nobody else sees … water coming out of toilets, safety equipment being compromised. As for my dream, we’ll carry on doing what we’re doing.

I am working with the supervision of repairs to the buildings of a couple of municipal school projects in Bombay, a job well worth doing, and a project Rotary can take up, especially as we are taking literacy as a project.

Rotary’s role Rotary is doing a lot but we also have to ensure Government money is used properly. We’re all paying taxes. Yes, the corporates will contribute money but our money, given as taxes, has to be spent properly. Government has money, but buildings built by it are not repaired and maintained in time. And the correct cement-sand-water ratios are not maintained; washing of sand to remove silt, mud and salt is not done; proper curing doesn’t take place.

At a Board meet of United Phosphorus Ltd. with Chairman Rajju Shroff (on her right) and PRIP Kalyan Banerjee (right).

could go so far thanks to Banerjee and Panjwani, who have borne the brunt of these projects, along with many others.”

The Warlis didn’t bring their families to Vapi

L

ooking back, for a foreigner who’s hardly expected to understand the intricacies and complexities of India’s social structure, the transformation her hard work and focus, doggedness and vision, have brought about in Vapi is impressive. So how difficult were things in the beginning?

“Oh, it was all very overwhelming but there was a need to do things … and I lived in a big compound and we had many families living there and the children were my son’s vaanar sena.” She’d go from house to house, propagating family planning; “I was told by one woman that I am not sending my children to your house to

because there was no English medium school here.

eat, so why do you worry? However, after 6 children, they just couldn’t have any more and slowly it did work.”

But it was not as though she was just a spouse who did social work looking after family and nothing more.

In those days of Licence Raj, her husband often had to camp in Delhi for necessary permissions and clearances.

She was the first full-time Director in UPL. “From 1972 onwards, I worked

full time for UPL, sometimes with 18-hour days,” she says.

But she wears her achievement of balancing the two rather lightly. “From the very beginning, even in our earlier company Excel Industries, the family was always involved in welfare of the workers. My husband’s grandmother always made medicines and gave it to the workers … and God help anyone who didn’t send their workers for her medicines! Our first small hospital at the quarters was called Maa’s dispensary.

We come from a family which always took part in the welfare of the community, and this continued in Vapi.”

F

or paying salaries, initially she had to take a personal bank loan. “The school couldn’t get a loan and banks were giving Rs 300 donations! So I took a loan of MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 21

K Vishwanathan

Rs 30,000–40,000, enough to pay two months’ salary.”

When I quip that she must have had some guts to do all this, she says, “It was more a feeling that I was doing the right thing, or ignorance, I suppose!” When politicians came to Vapi, the canteen at UPL was a big draw, as they could make food for 200 people quite easily. “So all politicians would come to our place, and at meetings I’d get up and say you will have to support the school, the hospital and give us land. I asked for 100 acres of land for educational institutions, saying we’ve paid for infrastructure in the cost of land, so at least give us the land, and they did, though not 100 acres! Just enough for School and Hospitals, for which we had to pay Rs 80,000 — a lot of money then.”

From 1960, Rajju Shroff is a member of RC Bombay West “which at that time was the best club in India I think, much better than RC Bombay Main. We had a great bonhomie and spirit of working together and doing things, which RC Vapi had under the leadership of Kalyan. Also, I don’t think the pioneering spirit is there any more … that type of pioneering spirit doesn’t and cannot last for ever.

Things get sort of normal. But we are still developing extremely good institutions.”

W

hen I visited SRICT, the girls had told me that they look forward to Sandra’s visits as she “inspires” them

At meetings with politicians I would get up and say you have to support us; give us 100 acres of land for the school and hospital.

with her pep talk. So is she a feminist, I ask her.

“Maybe,” she shrugs, adding, “Yes, I talk to the girls and tell them there is nothing that you can’t do, nothing that only the men can do. If you work for it the sky is the limit. That kind of talk….”

On what role Banerjee played in the social development in and around Vapi, Sandra says, “A tremendous role. From 1970 through to 1990, he was in Vapi looking after our factory.

In the beginning there wasn’t enough work for him, because he was and is a workaholic. He just can’t stop working. My husband and Kalyan used to play Battleships … because once you’d seen this shed and that shed, there was nothing else to do!”

Surely long before CSR became a buzzword for corporates, she had practised it in the right spirit. So how would she define real CSR, the one that is not merely used to dress up corporate balance sheets, I ask her. Her response floors me. “Enlightened self interest.”

Designed by S Krishnapratheesh

CONVENTION MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDATION CHAIR

MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDATION CHAIR

Seoul food

Arch Klumph had an idea — how good was it?

W

T

here is much more to Korean food than kimchee. If you are heading to Korea for the Rotary International Convention from 28 May to 1 June, it’s not too early to start planning your dining itinerary.

If you want to try samgyetang, a fragrant stew of young chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng, garlic, chestnuts, and dates, Tosokchon is the place to eat it. The restaurant’s location close to Gyeongbok Palace makes it a convenient lunch stop for tourists.

If you prefer your chicken fried, try the Korean version. You can partake in the tradition of chimaek — chicken and beer — anywhere in the city, but Banpo, near the Gubanpo subway station, has been serving it since the 1970s.

Many luxury department stores have expansive food markets in the basement.

Gourmet 494, in the Galleria in upscale Apgujeong, serves staples such as kimbap (rice, vegetables and meat rolled with rice in seaweed), bibimbap (a one-pot wonder of sautéed vegetables, meat, and rice topped with egg and hot sauce), noodles, dumplings and desserts.

Several of the tours offered by the Host Organisation Committee involve a chance to cook or sample Korean food. Find more information at www. riconvention2016.org/2015new/en.

– Susie Ma Register for the convention at www.riconvention.org.

Early registration savings end 31 March.

hen Arch Klumph was president of Rotary in 1916–17, he suggested in a speech at the 1917 Atlanta convention that Rotary should start an endowment fund for the purpose of doing good in the world.

It was only a brief reference, but the idea caught on with Rotarians. The Rotary Club of Kansas City, Mo., made the first donation of $26.50 to the new fund, which was officially named The Rotary Foundation in 1928.

The Rotary Foundation had some activity in the 1930s and 1940s, but it was the memorial gifts to honour Paul Harris after his death in January 1947 that provided the funds to undertake the first major programme. That was the award of 18 international scholarships for successful college graduates to spend a year studying abroad as Rotary Fellows. The fellowship programme grew to 125 students a year in 1960-61, when I was a Rotary Fellow in Cape Town, South Africa, and it later became the largest privately funded scholarship programme with 1,200 students a year.

Rotarians’ constant search for the best possible charitable programme led to the introduction of the Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programme in 1965–66. From there, the Foundation assumed responsibility for the PolioPlus programme in the early 1980s, established the Rotary Peace Centres in 2002, and restructured Rotary’s Humanitarian Grants Programme as a part of the Future Vision plan in 2013.

What has been the result of these efforts? Rotarians have been justifiably proud and supportive of the Foundation for many years, evidenced by their generous contributions of $123 million to the Annual Fund in 2014–15. In addition, the CNBC television network recently confirmed the success of The Rotary Foundation by naming it one of the “top 10 charities changing the world in 2015.” In fact, our Foundation was ranked as the fifth-best charity working to make the world a better place!

What a powerful tribute to Arch Klumph’s visionary idea in 1917! We have so much to be proud of in Rotary, including The Rotary Foundation, and so much to celebrate at the Atlanta convention next year. Please plan now to attend the centenary celebration at the convention and show your support for one of the very best charitable foundations in the world!

Ray Klinginsmith Foundation Trustee Chair MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 23

Giving transgenders right opportunities Jaishree

A

s I entered the auditorium of the Madras School of Social Work at Chennai, my attention was drawn to T Rajakumari (38), decked up in finery and set to give a Bharathanatyam performance. She started learning dance from age 11 and runs a classical dance school, Amrita Arts Academy. There were also present Shwetha Sudhakar, founder of the NGO Born2win; Prithika Yashini (25) ready to assume charge as a sub-inspector of police; Noori, who runs an asylum for HIV/AIDS afflicted and orphan children in Chennai; Kavi and Andrea pursuing a course in fashion designing with plans to open a boutique; and

Selvi Santhosham, a physiotherapist at the government general hospital.

Wonder what sets these ‘women’ apart? All of them are transgenders (TGs) who are proud to call themselves ‘achievers’ first, having risen above their mammoth challenges.

What is more, Prithika Yashini and Selvi Santhosham are the nation’s first TGs to hold government posts.

Five Rotary Clubs of D 3230 — RCs Chennai East RA Puram, Chennai Gemini, Chennai Golden Star, Chennai Kodambakkam, Madras Downtown and Madras Mount — jointly organised the felicitation of Sundaravalli, a Tamil scholar and activist, who

crusades for TG rights and works for their uplift. A talk show with TGs also formed part of the event.

“Don’t ask us mundane questions like how we felt when we knew that we are transgenders or the harassment we faced. We don’t want your sympathy.

Instead, ask us what our skills and qualification are and give us an opportunity to earn a decent living,” said Noori, who has been HIV positive since the age of 11. She runs a home for abandoned children providing them food, shelter, education and medical care.

Ask her about her qualification and she confidently says, “I have studied up to Class III but have travelled to

IPDG ISAK Nazar presents the Woman Achiever Award to Sundaravalli, an activist crusading for TG rights.

24 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Given the right opportunity, where is the need for them to resort to begging or sex-work?

– ISAK Nazar

24 countries addressing people there with PPTs to raise funds for my institution.” She has fought for TG rights braving harassments and spent months in jail during the 1990s. Rotary and Lions clubs and other well-wishers extend financial help to meet the expenses of the Home. Recently, a Lions club member donated Rs 35 lakh for purchase of land where Noori plans to construct a better shelter for the children.

Shwetha (born Sudhakar) unveiled their third annual calendar which has transgenders as models. Priced Rs 350, the money these calendars bring funds activities of her NGO, which also works for HIV/AIDS and cancer patients.

Shwetha Sudhakar launching the calendar with Kavi and Andrea.

Presenting the Woman Achiever Award to Sundaravalli, IPDG ISAK Nazar lauded the initiative to bring TGs and their achievements to the limelight. “Rotary clubs across the country must emulate such initiatives and bring these people into the mainstream. Given the right opportunity, where is the need for them to resort to begging or sex-work?” he asked.

Most TGs are shunned by their parents and family forcing them to run away from home. But if society starts accepting them as fellow human beings their parents will not be ashamed to acknowledge them as their children, for, ultimately it is the fear of societal response that shapes their parents’ action, reasoned Sundaravalli.

Echoing Nazar’s thoughts she stressed the need to train them with income generating skills and lauded the unique project of the Rotary clubs of D 3230 to involve TGs in training the public about traffic rules. “Moving away from their characteristic clapping hands and begging, they drew road users’ attention at traffic junctions by clapping hands and advocating the use of helmets, observing traffic signals, etc.” She is now fighting for TG rights to property and wealth and better recognition by the government.

Programme convener and Director, Women’s Empowerment for D 3230 Rtn Mythili Muraleedharan said, “Instead of shooing them away, accept a TG as one of us. They are God’s creation.” She added that Rotary clubs are associated with programmes such as ramp walk organised by RC Chennai Aadarsh, a course in beauty care at Naturals salon by RC Madras Temple city, etc. to promote their social acceptability.

If society starts accepting TGs as fellow human beings their parents will not be ashamed to acknowledge them as their children.

Few Rotary clubs such as RC Tirupur Kumaran (D 3202) and RC Tiruvallur (D 3230) has set a trend by inducting transgenders as Rotarians.

Rtn Suresh of RC Royapettah announced that he is ready to recruit qualified TGs for administrative work in his educational institution, and Noori and Shwetha said they will forward the CVs of a few candidates for the job.

Pictures by Jaishree MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 25

Exceeding TRF goals during trying times Rasheeda Bhagat District 3292 (Nepal and Bhutan) have reached a new high of $1 million, in a year the country was rocked by a devastating earthquake.

I

f ever the Rotarians of a tiny country such as Nepal, devastated by the earthquake of April 2015, needed a shot in the arm to realise their objective of building over 1,000 high quality low-cost shelters, along with water and sanitation facilities, and primary

schools complete with toilets, at a cost of some $8 to 9 million, it came from none other than the visiting RI President K R Ravindran.

Addressing the Rotarians of RI District 3292 (Nepal and Bhutan) at a Rotary Foundation dinner hosted in his

honour, Ravindran assured DG Keshav Kunwar and his team: “Don’t worry, the money will come. Yes, a $9 million project is big but not impossible because we have done it in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. We raised $12 million in 10 months, and you can do it too.”

RI President K R Ravindran and spouse Vanathy Ravindran chat with Nepal’s Rotarians. Also seen in the picture are (from left) DG Keshav Kunwar, Durga Kunwar, Sharmishtha Desai and RID Manoj Desai.

26 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

But, he warned the Rotarians that to achieve this objective they will have to strictly follow a plan, smartly market their project across the world, keep their accounts meticulously and be totally transparent. “Because both your and Rotary’s reputation is at stake.”

Giving invaluable tips on how to implement such a mammoth project, Ravindran said the challenge before Nepal was immense … rebuilding 600,000 destroyed houses and tens of thousands of schools was a national challenge. Of course the Rotarians could only do a small part of this reconstruction and rehabilitation work. Just as Rotary can’t set right all the wrongs in the world. “I get calls asking what is Rotary doing about the refugee

problem in Europe. How can Rotary solve the refugee problem in Europe when Governments of countries such as the US or Germany can’t do it by themselves? So sometimes the demands on us are huge. And yet we take the position that even though we can’t rectify everything, what we can do, we will do.”

C

omplimenting D 3292 for taking up the challenge of such an ambitious project, Ravindran said the first crucial thing was to find partners who were as dedicated as them and with the same interests and passion. “Partners leverage us; you’ve done the right thing to team up with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.”

While doing a project worth $8-9 million, a crucial thing to remember was “to work as a team not worrying about who gets the limelight. This is not the time for politics or ego trips, but for all of you to put your shoulders to the wheel, think of your country first and start the work.

You may be small but you are mighty. I want you to remember you

have 1.2 million Rotarians across the world supporting you,” he said.

But an important aspect was to market their project across the world.

“People are looking for good CSR projects, but you have to market it well.

You can’t sit back and expect people to think all the time only about the Nepal disaster, because calamities happen all over the world and people move on and Nepal is forgotten.”

The RI President assured Nepal’s Rotarians that it was his and RI Director Manoj Desai’s job “to take your message to the rest of the Rotary world and tell them these are people worth helping, as they’re projecting Rotary’s image positively through their work. I’ll support you, I’ll talk about you at the Seoul Convention, and spread your message to the world. But I want to see action on the ground, the structures coming up,

The demands on us are huge, but we say that even though we can’t rectify everything, what we can do, we’ll do.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 27

Unless you report the details of the great work you are doing on Rotary Club Central, how will the rest of the world know about it?

– RID Manoj Desai

the accounts and perfect transparency.

If you do that, funds will just pour in.

People are looking for good CSR projects, but they want to help people they can trust their money with and you need to prove that by what you do, not what you speak.”

W

hat was even more important was the support of TRF. When you have the endorsement of TRF, apart from the funds concerned, it means that it has confirmed the acceptance of the project and the stewardship angle has been correctly handled. It means they are saying that these are good people and doing great work. Otherwise you won’t get money from the Foundation because they are so strict now. So if you

28 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

get money from TRF, it says to the rest of the world this is a good project worthy of support.

But, he cautioned, even if TRF puts “all its resources behind you, it still cannot satisfy all of Nepal’s immediate needs; the Foundation is a relatively small entity.” But the value of the work it did was far beyond the money it spent, “because the money that we spend through our Foundation is leveraged around the world, as it is here in Nepal, by the great muscle of Rotary … by the individual Rotarians, by our clubs, and more importantly, the power of our personal connections.

Because we are a global network, that is organised locally, we can do the kind of work that you are doing here in Nepal.”

Ravindran added that Rotary had the ability to deliver humanitarian aid on a unique model — a model that bypassed

much of the administrative expense and inefficiency of international NGOs. “We command the respect of governments, of international organisations and agencies. We have local actors already in place in 34,000 communities, in all but a handful of nations. Rotary has no need to hire locals to negotiate the language, the customs, or the government; we don’t enter a situation as foreigners to overcharge or take any advantage. And that is an advantage that we use very effectively, to deliver service that cannot be matched by any other organisation.”

He added that he had a very special relationship with Nepal; “we are connected by two wheels, or chakras. One is of course the Rotary wheel and the other is the dharma chakra, because it was from your country that the message of Buddha came to my country.”

B

oth the RI President and RI Director Desai were all praise for D 3292 for raising an “astonishing” $800,000 for TRF despite the debilitating earthquake and the crippling economic blockage. And they were

RI Director Manoj Desai and Sharmishtha Desai along with women Rotarians of District 3292.

launching a Major Donors Club, with 27 members that day.

Addressing the meet RI Director Desai complimented the Rotarians for their record collection which was “phenomenal, considering their previous best was only $30,000. And knowing your potential, I am revising your goal to $1 million! And I will come back again to Nepal to help you achieve that goal.”

But Desai didn’t have to wait too long for the goal to be realised. Before a toast could be raised for the TRF dinner, an Arch Klumph Society member had been found, exceeding the $1 million mark. The RI Director lauded DG Kunwar for the Major Donors club with 27 members, and complimented senior leaders in Nepal such as DRFC/PDG Basu Dev Golyan, and PDG Tirtha Man Sakya and others for working closely with DG Kunwar.

H

e also praised the district for being “peaceful and vibrant,” and provided valuable insights on how to proceed with the post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation work. Desai recalled that after the 2001 earthquake, he, along with senior Rotary leaders such as PRIP Rajendra K Saboo and PRIP Kalyan Banerjee had met the

A $9 million project is big but not impossible; we have done it in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. We raised $12 million in 10 months.

– RI President K R Ravindran

then acting Gujarat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, to tell the government that Rotary would work with it on relief and rehabilitation. “He asked us: ‘After the cyclone, you had committed six villages. How many did you actually build?’ Before we could say anything the Secretary said: ‘Only two sir.’ That was a slap on our faces.

The CM next said: ‘This time do you really mean business or not?’ And that was another slap which I haven’t forgotten.”

So, added Desai, the Rotarians tightened their belt to do something really special. “The Gujarat media had predicted that by this earthquake, Gujarat would be thrown back by 10 years, but Gujarat started running again in five years. Rotary rebuilt 11 villages and 142 schools. I am telling you all this because much is expected from you.”

He lauded them for not only collecting $800,000 during “such a period

of crisis” but also adding over 400 new members, five new clubs and chartering a Major Donors club.

But, pointed out Desai, despite doing such “phenomenal work, which includes 15 Global Grants and over 30 in the pipeline,” the district was lax in updating its details on Rotary Club Central; its updates were only 30 per cent till date. “Unless you report the details of the great work you are doing in Nepal, how will the rest of the world know about it? So I urge you to do that straightaway.”

DG Kunwar thanked President Ravindran for his concern and solidarity when the earthquake hit Nepal last year. “Under your leadership a new era has begun in Rotary; discipline and action have become the two buzzwords.

You are a result oriented, tough taskmaster, and your message right from the Chennai Institute — Perform or Perish — has reached all Rotarians.”

In response, Ravindran quipped, “You say I rule with an iron hand; you should look at RID Manoj, he rules with iron hands and feet also. He was exactly the type of partner I was looking for!”

He added that when senior leaders work “with your money, we have the responsibility to deliver. You have entrusted us with your faith and your hopes.”

Pictures by Rasheeda Bhagat Designed by S Krishnapratheesh MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 29

25 years and going strong Jaishree A massive public image exercise, Rotaractors’ Meet and an inspirational address by RI President K R Ravindran marked the silver jubilee celebrations of District 3000.

W

ith the words “you are all part of my family,” RI President K R Ravindran, struck a personal note while addressing the PDGs and Rotarians of D 3000 at its silver jubilee celebrations at Madurai recently. His own club, RC Colombo, and other Rotary clubs of Sri Lanka, formed part of the erstwhile District 322, prior to bifurcation in 1991. “I decided to come here for two reasons: one, this was my District and two, DG Theenachandran has done a wonderful job,” he said.

PDG N Raghavan took the audience down memory lane narrating how he and Ravindran became the first

Jaishree

governors of the newly formed D 3000 and D 3220, in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, respectively. Ravindran added that when the District split, some Rotarians in Sri Lanka wanted a re-election as they didn’t want a governor elected by the Indians and they wanted the first governor to be a Sri Lankan Buddhist. “But most of the Rotarians took a stand that such things were for the politicians and not for Rotary and that’s how I got to serve as the first governor of D 3220.”

The D-day The silver jubilee celebrations kickstarted with a massive public image event at which 14,000 Rotaractors performed a human formation of Rotary’s literacy logo — ‘L,’ in the presence of RI President Ravindran, Vanathy Ravindran, DG Theenachandran and Madurai Mayor Rajan Chellapa.

The event was coordinated by DRR A Sherma Vishnu, District Rotaract Committee Chair T Saravanaraj and District Rotaract Secretary R Lokesh Kumar. “We wanted to highlight the importance of education and Rotary’s role towards achieving Total Literacy,” said DG Theenachandran.

This was followed by a multidistrict meet for the past, present and future District Rotaract Representatives (DRR) of South Asia. “We are on a hattrick — this is the third consecutive year an RI President is meeting Rotaractors exclusively,” pointed out DRR Tapas Kumar Das of D 3262. Ravindran had the floor open for queries and

I decided to come here for two reasons: one, this was my District and two, DG Theenachandran has done a wonderful job.

– RI President K R Ravindran

Rotaractor Ravindrans all set to welcome RI President K R Ravindran.

invited suggestions from them.

Discussions included re-introducing the GSE programme, non-receipt of enough communications from the RI for Rotaract clubs and revival of the certificate from RI signed by the President, authenticating the post of a Rotaractor as DRR. The last one has been terminated since 2010. Ravindran asked the DRRs to send him an email and promised to respond immediately.

Rtn Karthik, formerly a Rotaractor, lamented that only 5 per cent of Rotaractors take to Rotary in their later life and wanted the President’s suggestion to attract Rotaractors back as Rotarians. “Like everything in the world, youngsters also want to know what is in it for me; why should I join Rotary; it’s costing me money.

So you’ve to market Rotary. You can’t simply say it is a service organisation. That by itself will not attract Rotaractors. Something like Rotary Global Rewards certainly will,” he said and announced the extension of the scheme to Rotaractors too. Join a Rotary club in groups, that way you will not feel alone, and form satellite clubs, he added. He urged them to set goals; without them “you’ll be like a ship without a sail, drifting aimlessly.”

Family, business, Rotary — he categorised his order of priority.

Down memory lane

F

ormed with 1,299 Rotarians in 38 Rotary clubs, D 3000 today has 4,921 Rotarians in 113 clubs. Notable projects in these 25 years include Global Grants for the Rotary Arvind Eye Hospital in Madurai, partnering with D 7720, Carolina, USA, donation of submersible pumps to schools and colleges jointly with D 1240, UK, education projects under the Children Opportunities Grant, mobile mammography clinic for breast cancer detection and treatment in rural areas, micro-financing for street vendors and annual distribution of essential kits to school children under Canada’s Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) project.

Perfect bonding The atmosphere in the evening at the Lakshmi Sundaram Hall exuded warmth and fellowship where Rotarians gathered for the commemorative meet.

PDGs N Raghavan, P V Parthasarathy, Y Kumanan, C Basker and few others MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 31

Jaishree

DG R Theenachandran (second from left), RI President Ravindran and Vanathy Ravindran with Rotaractors. Also seen in the picture DGN P Gopalakrishnan.

We wanted to highlight the importance of education and Rotary’s role towards achieving Total Literacy.

– DG R Theenachandran

recounted the District’s glorious past and highlighted some of its finest moments in 25 years.

Thanking Theenachandran and his team for their warm welcome, Ravindran said, “You treated us like a prince and princess. Not always do we get such a warm reception. We don’t set barriers; we just go where Rotary calls us.” One such visit helped raise several million dollars for TRF, thanks to a Rotarian named Steve Brown who had got the President’s dates two years ahead for a dinner to be held at San 32 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Diego in December 2015. When the date came close, Ravindran had second thoughts. “It didn’t make sense to go all the way to San Diego for a dinner, I thought.” But Brown had sold several tickets with a promise that the President will chair the dinner and they were raising money for TRF. So Ravindran participated in the event. He asked Brown how much money had been raised. “These guys called it a ‘Million Dollar Dinner,’ even if they have got half that money, it’s worth it, I thought.” But when the figure was flashed on the screen just before he went up to the podium, he was stunned. It was $15,420,000!

And after his speech, another Rotarian announced that he will match the figure with another $15 million, bringing the total to $30 million in one night.

Two days later Ravindran happened to read a New York Times article which said that the Wall Street bankers had a fund raiser dinner for the Jewish

community and they raised a ‘record’ $26 m. “I thought to myself where is this compared to Rotary. That is the power of Rotary and the prestige the organisation commands,” he said.

DG Theenachandran summarised the Silver Jubilee projects which included a $274,000 worth Global Grants from D 2730 (Japan), D 3600 (Korea), D 5340 (USA) and D 1140 (UK) for establishing six centres across the District to address mental health issues; contributing $5 lakh to TRF; installing 10 new clubs in unrepresented areas of the District and boosting Rotary’s public image through a grand Rotary Day, a goodwill mission to China and empowering women with vocational skills. The District has also chartered 27 new Rotaract clubs, adding 100 Rotaractors and 15 more clubs are in the pipeline. Of the 4,000 volunteers for the RILM initiative, 2,700 are from D 3000.

Designed by S Krishnapratheesh

Join the Traditional South Asian Reception At RI Convention Seoul, South Korea Dear Members of the Rotary Family We invite you to participate in the traditional South Asia Reception on Saturday, May 28, at CONRAD SEOUL. It is a great opportunity to meet our world leaders RI President KR Ravindran, President Elect John Germ, Board of Directors, Trustees of The Rotary Foundation and our own leaders PRIP Raja Saboo, PRIP Kalyan Banerjee and others.

We are having some excellent and delicious Indian food for dinner. You can meet our fellow Rotarians from South Asia and network with them. It is a great occasion to invite your International Partners. Looking forward to meet all of you.

Regards Dr. Manoj Desai Dr. Sharmishtha Desai

VENUE CONRAD SEOUL 10 Gukjegeumyung-ro (Yeouido), Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 07326, Korea Tel : +82 (0)2 6137 7522 Fax : +82 (0)2 6137 7545 Mobile : +82 (0)10 8912 6567

Registration Fees : INR 5,500 per person PAYMENT DETAILS : RAVI VADLAMANI, AXIS BANK, NAAZ CENTRE, GUNTUR, SB A/c. No. 070010100153096. IFSC Code : UTIB0000070 PDG Dr. Ravi Vadlamani Chairman South Asia Reception dg3150@gmail.com

PDG A S Venkatesh, Co-Chairman, South Asia Reception venkatesh@grouppopular.com

PDG T V R Murti Secretary South Asia Reception, murtitvr@hotmail.com

Rotarian spouses at

San Diego Zoo Jaishree While the Rotary leaders were engaged in Rotary business at the Board meeting in San Diego, their spouses were performing service of a different kind.

L

ittle Ayesha wouldn’t let go of her new comforter. It was a sight to watch her swing from branch to branch with the pillow tucked firmly in her hand.

She flashed such a rocking smile when we gifted her the comforter and we were floored!” says Sharmishtha Desai, spouse of RI Director Manoj Desai. She was referring to her visit to the San Diego Zoo and Ayesha is a little orangutan there.

Vanathy Ravindran, Judy Germ, PDG Juliet Riseley, Sharmishtha and a few other spouses visited the San Diego Zoo. The trip was part of the

34 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

International Assembly programme where a special tour is arranged every year for Rotarian spouses to volunteer for a unique cause.

This year they were taken to the Salk Institute of Biological Studies at La Jolla for an architectural tour and the San Diego Zoo, said Sharmishtha.

The Salk Institute was founded by Dr Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine. Designed by the American architect Louis I Kahn (who has also designed IIM, Ahmedabad) the building is acclaimed as one of the world’s boldest structures and a modern architectural treasure.

At the San Diego Zoo, the group volunteered in making comforters and toys for the animals. “We loved every moment there,” says Sharmishtha.

They had to clean gunny bags, remove any labels or tags that would otherwise hurt the animals, fill them with hay and stitch them up on the sides, and lo, the comforters were ready! The animals in the zoo use them as playthings or pillows.

Next, they participated in making ‘enrichments’ for the animals out of dried gourds. Enrichments are things that stimulate the physical and mental health of the animals and encourage

them to exhibit their natural behaviour. The team collected the gourds, cleaned them thoroughly, drilled holes to remove the fibrous pulp from inside and filled them with peanuts or seeds.

These were given to the animals.

Enrichments are as important as providing food and water to these animals, she says. Some play with the gourds, some try to remove the filling inside and finally even smash them to bits.

The tigers and leopards also get into the act, simulating the act of hunting.

The century-old San Diego Zoo is part of the San Diego Zoo Global, a conservation organisation dedicated to saving endangered species worldwide.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Desai too was involved in this voluntary work of a special kind. Such trips sensitise people to value wildlife and take steps

L to R: Vanathy Ravindran, Charlene Hall, Pamela Podd, Annett Høyen and Sharmishtha Desai.

Such trips sensitise people to value wildlife and take steps to preserve the endangered ones from becoming extinct.

- RID Manoj Desai

Judy Germ, Margarita Hewko, Vanathy Ravindran and Sharmishtha Desai making comforters for the zoo animals.

to preserve endangered species from becoming extinct, he says adding, “the day was just great, but of course, the animals stole the show.”

Together the team has cleaned over 100 gourds and made as many comforters and for all this good work, they were rewarded with a complimentary pass for a half-day tour of the Zoo. Recalling last year’s programme, Sharmishtha said that the Rotary team packed meals specially formulated for malnourished children at the NGO ‘Feed my starving children.’

The organisation ships these packets to feed the hungry children in needy countries across the world.

Pictures by RID Manoj Desai Designed by N Krishnamurthy MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 35

PDG Prem Agarwal being honoured by District 3110 on completion of his 60 years in Rotary.

He was felicitated by DG Sharat Chandra.

Rotary made me what I am today Rasheeda Bhagat

H

e calls me to say how much he enjoyed the January issue “which was so colourful and I love your writing style. You write so well in Hindi.”

I hastily disabuse him about my Hindi language skills, which are modest, despite my bagging the Jawaharlal Nehru award in the Madras University for Hindi in the mid-1970s, and tell him that I write in English and it is the expertise of Hema Subramanian who does a fine job with the Hindi translation.

Meet PDG Prem Agarwal from RI District 3110, who joined Rotary Club of Agra way back in October 1955. Today there is a concerted effort

36 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

across the Rotary world to attract young members, but in 1955, over 60 years ago, this 23-year-old bright young lawyer thought it fit to become a Rotarian. RC Agra was started in 1938.

On what attracted him towards Rotary, he says that he had started practising as a lawyer — he comes from a family of advocates — two years earlier in 1953. “I joined Rotary because PDG Pundit Rajnath Kunjroo told me that I should do so. I became the District Governor in 1978–79.”

Today, at the age of 84, he regularly attends Rotary meetings. “To see him attend club meetings is an inspiration for all of us, particularly the younger

members,” says District 3110 DG Sharat Chandra, adding, “we recently marked the milestone of his golden jubilee in Rotary by felicitating him.”

How Rotary changed him He attributes all that he is today to his six decades’ experience in Rotary.

“When I joined Rotary at the age of 23, I was a very shy person. Only in Rotary I learnt how to mix with people and reach out to everybody, and how to conduct myself at conferences.” So engrossed did he become in the world of Rotary, that he happily started attending various conferences, apart from his club meetings. “As a result of all this I felt that my family

was very big and tried to attend every conference so that I could meet people and make more friends. But, more important, I felt that Rotary is the best organisation where I can serve humanity at large. This, in a nutshell, is my experience in Rotary.”

Prioritising Hindi On his special achievement during his year as DG in 1978–79, Agarwal says the first thing he did was to give importance to the local language, Hindi. “In those days, and perhaps now too, in our district there were many people who did not know much of English.

This is the Hindi belt … so as soon as I became Governor, I said that our official language in Rotary will be Hindi.

I also said people can talk in Hindi.

Everybody cannot speak comfortably or fluently in English.”

The result was that when he said that it was alright for everybody to talk in Hindi and made it the medium of communication, “a lot of people started expressing their views candidly. Earlier, they were hesitant to speak. I consider that to be my biggest achievement during my year as Governor.”

Agarwal proudly says that he went to such an extent of promoting Hindi, “which is after all our own language” that “even to Rotary International we sent our communication/letters only in Hindi. They requested us to please send the English translation, but I said

that when you can translate so many other languages, why not do so for Hindi too.” He is happy that after his stint, Hindi has “become the official language of our club and District ... most of the proceedings take place only in Hindi.”

Another highlight of his governorship was attending the International Assembly which was quite an eye-opener for him and “after that I attended the Convention in Tokyo, where there were two sessions because around 44,000 people had registered!

There I learnt how extremely disciplined the Japanese are. All these valuable experiences I got only because of Rotary. Another high point was attending the COL in Singapore.”

Disappointed But this vintage Rotarian is concerned that today in Rotary, service is giving way to politics. “I keep telling people that you should get involved in Rotary’s work, particularly its service projects, in a much bigger way. But unfortunately, it is sad to see that many people today have started indulging in politics, particularly as soon as they become PDGs. I tell them you should forget that you’re PDGs and instead of indulging in politics, you should be busy doing service.”

On the one major difference he finds in Rotary then and now is that “in the earlier years, all of us were really committed to service. But aaj Rotary

PDG Prem Agarwal with DG Sharat Chandra.

Many Rotarians today indulge in politics, particularly as soon as they become PDGs. I tell them you should forget you’re PDGs and do service.

me baatein jyada aur kaam kum hota hei. Kabhi kabhi bada disappointment hota hei ki Rotary kya tha aur ab kya ho gaya hei. (But today there is more talk and less work happening in Rotary.

Sometimes I get very disappointed thinking about what Rotary once was and what it has become today.)”

He also regrets that today many youngsters do not stay on in Rotary; “many of them join only for entertainment, or to get some post. Once they’ve become the club secretary or president, they leave. Today’s youngsters are not serious about Rotary, and that is disturbing.”

Regular attendance So how difficult does he find it to attend club meetings regularly? “It is not difficult, I go regularly, the only difference is that these days I have to use a walking stick!” But he loves to go and keep in touch with the Rotary world “because apart from getting to know about the service projects, there is so much of fellowship and sharing of experiences. When we read Rotary Samachar with its inspiring articles, or the GML and Club bulletins, we find out what is happening in the Rotary world and also outside,” says Agarwal, who has a deep interest in education and is there on many prestigious educational bodies in Agra.

He particularly looks forward to the views of PRIP Rajendra K Saboo.

“I just love his thoughts … the way he thinks and feel I can learn a lot from him, and so can all Rotarians.”

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 37

Innovation in farming recognised Kiran Zehra Rotary Clubs of Trichy and Trichy Fort, D 3000, recognise progressive farmers for their research and dedication.

E

ven as farmers in India unable to cope with debt caused by drought are committing suicide, Naveen Krishnan, a farmer near Trichy in Tamil Nadu, has stepped out to find a solution, by bringing water to his water-starved farm. “I grew up seeing my father nurture crops and take care of cattle.

I always wanted to be a farmer,” he says.

He was one among the five farmers recently honoured by these two clubs.

An M Phil in Biotechnology helped him in his research to come up with solutions to agri-related problems in his village. “Research is the most important part of growth. I was lucky my father understood that and supported me,” he quips.

As a child he “grew cactus plants, kept pet dogs, cats and ducks and watched his father work in the farm,” but had to wait until he completed college to get his hands dirty in the field as a farmer. He recalls that it was not easy as the region was hit by drought for five years from 2006, when he decided to irrigate his farm.

The initial idea of channelling water from the Cauvery River, which is 14 km near his farm, required hard labour and big money. “Our only hope was to dig bore wells.” Ten wells across 70 acres and a pumping system that channelled the water to a tank in the dry parts of the field turned out to be a model for dry land

1DYHHQ .ULVKQDQ SORXJKLQJ KLV ¿HOG 38 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

development and irrigation. There was no looking back from then for this smart farmer.

He and his father now run the Global Nature Foundation that sponsors deserving agriculture students to complete their research.

The Foundation also carries out snake rescue missions. “Not just students but also people who need a break from hectic city life come here to do a little farming and enjoy rural life,” says Krishnan. He is very pleased with Rotary’s initiative to recognise farmers like him. “We never get any appreciation although we are the country’s support system. I wish we get more awards like these,” he adds.

The busy farmer When I called Dharmarajan, another farmer who was honoured by the two Clubs, he said, “No Madam, I have no time to talk. I am at the airport to export my Jasmine flowers. You see it is season time.” An English Literature graduate, this farmer has PG and PhD students working in his jasmine fields and their research is really helpful to him in increasing the yield from his farm. Before he hangs up he apologises for not being able to talk more and is happy about the award Rotary has bestowed on him.

Another farmer, R Periaswamy from Paachur village, is all excitement as he says, “I never thought that using only organic pesticide and manure could land me an award. I wish more people come to know about our work and recognise us.” He hopes to put his M Phil degree in Tamil to use by finding a teaching job in the local colleges.

President of RC Trichy Fort A Alagappan says that his club wants to do more programmes highlighting

R

C Amritsar Midtown, RI District 3070, under the Mass Marriages project, organised the marriages of 24 couples as per their respective rituals. Rs 35,000 was spent on each couple, who was gifted with utility items including clothes, beds, steel utensils, a jewellery box, furniture, etc. Baaraats were received with Dhol and band and special arrangements were made for the makeup of the brides. Breakfast and lunch were served to over 1,500 people.

The project was initiated by the club in 1998 and till date marriages of as many as 524 couples have been solemnised at a total expenditure of over Rs one crore. The Project Chairman, Rtn Sunil Kapur was honoured with Service above Self award by Rotary International and the project has received world-wide appreciation and recognition.

2Q D VQDNH UHVFXH PLVVLRQ

the work of these farmers who are role models of hope and research. “All the farmers who were recognised scientifically analysed their problems and found solutions.” The club plans to

help farmers with further research and prevent food wastage by sensitising them on this aspect.

Designed by L Gunasekaran

Band Baaja Baaraat Varsha Makhija RC Amritsar Midtown Rotarians have been conducting mass marriages for the less privileged for the past 18 years.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 39

Kai po che Jaishree A fundraiser of RC Bangalore Lakeside (RBL), the Bangalore Kite Festival, turns Bengaluru’s skyline vibrant with a riot of colours.

G

azing up at the sky on a breezy January morning,” says Jayanta Tewari, RBL Secretary, “we were reminded of the song from the 60’s film, Mary Poppins …

Let's go fly a kite/Up to the highest height/And send it soaring/Up through the atmosphere/Up where the air is clear/Oh, let's go fly a kite...”

True to the lyrics, there were over 5,000 people aged 7 – 70, tugging at the strings and sending kites soaring up in the sky, making them dance over houses and trees. The occasion … the Bangalore Kite Festival — a fund raiser event organised by the Rotarians of RC Bangalore Lakeside, D 3190, at the sprawling Ramaiah Memorial Trust’s grounds on January 14, Sankaranthi.

40 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

A kite-flying competition was also part of the event which was inaugurated by IG Seemant Kumar Singh.

For Dinesh Malpani, CEO of urDOORSTEP.com, who was among the first to sign up for the event, it was “an activity which connects me to my childhood. I am happy to pass on this fun-filled pastime to my kids.” The kids were all concentration, tugging at their eagle-shaped kite.

Rajni had come all the way from Jayanagar, located on the other side of the city, along with her 15-year old son, to teach him how enjoyable the sport can be.

What’s more, there were shops and food stalls to cater to the other senses too.

Club President Nabin Roy is no stranger to this sport. Watching his

82-year “young babuji,” who even today enthusiastically teaches kids in the apartment complex to make and fly kites, gave him the idea of the fundraiser. “We took special care to use only normal cotton strings as manjha (treated threads) will be harmful for the birds and humans.”

Priced at Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, donor passes were available on mobile apps too. Paintings done by 100 orphan children were also exhibited on the grounds for sale.

The proceeds will be used for the club’s projects such as treating children with CHD, providing drinking water facilities in government schools, supporting a mid-day meal project and beautification of a park.

Since the day was NID, the Rotarians

administered polio drops to 30,000 children at the venue.

Sandip Desai of the Gujarati Samaj which partnered with the club says, “Who can forget to shout Kai Po Che or Kade kade as the kites dance in the skies?” He judged the competitive flyers on their ability to soar near-high raises and to wind back quickly when instructed. Having participation of over 60 competitors impressed Olympian and former hockey captain Ashish Ballal, who honoured the winners with prizes.

Needless to say the kites will soar again in 2017 Sankranthi with more enthusiasm, says Roy.

D 3140 fights Tuberculosis Team Rotary News

T

he Rotary clubs of District 3140 have adopted TB Bhagao, Zindagi Badhao as their focus for this year. Six camps are planned by each club and hundreds of people in rural and urban localities have been screened and treatment is being provided for those afflicted with TB. Lupin Laboratories, the manufacturer of anti-TB drugs, is partnering with the

L to R: D 3140 DG Subhash Kulkarni, Rtn Kevin Colaco, RI President K R Ravindran and PDG Balkrishna Inamdar.

District in this initiative. Its Chairman and Managing Director Dr Deshbandhu Gupta has donated $250,000 to Rotary for this project. He will be inducted as an AKS member and TRF will match the funds for Global Grant activity, says PP Kevin Colaco of RC Bombay Airport.

A special postal cover was released to highlight the TB Bhagao campaign at the District Conference which was presided over by PRIP Wilfred Wilkinson as the RIPR. Designed by

Lakshmikant Kasat of RC Thane Premium, the stamp shows a lung stamped with the letters ‘TB’.

Two more personalised stamps — one on the RI theme, Be a gift to the world, and another on RI President K R Ravindran — were released at the Black Tie dinner at Mumbai, organised in honour of Rajashree Birla, Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, for her generous contribution towards Rotary’s polio eradication programme.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 41

A life-changing engagement Setu Gandhi

I

n 2010, a colleague urged me to accompany her to Dhinka-Chika, a children’s home which she visited every Sunday. She taught the children English and Mathematics or just counseled them on simple life issues. I’ve been a Rotarian for 10 years and we’re constantly on the lookout for new community service opportunities.

So I agreed, and today I consider this among the best decisions in my life.

This home, run by an NGO, Charlie Help Universe Trust, housed orphaned children or those with single or extremely poor parents who couldn’t even feed them, leave alone educate them. But for this initiative, these

children would have been destined to live a life of begging, crime or worse.

There were 35 children residing there when I visited it that Sunday. The sparkle and love that I saw in the eyes of the children made me want to contribute in some way towards providing a better future for them. I decided to introduce this as a permanent project in my Rotary Club — RC Surat West. The response I got from other club members was very encouraging and we decided on a long term and continuous engagement with the Home and its inhabitants.

We believed that only sustained and concerted efforts could make any significant difference to the lives of

these children. The Trust running it was already doing a lot in providing food, shelter, clothing and basic schooling to all the 35 children. But they needed all the help they could get to sustain and improve this service.

We decided to take up a multipronged approach and focus on health, hygiene and literacy, which were essential to ensure a better future for the children.

We learnt that none of the 35 children had had any vaccination till then.

With the help of one of our club members, Dr Vijay Shah, who is a paediatrician working with the Government Civil Hospital in Surat, we designed a

A child being vaccinated.

I often wonder whose life is changing; their’s or mine?

complete immunisation programme for the children, raised the resources and successfully administered all the necessary vaccines to protect them against life threatening and crippling diseases, and held regular health and dental check-up camps.

As the children were drinking water directly from the municipal supply, which made them vulnerable to water-borne diseases, with the help of a donor, we installed two water purifier machines. They now have 24-hour access to clean drinking water. The Trust ensures healthy and nutritious food for the children, and our club members also contribute towards regular food grain supplies. Many of our members now celebrate birthdays and anniversaries at the Home and sponsor a meal for the children.

Education Health and hygiene addressed, the next step was to ensure that the children have access to good education and also get vocational training which would help them build their careers.

The trustees have now shifted the children from municipal schools to private schools, but this meant additional expenses in terms of higher fees. Our club members now regularly contribute towards school fees, books and uniforms. We also encourage friends and relatives to do the same, and we’ve

Computers provided at the Home.

also set up a small library by donating many books.

Computer skills are a necessity in our digital world. With the help of another generous club member, who runs a computer training institute, we organised a basic computer course for the 35 children, and now all of them can use a computer. To help them improve on this skill, we’ve donated three computers to the Home. Once again our club members showed their generosity.

Our and the Trustees’ aim is to build a solid foundation for these children, so all the children will be encouraged to study at least up to graduation or do any vocational training course of their choice.

One day all the children will hopefully be ready to face life on their own, build a career, start families, and live a life of dignity and self respect. More children will continue to be admitted and new children will replace those who move on with their lives. We hope to continue this life-changing engagement.

But I often wonder, whose life is changing. Is it the children’s or mine?

(The writer is member of RC Surat West, D 3060.)

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 43

District 3230 gets savvy

about CSR Jaishree The District Conference of D 3230 was a celebration of Rotary fellowship and its welfare operations across the District.

U

tsav — the District’s Conference held for three days in Chennai wore a festive atmosphere. The Rotary Expo, open to the public, had something for everyone — stalls showcasing education, career counselling, healthcare, lifestyle and environment. This was the first such expo held along with the Conference in the District, said the Conference Chair George B Cherian.

While the keynote was delivered by R Chandrasekaran, Group Chief Executive of CTS, Prof Bala Balachandar, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management, CavinKare Chairman C K Ranganathan and Madhavan, CEO of

CTS briefed the gathered on how best to connect with corporates on CSR, utilising their funds.

An interactive session with the Rotarians brought out some interesting queries ranging from how to identify the right corporate to tie up with, what the companies expect from Rotary for an ideal CSR partnership, and whether corporate companies can be inducted into Rotary as members. Just like the e-club and satellite club, Rotary clubs with corporate firms as members are functioning in the US and this is in the pilot stage, said PDG A S Venkatesh.

Balachandar urged Rotarians to identify the community needs to effectively utilise CSR funds.

Digital literacy “Let us provide digital literacy in the villages; we are producing several engineers, we now have to address the next strata of the society,” said Chandrasekaran. This would give a better life to school drop-outs, and this is already happening. An OLA cab driver, for instance, may not be a graduate, but he is able to use his smartphone effectively, operate the GPS, and his job is made easier. But if digitally illiterate, he would be like any other taxi driver.

Citing the more recent direct crediting of government subsidies to citizens’ bank accounts, he pointed out that being tech-savvy enough to operate their bank accounts using their mobile phones will

L to R: PDG Krishnan V Chari, DG C R Raju, RI Director Karen Wentz, Rtn Kevin Pitt, PDG Mike Parry and Rtn N Krishnan.

44 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

At least one person in every family should be digitally literate to avail public services and enhance earning potential.

make life easier for people. Digital literacy is all about teaching them such basic stuff. “At least one person in every family should be digitally literate to avail public services and enhance earning potential. Then the quality of work you churn out will be lot better.”

He warned that digital literacy should not be confused with computers or limited to schools. “It has to be included as part of your existence and should be natural. For a cabbie it becomes part of his existence to know what a smartphone is, how to operate the GPS.” So it becomes a natural fit for him to learn this technology to be effective on the job. Such technological deployment should happen in every vocation. Even if you have a formal education only with digital literacy will you be effective, he said.

To a question on what corporates expect from Rotary for CSR partnership, PDG A Subramaniam said that

Rotary’s reach to the community is its major asset, but big companies lookk for continuity, accountability and financial ncial stability. “We are ‘temperamentally’ ly’ a yearly organisation. Successive goverovernors should create a nodal organisation ation through which CSR can happen.”

RI Director Karen Wentz, thee RI President’s Representative to the Conference, honoured C K Ranganathan than with the RI Vocational Service Leadership Award in the presence of DG C R Raju. Ranganathan, a member er of RC Madras East, said that even activtivities aimed at preserving our cultural al heritage can be considered for CSR R projects.

Raju summarised the projects done by various Rotary clubs under the District’s banner, ‘Sangamitra,’ which focussed on Literacy and WinS. Appreciating the Conference team he said, “it was exceptional in its organisation and content, with well-lineated areas for conference, House of Friendship, House of Fellowship and a Rotary Expo with over 100 stalls, a seminar hall and a food court.

The content, well-chosen speakers, quiz session and entertainment were enjoyed by all. Kudos to the Chair George Cherian and the entire team.”

An MoU was signed between Britain, Ireland and District 3230 for

R Chandrasekaran, Group Chief Executive, Cognizant Technology Solutions.

inter-country cooperation to facilitate global grants between the two countries through an Inter-Country Cooperation Committee that was formed at the Conference. PDG Krishnan V Chari and Rtn Kevin Pitt are the National Coordinators of the Committee for their respective countries. PDG Mike Parry is the Vice Chair.

Promoting their cause Various Rotary clubs had put up stalls showcasing their flagship projects. The Rotarians of RC Chennai Galaxy were marketing Surya and Panasonic LED lamps. The club has an arrangement with the two manufacturers by which they contribute a percentage of each sale billed across South Chennai to support treatment of Thalassaemmia patients.

RC Chennai IT City had programmes to promote organ donation, RC Chennai Sun City was creating awareness about skin donation and RC Chennai Gemini was supporting women’s empowerment by marketing wares made by women SHGs and transgenders.

Rtn C K Ranganathan, Founder-Chairman, CavinKare receives the RI Vocational Service Leadership Award from RI Director Karen Wentz and DG C R Raju.

Pictures by K Vishwanathan Designed by N Krishnamurthy MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 45

PRID Shekhar Mehta Chairman, Rotary India Literacy Mission

LITERACY FOCUS

DON’T MISS the biggest event on Literacy & Wash in Schools in Rotary this year – the Presidential Conference on March 11-13, 2016, at Kolkata.

Conference Highlights Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Zubin Irani will be the Chief Guest at the Presidential Conference at Kolkata.

Shradhhalu Ranade, Scientist and scholar from Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. He is involved in teacher-training, software development, and conducting workshops on Integral Education.

Vinayak Lohani, National Awardee for Child Welfare, who runs a residential programme for children of the lessprivileged at Parivaar.

Ekta Sodha, VP, National Independent Schools Alliance. Sodha Schools are ranked fifth in Gujarat for its educational quality at an economical price.

Presidential Dinner at Taj Bengal: A sit-down dinner with RI President K R Ravindran on March 11.

46 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Prof Sy Shah, Director, International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education, New Delhi. Served as Professor and Director of Adult Continuing Education and Extension programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Joint Adviser, Education Division, Planning Commission, Government of India.

Dr Sunita Gandhi, UNESCO Prize for Peace Education recipient. Her Global Dream provides functional literacy to the illiterate masses.

Dr Rukmini Banerji, CEO, of Pratham Education Foundation; Director, Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), and member of HRD Ministry’s Central Advisory Board of Education Committee.

TRF Chairman’s Dinner at The Lalit Great Eastern: with TRF Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith and incoming Trustee Chair Kalyan Banerjee.

House of Friendship: At Khudiram Stadium and Netaji Indoor Stadium.

“Literacy Hero Awards”

W

ith focus on Total Literacy and Quality Education, we will present awards to six Literacy Heroes from across India. These are people who swam against the tide to spread the light of knowledge, at times in trying conditions, at times with meagre budget but always with great passion and a will to serve others.

They are real life heroes who may have sent hundreds of children back to school or saved them from child labour and human traffickers.

They are people who may be volunteering to take extra classes for children, teach them art, music or any subject that they are weak in. They might also have spread

the joys of education amongst the adult. They are the Unsung Literacy Heroes.

Cash award of Rs 1,00,000/- and a citation will be presented to each hero at an event scheduled in Kolkata on March 11 to be attended by 2,500 delegates and 3,000 student-partners of RILM from across South Asia.

A panel of jury drawn from diverse illustrious backgrounds has decided on the 5 Literacy Heroes. One popular

award has been decided by online voting on the website www.literacyheroawards.com.

The chair of jury was M N Venkatachaliah, the 25th Chief Justice of India. Other panel members were Kashi Nath Memani, former Chairman and Country Managing Partner at Ernst & Young, India; Sudarshan Agarwal, former Governor of Uttarakhand and Sikkim; Dr Kavitha A Sharma, founder-president of Parents’ Forum for Meaningful Education; Prof Shantha Sinha, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights; Radhe Shyam Agarwal, Executive Chairman of Emami.

Activities undertaken by Association of Inner Wheel Clubs in India District 316

IWC Chitradurga completed its second Happy School and around 50 members have given commitment to support 140 children under Asha Kiran. IWCs Main, Midtown, North completed three toilets in the adopted government schools.

District 298

IWC Salem Central donated desks and benches worth Rs 35,000 to the Panchayat Union Primary School.

IWC Cuddalore donated classroom furniture to the Government Girls High School, Nannilam.

Happy School by D 325

District 318

District 302

IWC Patiala has completed four Happy Schools.

IWC Mysore started its Happy School, making it the third Happy School in the district. IWC Shimoga constructed three toilets in adopted schools.

IWC Rajahmundry inaugurated toilet and water taps in municipal schools and a Happy School was inaugurated by IWC Rajahmundry River City.

District 325

District 310

District 312

Inauguration of two Happy Schools by IWC Deoghar and IWC Jamshedpur.

IWC Meerut started its first Happy School.

Inaugurated the 58th Happy School of the district.

District 309

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 47

Children in the process of being undertaken at Asha Kiran Centres

T

MoU with Sitarampur Vivekananda Seba Pratistan.

he screening programme of Asha Kiran by Rotarians is running successfully in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. So far, we have screened 6,048 school dropout children and are expecting to reach 15,000 mile stone by end of March 2016.

In West Bengal, we are in the process of signing MoU with 11 NGOs and it will benefit 5,101 outof-school children.

In Uttar Pradesh, MoU with five NGOs are in the pipeline. This will help 6,940 out-of-school children from Lucknow’s urban slums and the villages of Pratapgarh, Shrawasti, Baharaich and Lakhimpur and Khiri districts.

In Bihar, we have already signed MoU with three NGOs, to benefit 2,600 out-of-school children.

Rotary India Global Dream

- leave no adult illiterate

E

ach year, NIOS in collaboration with National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA) conducts examination for adult learners in March and August.

RILM got approval from NLMA to conduct examination at RILMrun adult literacy centres for adult learners on August 23, 2015.

The examination was conducted at five locations for 200 adult learners. Results were announced recently.

In West Bengal

Three centres in Kolkata – Beleghata (15), Kidderpore (19) and Chowringhee (53) registered 81 per cent score on average.

48 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Chowbaga (17) in South 24 Parganas registered 100 per cent and Kulgachia (105) in Howrah registered 92 per cent score.

On average, a score of 85 per cent was secured by all learners who sat for the NIOS Exam and successfully cleared it.

Doing good with TRF help

Reaching out to the mentally challenged Team Rotary News

Past governors and Rotarians with the students at the school.

T

he Rotary Club of Poona Midtown, D 3131, donated a bus, an 8-seater van, an automatic paper plate and bowl-making machine, computers and accessories, paper shredder machine, cupboards, closed-circuit TV and accessories, audio and video equipment, yoga mats and gardening equipment to Dilasa Kendra and Dilasa Karyashala, the two institutions run for the mentally challenged by Pune Sevasadan Society.

DG Subodh Joshi, appreciating the club’s endeavour, said that it was an extremely valuable donation to a deserving institution.

The donations, valued at $41,000, were effected through a Global Grant

with RC Taipei Fu-Jung, D 3480, Taiwan, DDFs of D 3131 and 3480, and The Rotary Foundation.

Dilasa Kendra, established in 1982, provides basic education to children up to 18 years of age and trains them to be self-reliant in dayto-day activities, apart from teaching them computer operations, art and

The equipment will be a good source of income generation for the institutions.

craft, and sports. Dilasa Karyashala, functioning since 1990, provides vocational training to adults and teaches them gardening, craft work, etc. Presently there are 75 children and 125 adults in the two units.

Club President Subodh Gulavani said that the paper bowl and platemaking machine and the shredders will be a good source of income generation for the institutions. While the adults were able to churn out just 200 paper bowls a day through the manually operated machines, they will now be able to make 10,000 bowls through the automatic machines, bringing in more income. Similarly the paper shredders will enhance the institution’s income by selling the shredded paper to industries for packaging.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 49

No to noodles; yes to ghar ka khana Kiran Zehra Rotary helps women realise their responsibility towards themselves.

T

he ‘Selfie with the daughter’ campaign not only took the country by storm but also opened the door to the women’s world in Bibipur village, Haryana. “Every street in the village is named after a daughter and the elders in the village advocate the beti padao, beti bachao initiative,” says 67-year-old Ompathi. She and other older women visit nearby villages and explain

(especially) to fathers that a daughter is not a burden and she can do him proud.

“I tell them that the girl can grow up to be a Priyanka Chopra or a Smriti Irani.

You never know,” she laughs. RC Delhi Midtown, D 3011, is not only sensitising the women of Bibipur on healthcare, hygiene and education but also changing their perspective towards moral and social responsibilities.

Ramp show for elderly couples Sunil Jaglan (33), former Sarpanch of Bibipur and initiator of the ‘Selfie with the daughter’ says, “lack of awareness is the main cause of discrimination.

If the elders of the family are sensitised then discrimination can be zeroed.” After counselling and conducting group meetings with village elders, the club came up with an idea

Hand in hand, walking the ramp.

5500 RRO ROTARY ROT OT O TA ARY AR RY N RY NE NEWS EW WSS MARCH MA MAR MA AR RC CH H 2016 20 2201 01 016

Selfie time: Sunil Jaglan with the women from Bibipur

of conducting a fashion show for the old couples in the village, where they walked hand in hand and the man lifted the ghunghat of his wife to symbolise banishing the age-old practice of women covering their faces.

Kelo Devi (73) recalls how she walked the ramp with her husband, “Maza to aya lekin sharam bhi aayi, itne logon ke beech unhon ey pehli bar mera haat pakda (it was fun, but I felt shy because it was the first time my husband held my hand in public).”

Their message to the granddaughters of the village: “Tum phado, tum badho, tumhey pankh hum denge,” won them the best Jodi award.

The people who came from Rotary taught us to take pride in our cooking. I don’t buy noodles from the baniya anymore.

The Million Dollar Sarpanch Jaglan works with the club and helps to execute the many programmes Rotary is initiating in the village. Proud of being mentioned in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s different speeches four times, he hopes to meet Modi someday and take a selfie with him.

He has won several awards including a whopping Rs 1 crore from the Haryana Chief Minister, part of which was used for his village’s development.

He is concerned about the health of his village’s women and their empowerment. “Women underestimate themselves. We have to sensitise them on that first. Being careless about themselves, but caring for the entire family, leads nowhere,” he says. So when RC Delhi Midtown wanted to start a nutrition programme in the village, “Jaglan helped us reach out to the women in his village,” says Mrida Joshi, who is assisting her husband, Club President Bharat Joshi, in the women’s empowerment programmes in the village.

Around 200 women from the village participated in the Best Chef of Bibipur contest through which the club stressed on cleanliness in the kitchen,

storage of food and use of indigenous ingredients that are available locally for everyday cooking. “Packaged food is easily available and the buzz that it is a sign of affluence forces these innocent women to buy and cook it.

We wanted them to understand that cooking traditional recipes keeps our culture alive and gives us the necessary nutrition,” says Mrida.

Best cooking practices Experts shared their views on nutrition, best cooking practices and connection between diet and health and distributed a diet-chart and healthy recipes to the villagers. “The people who came from Rotary taught us to take pride in our cooking. I don’t buy noodles from the baniya anymore,” says Bimla whose khet ka khana bagged the first prize.

RC Delhi Midtown set up an RO water plant and a digital projector in the village school as part of its WinS and TEACH programme. Jaibhagwan, the caretaker of the school, says, “Everyday children line up to drink water and fill their tiny water bottles.

They want to share the good water with their families.”

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 51

Doing good with TRF help

Rotary Cows in Shimoga Jaishree

3'* 1DUD\DQ 3DQGHVKZDU OHIW DORQJ ZLWK 5RWDULDQV JLIWLQJ D FRZ WR D EHQH¿FLDU\

M

ost religions hold milch cows in high reverence; they are venerated as symbols of wealth and gifting a cow is considered the highest form of giving.

The Rotarians of RC Shimoga, D 3180, did just that to raise the economic condition of the women in Shimoga’s surrounding villages.

About 373 such women were given hybrid milch cows to help them earn a livelihood. The RCCs and village panchayats of 25 villages assisted them in identifying the needy women. “This project is being done for the past three years,” said PDG Narayan Pandeshwar.

The project cost around $131,400 and RCs West Springfield, D 7890, Massachusetts, USA and Fort Collins Breakfast, D 5440, Colorado, USA and The Rotary Foundation pitched in with financial assistance through five

52 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

On an average, each woman makes 40 per cent net profit after spending for the cattle feed.

Matching Grants and a Global Grant.

“These cows have become so popular in the region that they are referred to as Rotary Cows,” says Pandeshwar.

The women have tied up with the village dairy cooperative societies; they deliver the milk regularly at milk collection points in the villages and use the money from the sale of milk and dung for the maintenance of cattle and household expenses.

“Each cow yields 16-20 litres of milk a day which is bought by the societies at Rs 20-22 a litre, depending on its fat content. On an average, each woman makes 40 per cent net profit after spending for the cattle feed, etc.” he said.

TRF has lauded this project as one of the most practical project undertaken for economic development of women.

One more attack on a polio centre in Pak Rasheeda Bhagat

Y

et again a polio immunisation centre and polio vaccinators were targeted in the Pakistani city of Quetta, when a bomb went off on Jan 13 near a polio centre in the heart of the Balochistan capital, killing 15 security workers who were guarding the centre.

“It was an immensely tragic event and Rotary International, all Rotarians and our partners in the fight to eradicate polio, offer our heartfelt condolences and express a deep sadness in the wake of this horrific bomb attack in Quetta. This is a stark reminder of the dangers faced L to R: Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee Chair Abdul Rahman Tunji Funby Rotary, our partners in the sho, Pakistan National PolioPlus Committee Chair Aziz Memon, Afghanistan Global Polio Eradication InitiNational PolioPlus Committee Chair Mohammad Ishaq Niazmand. ative, and the brave women and Memon said of the 59,395 children men on the frontlines of our effort campaign, Pakistan was slowly makchecked randomly through finger to protect all children from the par- ing strides towards total eradication of alysing effects of polio,” said Aziz polio from the country, thanks to “the marking, it was found that 97 per Memon, Pakistan’s National Polio- government’s commitment to continue cent had been vaccinated. the vaccination campaign throughout But in order to end polio cases Plus Chair. in Pakistan, the safety of vaccinators But despite these dastardly attacks the country,” he added.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the would have to be assured and steps on polio workers and the immunisation only two countries where the polio intensified to step up security measvirus is still endemic. ures at the Pak-Afghan border to He said in 2015, Pakistan has cover transit population in the border reported 54 Wild Polio Virus (WPV) areas. Children under five travelling This horrific attack is a stark cases from 23 infected districts/ between the two countries across the agencies as compared to 306 WPV border would have to get maximum reminder of the dangers faced cases from 44 districts in 2014. This attention, he said. by the brave women and men decline is due to “stringent measures Memon added that Rotary is conon the front lines of our effort taken by the Pakistan Government, structing two rooms as a Permanent our polio partners and the National Transit Point at Friendship Gate, to protect all children from the and Provincial agencies during the Pak-Afghan Chaman border, which paralysing effects of polio. low transmission season campaigns. will not only serve for polio immuniSecurity has improved in most high sation but also provide a meeting point risk areas,” he added. Giving details between Pakistani and Afghan polio of a post campaign evaluation, officials.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 53

Exquisite Vavs of

Gujarat Pervez Bhagat Gujarat and Rajasthan have ancient treasures in the form of intricately carved step wells; discover two such Vavs of Gujarat.

Adalaj ni Vav.

R

ight from childhood, many of our visits to Gujarat would be considered incomplete without a visit to two of the beautiful structures that had always fascinated me as a child ... the step wells of Gujarat. Adalaj and Rani ni Vav (vav is Gujarati for ‘well’).

In a dry and arid State like Gujarat, as also Rajasthan, and the adjoining areas of Pakistan, the vavs, which are also known as step ponds, were built to collect water for weary travellers.

To make up for the stark, desert-like conditions, and provide restful spots for weary limbs, the different levels, leading down to the water pools were adorned and decorated with beautiful carvings. Rani ni Vav, recognised for its sheer architectural brilliance and elegant and elaborate carvings of deities, was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in June 2014.

Most of the step wells of Gujarat and Rajasthan were built between the 5th and 19th centuries. The ancient city of Mohenjo-daro itself had 700 wells in just one section of the city.

Remember Paheli, Amol Palekar’s film starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee shot in Rajasthan? It has a quaint theme of ghosts and one such step well is beautifully showcased in this film. Such step wells were used by travellers for drinking, bathing

Such step wells were used by travellers for drinking, bathing and washing clothes and their beautification was connected to festivals being celebrated here.

Elaborate carvings of deities.

and washing clothes and their beautification was connected to festivals being celebrated here.

On a recent visit to Gujarat, we visited two of the most famous vavs of Gujarat, at Adalaj, only 18 km from the city of Ahmedabad and Rani ni Vav in Patan district, about 125 km from Ahmedabad.

Both these step wells are more than just vavs, built as they used to be in the olden days, by the royalty or rich traders, to just harvest and distribute water. What makes them major tourist attractions are the intricate carvings and sculptures along the length and breadth of the entire structures which are so beautiful that they literally leave you speechless.

Adalaj ni Vav The step well at Adalaj, named after the nearby town, is five storeys below the ground level and well over 75 metres in length. Designed in an octagon shape, the stone steps leading to the well are well planned and surrounded by intricately carved pillars and columns. You walk down the steps to the deepest end to find water stored in a circular well, which is open to the

sky. This not only adds to its charm but keeps the water fresh.

The entrance has stairs leading from three directions to the first landing, which is surrounded by four fabulously carved balconies or Zarokhas, which present a great photo opportunity for tourists who flock to this wonderful place.

All the walks are intricately carved with Hindu and Jain deities and Islamic motifs and flowers.

The fusion of Hindu and Islamic styles of carving on the various pillars, cornices and niches is apparently due to the fact that the Vav’s initial construction was started by a Hindu chief — King Rana Veer Singh — who was killed in a war with his neighbouring king Mohammed Begda. Begda fell in love with Rana Singh’s widow Rani Roopba, but her condition to marry him was that he should first complete the step well. He agreed and completed the vav, and invited the queen to see it. She arrived, and after walking around the entire vav chanting prayers, she jumped into the well and ended her life.

The dominant carvings on the upper floors are of elephants in different designs and the walls are covered MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 55

with women performing daily chores as well as carvings of dancers and musicians. The predominant fresco here is the Navagraha (nine planets) and Kalp Vriksha, the Tree of Life.

Rani ni Vav This is another fascinating step well constructed during the rule of Solankis in Gujarat and built in the memory of Bhimdev, the son of King Mularaja, in around 1050 A D by his widowed queen Udayamati.

Over time, this step well, along the banks of River Saraswati, about 125 kms from Ahmedabad, disappeared from view due to the flooding of Saraswati River and was consequently completely covered by silt. It was discovered only in the 1960s, and as the plaque at the site points out, till then “nobody knew that there existed the most ornate Vav here.”

The Rani ni Vav (Queen’s step well) is designed as an inverted temple and was found in an excellent state of

Above: Rani ni Vav. Left: Zarokhas at Adalaj ni Vav.

Rani ni Vav, with its brilliant and elegant and elaborate carvings of deities, was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in June 2014.

preservation. It is about 64 metres in length, 20 metres wide and 27 metres deep. With an ornately carved pillared multi-storeyed pavilion, it has a huge collection tank for surplus water.

Most of the sculptures here are in the form of the 10 avatars of Vishnu. Also depicted are the Nagakanyas, Yoginis and Apsaras, in 16 different styles of makeup, termed solah-shringar.

There are more than 800 elaborate sculptures in the seven galleries with

a stunning visual appeal. At the water level is a carving of Anantasayana — Vishnu in a reclining position on the Sheshnag. Below the Vav is a tunnel 30 km in length, leading to the town of Sidhpur, which is famous for its pitra shradha ceremonies. This tunnel was used by the King to escape during the war. At present the tunnel is blocked by stones.

Another interesting aspect of these vavs is that they were built not only

for collecting and providing water to weary travellers in an arid land. They were meant not only for resting or socialising with fellow travellers but also had spiritual significance. In all cultures and religions water has always had a sacred dimension. Rani ni Vav, in particular, is in essence like a subterranean temple, with so many deities.

Pictures by Pervez Bhagat Designed by S Krishnapratheesh MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 57

I

had a good craic definitely… though next morning I was bleary eyed. If you’ve been in Ireland and not enjoyed a good craic … then you have done nothing.

“Let’s go have some craic!” is the cry every Saturday evening across the length and breadth of the Emerald Isle. Craic is a Gaelic word with no exact English translation and is a term the Irish use when having tons of fun and the Guinness flows at every nook and corner. After all it is the land where the Guinness is made!

Travelling to Ireland is simple from England, especially if you have a UK visa. I wanted to experience the countryside and the midway stopovers so I took an overnight bus of the National Express (though not as comfortable as our sleeper and semi sleepers) which takes you via Holyhead in Welsh country to Dublin across the Irish Sea. As you enter Dublin, in the early hours of the morning, you get the feel of the Irish hospitality and culture with the sound of the violin far away.

The people are very friendly, witty and just great fun to be with. Their hospitality is an inspiration to all who want to show kindness to others.

Ireland has a great history of the revolution, the potato famine, St Patrick, Catholicism, and the rich culture, folk music and dances, especially the river dance (step dancing). Also, famous authors such as Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce. The Irish are really fun-loving people … having a passion for traditional music, tap dancing, Guinness and religion (mainly Catholic).

There are so many places to see in Ireland starting from Dublin, Galway, Cliffs of Moher, Ennis, Killarney, Blarney, Limerick, etc. In Dublin, as in many big cities of the world, the best way to get around are the Hop-inHop-off buses … the Green Bus and the Red Bus … (the routes are more or less the same except you get different freebies with each). The buses are available every 30 minutes.

58 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Entrance to the Cliffs of Moher

Ireland Where history comes alive R Nand Kumar St Patrick’s Cathedral th

St Patrick’s Cathedral from the 5 century has contributed a lot to Irish life and heritage. St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Jonathan Swift, famous for Gulliver’s Travels, was the Dean here from 171345. Here you can find impressive stained glass work — both intricate and beautiful. The Chapter Door (of

reconciliation) which ended the war between the two most famous Irish families, the Butlers of Ormonds and the Fitzgeralds of Kildare; when the Earl of Kildare cut a hole in the door to offer his hand in peace is a popular tourist attraction. It is also believed to have given the origin to the expression ‘to chance your arm’ meaning to take initiative.

The Guinness Storehouse If in Dublin, a visit to The Guinness Storehouse is a must. An entry fee of Euro 15 per head may seem high but even if you do not drink, do not miss this visitor experience tour dedicated to the making of this world famous Beer. The Drink IQ test (how much you know about beer and alcohol and their effect on your body) is a must for all who visit here. Become a Certified Crafter of Guinness and get to drink your personally crafted Guinness for free.

The Gravity Bar at level 7 from where one can get a 360 degrees view of Dublin is a great sight. You can also see the Wicklow & Dublin Mountain range, which is the source of pure fresh water that flows into the Guinness brewery every day.

The Dawson Lounge is touted to be the smallest pub in the world.

You have to brush shoulders with all the 10-12 occupants when full, to get in. It’s a great adventure from the moment you enter. You get what you see and that puts the Dawson lounge head and shoulders above its more illustrious, pretentious neighbours on Dawson Street.

Dublin has a very vibrant night life and if you visit the Temple Bar in the evening, it is buzzing with life … and the party goes on till very late. Better watch your pocket, since things can be very expensive down here … but this is where the entire town descends in the evenings … so why not try a Guinness?

If you travel westwards from Dublin there is a lot of history and more fun. There is plenty to be seen and experienced about the history of Ireland on the way.

The Parish of Killinaboy On the way to Galway this Parish is a must - stop place. It dates from the 15th and 16th century. It is just off the road and one may miss it if not for the guide. It is mainly in the ruins where our guide related the story of the Great Potato Famine — The Irish Potato Famine and how millions died and were probably buried here and about.

The Cliffs of Moher The Cliffs of Moher is an amazing and stunning sight and is in one of the most popular tourist sites in Ireland, rising to a height of

214 metres and extending to 8 km.

There is a funny story of Cornelius O’ Brien; supposed to be a Casanova, he would lure women to get an exclusive view of the Cliffs (supposedly owned by him) and ask them for a ‘Cup-o-tea’ thereafter in the tower.

It is a good climb up the cliffs and takes about an hour to view, and if lucky, you one may find traditional Irish music being played along the pathways. Engagements, weddings, blessings and renewal of vows are favourite events at the Cliffs, which also appear in some movies, famous among them being Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (when Dumbledore takes Harry to the Horcrux cave).

Burren – The Lunar Landscape A short drive away are large portions of the uninhabited land called Burren — The Lunar Landscape — meaning a stony or bare place with famous limestone hills. The unique lunar landscape of the Burren Region is like walking on the surface of the moon. However, you

Blarney Castle

MARCH MAR M MA AR A RC CH H 2201 20 2016 0116 R 0 ROT RO ROTARY OT O OTAR TA ARY AR RY NE RY N NEWS EW WSS 5 599

Craic is a Gaelic word with no exact English translation and is a term the Irish use when having tons of fun. do not have to be an astronaut to experience the solemn grandeur of the Burren limestone region, which extends over 100 square miles and has many unusual features that make it unique.

Its geology, flora, caves, archaeology and history set it apart as a place of great mystery and beauty.

St Bridget’s well Say a prayer for the future at St Bridget’s well. This is a wishing well where you pray for what you desire.

She is supposed to have miraculous healing powers. The tour guide also gave us a ribbon to be dipped in the water of the well, asked us make a wish and tie the ribbon to a tree and hope that our wish will come true.

Galway A night stop at Galway gives you a true sense of the music, culture, tap dancing and the fun of Ireland. The city of tribes, where fourteen merchant families who dominated the political, commercial, and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late-19th centuries is the best place to have a craic. The GalCliffs of Moher

Aran Wool Patterns

way Pub Crawl is sure to give you this fun-filled experience.

Aran Islands A short cruise from Galway is the group of three islands called Aran Islands. A ferry from Galway takes you to the largest one — Inishmore.

There are several ways of exploring the island — bicycles, horse carts or bus. The main attractions are the Dun Anghosa Fort, about 2,500 years old and built on top of the 300 foot cliff, and the Seven Churches. Aran Islands are also famous for their hand-knitted sheep wool sweaters (check out the largest shop — Aran Sweater Market).

They have several unique patterns carefully knitted by the local fisher women. These sweaters repel water and can keep you dry.

The Blarney Castle and the Stone of Eloquence are other popular destinations. The latter is found at the top of the tower and once kissed, it bestows the gift of eloquence.

(The author is member of RC Bangalore Jeevan Bima Nagar RI District 3190) Designed by N Krishnamurthy

60 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Doing good with TRF help

Dignity Restored Dr Aruna Tantia RC Salt Lake Metropolitan Kolkata, D 3291, has restored the self-respect of rural women through Project Dignity.

T

he Rotarians of RC Salt Lake Metropolitan Kolkata stumbled upon many families in their Rotary Community Corps areas of Amta and Chakdah in rural West Bengal. They lacked basic sanitation and were too poor to construct toilets. Women had to get up before sunrise and go to the fields to complete their morning rituals; this robbed them of sleep and exposed them to the risk of molestation and insect bites.

Our club decided to address this issue through construction of 40 toilets with support from RC Fostoria, D 6900, Ohio and TRF, under a matching grants

scheme. The project, which cost Rs 8.4 lakh, was carried out in four phases.

About 20 toilets were set up at Bhategori village in Amta Block of Howrah under the first phase of Project Dignity. The beneficiaries were enlisted by local clubs and our RCC. Beside each toilet unit, saplings of two fruit-bearing trees were planted to provide green cover.

In the next phase 20 toilets were constructed in Chakdah Nadia. During the course of the project we came across many heart-wrenching stories of struggle. A young widow, Rekha Biswas, does menial labour throughout the day to earn a square meal. Her only

son, aged 15, dropped out of school after class VII as she could not afford his education and was sent to Bangalore to earn for the family. The mother, with tears in her eyes, shared that she had not heard the voice of her child since he had left the village months ago. She thanked the Rotarians for gifting her dignity by giving her a toilet.

In the third phase rain water harvesting tanks were set up in seven sites at Bhategori village to provide the residents the much needed source of water. Earlier, the salt waters of the Sunderbans used to enter their fields ending the prospect of cultivating anything in the near future. About 2,500 people benefit from this project and now the villagers are able to cultivate double crops instead of a single crop.

It provides an alternate vocation of fishing to the 350 families here.

More toilets On completion of the project and understanding the need for more toilets, we built 23 more around Chakdah, with due clearance from TRF. There is still a requirement for 100 more toilets which we will provide at a later stage.

DG Bob Hogan and spouse Carol from our partner District, D 6900, were present when we handed over the toilets to the villagers of Chakdah. We realised the impact of our project when a young woman in the village whisked us to her home to offer us lunch and showed off how clean and odour-free her surroundings were now.

(The author is past president of RC Salt Lake Metropolitan Kolkata, RI District 3291.)

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 61

A New Poverty… of Sleep G B Prabhat

F

or decades now, world hunger is a problem we have fought.

In recent years, thanks to the growing affluence due to overall economic development and investments in sustainable development by the philanthropic super-rich,

622 ROT ROTARY OTARY OT A N AR NE NEWS EW WSS MARCH MAR RCH H 2016 20 201 06

While the world is poised to end poverty-induced hunger, it has to make serious efforts to end the grievous malady of sleep deprivation. impressive advances have been made in providing food for all. The problem is by no means solved. But there is incontrovertible evidence that we could progress to the day when the food crisis would be resolved almost completely.

Meanwhile, a new poverty has practically all of humanity in its vicelike grip: the poverty of sleep. Unlike its predecessor — the poverty of food — the poverty of sleep makes no distinction based on race, creed, nationality or affluence. Everybody

worldwide seems sleep deprived.

There is hope that if the world grew sufficiently affluent, the world hunger problem would be solved. The poverty of sleep, by comparison, seems to be exacerbated by affluence. In the past, when the GDP of nations was much lower than today, people slept longer and more soundly. It seems almost axiomatic that the richer we become, the less we will sleep.

Sleep is at least as vital to wellbeing as food is. It is the quiet during which the body does all the reparative and scavenging work. Damaged tissues are restored, inflammation healed, toxins removed and mental health refreshed to enable meeting the challenges of the next day. Lack of sleep is increasingly killing humanity at varying paces. Medical data linking lack of

sleep to the early and often irreversible onset of cardiac diseases, diabetes and Alzheimer’s is on the rise. These diseases are striking their victims in their youth. For example, doctors are discovering even children below 10 are not automatically protected from the devastation of hypertension.

It would be the greatest irony to have humanity wiped out the day the hunger problem is solved because all of us slept too little. It would be no less an irony if we fully traded one poverty for another.

Why do people sleep less?

There seem to be two primary reasons that people sleep less.

The first reason is that they are overworked. Workers, regardless of which part of the world they inhabit,

are working more hours than ever in the past. These hours extend well past the contracted 8 or 9 hours they are supposed to work.

So who or what is to blame?

Apparently global competition, which forces business corporations and even governments to produce higher quality and more innovative outputs while vying to attract resources. The world economy, by its current design, does not allow people to sleep.

Witness the case of the Indian IT/BPO industry. As one employee complained, the sun is always rising in some part of the world. The Indian IT/BPO industry manages business in a continuum from Australia to the US West Coast — that’s practically all 24 hours of a day. This is not a problem of the emerging economies alone. US executives complain that they work more and odder hours thanks to the extensive business between the US and China.

The second reason people are sleeping less is the lure of modern technology. Unlike the first reason, the second has nothing to do with oppressive enforcement. Out of his or her own volition, everybody is sleeping less. Entertainment content, work updates and social communication are instantly available.

There is the irresistible temptation to watch just one more YouTube clip, respond to that 1 a m Facebook comment from the other side of the world or worry about the customer’s objection to a contract that arrived midnight by email.

Finally when you sink into the paltry sleep you are likely to get, a message alert wakes you up. Or you sleep fitfully waking up every now and then to check whether a message you have been anxiously awaiting has arrived. The “blue light” seems always on. The magical 8 hour sleep desideratum has become an unattainable dream. But then only if you sleep, can you dream!

MARCH 2016 ROTARY NEWS 63

The new CSR Business corporations and governments worldwide have a binding responsibility to at least significantly mitigate the new poverty, if not eliminate it. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should take on a new meaning. The work that business corporations worldwide are pursuing under the banner of CSR which focuses on the world outside their companies and their profits, is producing inarguably stellar results.

But somehow CSR seems to become less respectable if it focuses on the organisation’s own employees. This is a patently wrong notion.

Without abandoning its external focus, CSR initiatives must now embrace the well-being of its own employees. It is not for nothing that the cliché goes, “Charity must begin at home.” Every organisation must have a concerted CSR effort that is internal and creates and implements comprehensive wellness programmes for its employees. A crucial part of such wellness programmes should be addressing the sleep deficit problem.

Using a combination of legislation, and economic and social taboos, companies have to come together to shape national and international agendas that outlaw overworking.

Sceptics might ask whether international cooperation on this issue would be a reality. I would like to point them to the case of child labour. Governments worked in tandem with business corporations to attack this abhorrent practice. Over

As one employee complained, the sun is always rising in some part of the world.

64 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

a period of time there has been a dramatic reduction in international goods and service that are products of child labour. Today child labour is taboo. I passionately argue for France’s much-reviled legislation of a 35-hour work week; 35 could be increased to 40, but the hours have to be limited to a reasonable number.

Sceptics might ask, doesn’t such regulation interfere with free enterprise and competition? No, it doesn’t. Every sport that is competitive has its own rules and only promises equal opportunity to all participants. If the whole world embraced a 35-hour week, there would be no adverse effect on competitiveness. Instead of criticising France, if more nations joined it in implementing uniform laws about the maximum number of working hours per week, it would level the playing field.

After all, the Scandinavian nations and Australia, which are very sensitive about the number of working hours, boast a high quality of life. It may be a practical necessity to have work shifts covering all the 24 hours of a day. However, workers could be rotated through shifts and overtime strictly limited. New legislation should make overworking a human rights abuse which it is.

Such legislature should not attempt to cure the limitation of working hours by providing for unlimited overtime compensation. That would lead to my earlier argument of increasing affluence worsening the new poverty. Other legislative interventions could consider, for instance, statutory warnings on cheap technology and communication deals offered during odd hours when people should be sleeping: Danger — Could lead to sleep deficit which is injurious to health.

To counter the overuse of technology leading to disturbed sleeping patterns, CSR efforts should develop education and incentive programmes.

I passionately argue for France’s much-reviled legislation of a 35-hour work week; 35 could be increased to 40, but the hours should be limited to a reasonable number.

Educating people about the perils of sleeping less should become the cornerstone of every employee wellness programme. Wearable devices such as Fitbit and Jawbone produce reasonably tamper-proof records of a person’s sleep patterns and the number of steps walked in a day. Incentives could be offered to employees sleeping the requisite number of hours or walking the optimum number of steps in a given period.

Organisations, private or public, do not have to pursue employee wellness only in the name of human development and nobility. They can undertake the mandate in enlightened self-interest. Never before in the history of economic endeavour has access to money and traditional capital investments mattered less.

Ideas, which arise from human capital, account for all manner of competitive advantage. Those ideas depend on the mental and physical wellness of the workers. The pursuit of employee wellness is therefore indistinguishable from the pursuit of profits and growth.

Business corporations have as much a duty as governments to deal effectively with the lack of food and sleep. There can be no real development so long as the twin scourges are in play.

(The writer is Founder, Anantara Solutions Private Limited.

Email: gbprabhat@gmail.com)

Children’s day out at Raj Bhavan Team Rotary News

Children from welfare schools running around the Raj Bhavan campus.

T

he sprawling lawns of the Kolkata Raj Bhavan came alive with the merry sounds and peals of laughter when a Christmas party was organised for the less fortunate children by the Calcutta Foundation, led by Rtn Shamlu Dudeja of RC Kolkata, D 3291, and Chairperson of the NGO. Around 750 children had the time of their lives on their day out at the State Governor’s residence.

The annual Christmas party, held at this Raj Bhavan every year, brings smiles on the faces of hundreds of young children. Fun parties are being organised for groups of 500 to 600 children from welfare schools,

during festivals such as Christmas and Holi and on Children’s Day, at this campus for the last 15 years.

Calcutta Foundation is engaged in empowering children and adults through rehabilitation, education, vocational training and medical support. Children from orphanages are trained in western music by visiting musicians from UK, US and Japan under the banner ‘Calcutta Foundation Orchestra.’ The Foundation has built the Nivedita House, a home for children of leprosy patients, at Udayan, Barrackpore, and 700 low-cost shelters for post-tsunami survivors in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 65

Doing good with TRF help

Saving our children Dr Suhas Kulkarni

Training session at Dharwad by neonatologists from California, District 5230.

I

ndia accounts for nearly 0.9 million newborn deaths every year, which is 30 per cent of the global figure. Premature delivery, birth asphyxia (baby not crying immediately after birth or receiving less oxygen even when inside the mother’s womb) or sepsis (infection during or after delivery), are some causes that account for such deaths.

The infant mortality rate is alarming in Maharashtra (28 per 1,000 births), Karnataka (34 per 1,000) and Goa (11 per 1,000); parts of these States fall under RI District 3170. To address this issue and provide specialised training in neonatal care for the doctors and nurses, D 3170 formed a Vocational Training Team (VTT).

A global grant under Maternal and Child Health was initiated partnering with D 5230, California. PDG Ganesh Bhat and VTT Counsellor Rtn Jorson Fernandez selected the team of neonatologists and paediatricians to undergo training. Doctors and nurses led by Isabel Good, a registered nurse from the US, trained the members at Dharwad, Sirsi, Kolhapur, Sangli, Belgaum and Goa. The team then travelled to the US for advanced training

66 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

at the Valley Children Hospital and Community Children Hospital. The trip was organised by D 5230.

The home team now shares the knowledge gained by conducting training programmes for paediatricians, neonatologists and nurses working in the neonatal ICU in various hospitals in the district. One such programme ‘NeoApps’ was arranged at the Apple Saraswati Hospital in Kolhapur, where 26 paediatricians and neonatologists were trained in basic and advanced neonatology.

The team also conducted an awareness programme for the public to explain the techniques to prevent neonatal diseases. Simple measures like hand washing before touching the baby, keeping the babies warm by methods such as kangaroo mother care and breast feeding, were detailed. The VTT believes that the training and awareness will decrease infant mortality and morbidity rates and save many lives.

(The writer is a member of RC Kolhapur Midtown, D 3170 and the Neonatal VTT’s team leader.

Email: drspk_2000@yahoo.com)

District Wise TRF Contributions as on January 31, 2016 (in US Dollars)

District Number

APF

2981 2982 3000 3011 3012 3020 3030 3040 3051 3052 3053 3060 3070 3080 3090 3100 3110 3120 3131 3132 3140 3150 3160 3170 3180 3190 3201 3202 3211 3212 3230 3240 3250 3261 3262 3291 India Total

31,298 35,031 19,048 18,972 1,60,844 76,087 4,845 3,356 150 0 1,993 1,00,803 15,292 41,274 31,920 37,684 52,234 50,308 97,708 36,533 3,98,924 9,306 13,274 7,689 1,33,286 3,49,529 1,22,999 49,495 60,363 42,446 1,73,052 48,344 31,614 1,611 95,461 (961) 23,51,812

3220

1,04,881

3271 3272

16,045 7,430

3281 3282

34,977 50,361

3292 South Asia Total World Total

1,92,781 27,58,287 6,14,97,969

PolioPlus*

Other Restricted

India 2,309 0 8,763 0 525 0 4,748 9,930 9,163 97,082 28,825 0 20 45,366 45 29,638 0 0 0 40,783 0 0 2,188 15,183 397 0 14,777 18,941 0 0 0 100 7,727 13,230 156 0 2,720 42,917 2,144 0 17,116 33,423 4,000 27,001 0 0 1,290 25,534 363 3,123 9,000 78,310 3,365 100 2,307 0 1,000 0 1,509 0 25,075 1,48,036 0 100 1,300 8,000 0 0 25 12,028 0 72,031 1,50,857 7,20,856 Sri Lanka 20,565 48,058 Pakistan 22,820 989 5,136 (200) Bangladesh 50 41,162 0 0 Nepal 1,300 2,58,161 2,00,729 10,69,026 1,29,41,018 74,27,778

* Excludes Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. * Does not include contribution of Mrs Rajashree Birla ($1,000,000)

Total Endowment Contributions Fund 197 0 0 3,030 0 34,848 0 0 0 0 0 22,000 0 9,258 0 2,000 0 0 3,068 27,500 1,64,640 40,010 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,000 (308) 14,643 0 0 0 39,000 0 3,60,887

33,804 43,794 19,573 36,680 2,67,088 1,39,760 50,231 33,040 150 40,783 1,993 1,40,174 15,689 84,250 31,920 39,784 73,192 50,464 1,46,413 66,177 6,14,103 80,317 13,274 34,513 1,36,771 4,36,839 1,26,464 51,802 62,363 43,648 3,60,806 48,444 40,914 1,611 1,46,514 71,070 35,84,412

7,583

1,81,087

0 0

39,854 12,366

6,900 2,000

83,089 52,361

0 3,77,370 1,04,31,403

4,52,243 44,05,412 9,22,98,167

Source: RI South Asia Office

ROTARY CLUB CENTRAL PLAN TOGETHER TRACK PROGRESS ACHIEVE GOALS

It’s a one-stop shop.

It eliminates paper.

It fosters continuity in leadership It enables clubs to track their progress.

It creates transparency.

It showcases the important work that Rotary clubs do worldwide.

Get started!

Go to www.rotary.org/clubcentral

Political memoirs and their discontents TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan

T

here used to be a time when neither politicians nor bureaucrats would write their memoirs. It was considered bad form.

That self-deprecation began to change in the 1980s when a few of them started telling their versions of what they saw as having happened while they were governing the country.

The first and most important of these was D P Mishra, who in the 1950s and 1960s had been a very important and powerful member of the old pre-Indira Congress. Morarji Desai who was prime minister during 1977-79 has also written his memoirs.

But these were rarities.

The trickle became stronger in the 1990s. More of them started telling their stories. R Venkataraman, who went on to become President, wrote his autobiography. In the first few years of the last decade, when the influence of the large western publishers with their huge advances and marketing skills began to grow, the memoirs business really took off. P V Narasimha Rao told his story via a novel called The Insider.

But given how many men and women from the Congress have been in powerful positions, one would have expected far more autobiographies than have actually been written or published. Perhaps the fear of the Gandhi family after 1980 has held them back because who knows what might slip out and land them in trouble?

Also, with the Gandhi family running the Congress, there has hardly 68 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

been any politician who can claim any degree of stature. The exception is P Chidambaram, but even he has not written an autobiography, being content with publishing collections of his newspaper articles. A second one is in the pipeline.

But in the last five or six years there has been a veritable flood of autobiographies. Now virtually everyone who has a story to tell or wants to go down in history’s footnotes as a source for some titbit has been writing

memoirs. Strangely no female politician has done so.

As always there are some exceptions. Sonia Gandhi is not likely to tell her story. Nor is Manmohan Singh, although one of his daughters has written a book about him which ends in the 1990s. Now another daughter is putting together his papers for the Nehru Memorial Library.

No such reticence has held back President Pranab Mukherjee or Sharad Pawar. Another notable is a man who

has a lot of grievances, Makhanlal Fotedar. At one time, along with R K Dhavan, he was Indira Gandhi’s left hand man but has been out of favour for almost 30 years now. Even a relatively junior politician like Salman Khurshed has recently written about parts of his life.

From the BJP, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will never write a memoir. But his colleagues L K Advani and Jaswant Singh have done so. As for Narendra Modi, we will probably never read his memoirs. But he can argue that there are so many biographies that he need not bother with an autobiography. There have been other important members of the BJP also. But none of them, to the best of my knowledge, apart from Advani and Jaswant Singh, has written his or her memoirs.

The Communists are an exception and many of them have written books.

Jyoti Basu has done so but he is in a

Now virtually everyone who has a story to tell or wants to go down in history’s footnotes as a source for some titbit has been writing memoirs. minority. Most Communist leaders have preferred to write intellectual treatises on class relations and so on.

Much the same is true of the leaders and politicians from the regional parties. There are hardly any leaders who have written autobiographies.

What is the takeaway for the reader from these books? Does he or she really learn anything of value?

Or are these books just an exercise in vanity? Are they written merely to set the record straight? Or are these no more than a desperate attempt to be remembered after the author is long

gone, first from the political scene and then from this world?

It is hard to say because these volumes tend to be extremely selfregarding. Only a few pause to reflect on things and even when they do, it is mostly either to boast or to complain.

This is truly surprising because many of them are genuinely very accomplished and thoughtful persons whose intellect is no worse than of many university professors.

The only conclusion I can draw after having read many political memoirs is that the publishers have to guide them better than they have done so far in the writing of their books. The aim must be to enrich the content with insight and analysis. After all, details of early life at home, school and college lose their relevance after some time while lessons from their experiences hold far more value for the country.

FUNDS

FAST FAST TRACK TRACK

5Cr 500Crs e Equity / Debt, Secured/ Unsecured e Foreign Currency @ 3.95% e By Ex Bankers, IIT, IIM Alumini e CAs Welcome Rtn. P.P.,P.H.F, N.MATHUR IMPACT CONSULTING 1/488, Vinayagapuram Main Road, Mugalivakkam, Chennai - 600125.

Ct: 9841010234 / 9791888762 / 9176008164, 044-42840109 Email:impactconsulting12@gmail.com

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 69

Is ‘happiness’ overrated?

Sheela Nambiar

I

s happiness overrated? Of course it is!

Reading the most popular writing or browsing the internet you will always find clichéd articles on How to be happy, What makes you happy, How to stay happy, 10 ways to happiness, and so on. We are programmed with fairy tales with the ‘happily ever after’ endings right from a very early age, creating the delusion this is how things are supposed to pan out.

One starts to feel terribly inadequate if one is anything but deliriously happy all the time. But honestly, what is happiness?

• The feeling of excitement when you make holiday plans?

• The outpouring of love when your pet or kid throws himself at you?

• The satisfaction of meeting a deadline?

• All of the above?

These are all isolated incidences. Call me a cynic if you like, but I think the word happiness is highly overrated, abused and forced upon people.

Making us believe that we must be happy at every turn of life. Of course that’s not possible. Happiness and joy are emotions that are felt simply due to certain chemical reactions in the brain. The brain is the only organ that can feel any emotion.

Certain hormones and neurotransmitters like endorphins, oxytocin,

serotonin or dopamine are released and circulate within the brain stimulating certain parts of the brain that are responsible for the feeling that we call happiness. These hormones and neurotransmitters are released for various reasons.

D

id you know some of these chemicals are released while exercising?

So basically just moving your body, working up a sweat can release these hormones and neurotransmitters. Similar results are obtained from receiving

Our objective is to seek a continuous supply of these neurotransmitters bathing our brain cells and causing us to feel joy.

a diamond ring, getting a raise, buying a house and a run around the lake!

Well, maybe not quite but you get my drift. And yet, there will be profuse writings from agony aunts in the most popular magazines and advice from famous TV personalities on how

to procure that diamond ring, how to nail the man of your dreams, how to land the perfect job, how to make your next million bucks, as though those are the only achievements worth aspiring for.

What I am trying to say is that happiness as is seen in the most common light is a fleeting feeling which cannot be sustained indefinitely simply because the neurotransmitters/ hormones creating that feeling cannot be released indefinitely. If they are produced indefinitely, they can cause more harm than good. When they run out, the situation leading to their release comes to an end.

So is our objective to seek a continuous supply of these neurotransmitters bathing our brain cells and causing us to feel joy? Seems a bit simplistic.

Interspersed with that reality will be life events such as marriage, falling in love (in whichever order you like), having children, adopting pets, getting a raise, buying a house, nailing the job you aspired to, driving down a beautiful coastline, becoming the chief of the department, having an affair, climbing the Himalayas, buying that beautiful pair of shoes you coveted, and so on.... All of which produce a spurt of chemicals, which create joy, thrill, excitement and happiness.

W

hat we need is purpose. A feeling of necessity. We can feel satisfied

Simple things like reading a book, completing a task or even

doing other things which don’t necessarily produce a severe rush of such chemicals, but which create the hum that resonates with just one thing ...

Life.

Simple things like reading a book or getting to work or completing a task or even the act of giving produce similar feelings of joy. In such situations we can feel functional, engaged and relevant. That I think is what keeps us moving forward and constitute the Relevance of our existence. The happy moments come and go. Many life events create such moments, but that’s what they are — moments or extended moments. The fillers are ‘real life’ circumstances, which change and evolve but don’t necessarily create delirious happiness. Live through them we must, knowing that they are precious, that life is precious irrespective of whether it produces happiness relayed hormones or not.

What matters most is also our attitude to our existence on this earth.

• Our connections and engagement with our context and environment, people, our work, family and friends.

• Our interest in others, in causes, in events.

• Our passions.

• Our approach not just to the ‘happy’ moments but also to life in general.

Life cannot be controlled. These moments cannot be orchestrated.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I exercise. That is somehow within my control. And by doing so, I am actually able to release some ‘feel good’ hormones at will. It takes me through daily life in a positive frame of mind, (not deliriously ‘happy,’ but definitely positive) to be able to enjoy those special moments when they do arrive.

the act of giving, can produce the feeling of happiness.

(The writer is a fitness and lifestyle consultant and has published two books: Get Size Wise; Gain to Lose.

E-mail: Sheela.nambiar@gmail.com) MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 71

The Foodie side of a Sindhi Varsha Makhija Many of us have that one Sindhi friend who always snacked RQ µ.RNLV»/RODV»'RGDV¶ DQG ZKRVH OXQFK ER[ ZDV SDFNHG ZLWK IODYRXUIXO µNDGKL FKDZDO¶ DQG µWDVW\ WXNV¶ RU QXWULWLRXV µVDL EKDML¶ DQG VFUXPSWLRXV µEKXJD FKDZDO ¶ 5HDG RQ WR JHW D JOLPSVH RI SRSXODU 6LQGKL FXLVLQH DQG FXOWXUH

M

ost Sindhis are proud of their traditional recipes handed down to them by ancestors…. Even in this age of burgers, pizzas and French fries. “Cooking good food runs in our bloodline.

Every Sindhi girl is groomed from a very young age thanks to the elders at home,” says Sheetal Melwani, a college student in Chennai.

Visit a Sindhi household on a Sunday afternoon for a typical Sindhi lunch … the magical aroma of piping hot kadhi flavoured with ginger and green chillies, deep-fried tuks made from flattened potatoes is sure to linger for miles around.

This is usually accompanied with rice and manni/phulka/rotis. Sweets

A few interesting facts about Sindhis

• Sindhis are a socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, a province of what

• •

• •

72 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Rabri Falooda

is now Pakistan. After the independence of India and Pakistan, many Sindhi Hindus migrated to India and other parts of the world.

The word ‘Sindhi’ is derived from the River Sindhu (now River Indus in Pakistan).

Easily identifiable with their unique surnames usually ending with either ‘ani’ (a variant of 'anshi', derived from the Sanskrit word 'ansh', which means descended from) or ‘ja’ (meaning of) — Bijlani, Asrani, Raheja.

Sindhi culture has been strongly influenced by Sufism. Jhulelal, the Water God, a Sufi pioneer of Sindh is revered by Sindhis.

“O Lal Meri Pat Rakhiyo Bhala Jhulelalan....." is a well-known prayer song among Sindhis to praise this God.

Ingredients

Bhuga Chawal • 1 cup Basmati or any long-grain rice • 2 onions, peeled and chopped (diced) • 2 tomatoes finely chopped • 1 tsp jeera • 2 bay leaves

• ½ tsp red chilli powder • 1½ to 2 cups of water • 1 tbsp of ghee or butter or 2 tbsp oil • Salt to taste • Boiled vegetables (optional)

Method In a bowl wash and soak the rice for 10 mins and keep it aside. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker and add jeera and bay leaves and fry for 15 seconds. Next add the chopped onions and fry them till they turn golden brown. Add the tomatoes and cook them for 5–10 mins. Now add the soaked rice, red chillies and salt and saute it over a low flame for a couple of minutes and keep stirring it occasionally. Add two cups of water and close the lid.

Switch off the gas after one whistle. Alternatively the rice can also be cooked in a pan and covered with a lid. But it should be cooked on slow flame till the rice becomes tender.

Boiled vegetables including carrots, beans, peas, cauliflower can also be added to this dish.

Enjoy Sindhi bhuga chawal with your favourite vegetable — fried ladies finger, potatoes, ghobi, raita or plain yogurt and of course the famous Sindhi papad.

“The meal is so popular that no wedding is complete without the famous ‘kadhi-chawal’ function.”

The kadhi tastes amazing when a handful of onion pakoras are added to it. Accompanied by phudina chutney (chutney made from mint leaves) these pakoras can be enjoyed with chappati or even plain bread, making it a mouth-watering dinner option as well. Another favourite is bhuga chawal or Sindhi fried rice (Refer box for recipe). A meal by itself, it can be accompanied with leafy sai-bhaji (greens mixed with lentils), makhni dal (yellow lentils) or toori (ridge gourd cooked with onions and tomatoes). What makes this dish unique is the caramelised onions and the generous mix of grated tomatoes.

No article on Sindhi food is complete without including the mouthwatering rabri/kulfi-falooda a-la-Sindhi style. The rabri is usually made from scratch after boiling the milk for an hour or so till it reaches an appetisingly thick consistency. Ice is crushed and added to the dish before serving, and this gives it that magical effect.

Sindhi culture and attitude

Tasty Tuks

which c omplement the lunch are mitha boondi or motichur boondi, mohnthal (roasted gram flour fudge), moong dal ka halwa, singhar (sev or fried strings of besan/gram flour) jhi mithai.

“The meal is so popular that no wedding is complete without the famous

‘kadhi-chawal’ function, usually held the day before the wedding, where the invitees are treated to a sumptuous lunch that includes the above-mentioned fare,” says Rishi Rajkumar Chhabria, Proprietor, Shri Siddhi Vinayak Sweets, a sweet shop in Chennai, which makes a wide variety of Sindhi food items.

Usually engaged in business, trade, small-scale entrepreneurships, Sindhis are known for their adaptable, friendly, easy-going nature and have left their mark mainly in the tertiary sector. Inspite of the circumstances under which Hindu Sindhis had to leave their homes following the Partition of India in 1947, they are pioneers when it comes to dealing with change and their success in business and society world-wide speaks of this distinct quality.

Designed by K Vishwanathan MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 73

Green kitchen patches provide food security in MP Shuriah Niazi

I

t’s a hard life for Daupati Bai (24) and her husband, Munim Singh, residents of Jhalapani village in Madhya Pradesh’s tribal dominated Mandla district. Munim, a labourer, has to traverse 20 km to the block headquarters to get some work. Many men in the neighbouring villages migrate to nearby cities for employment, but he has opted to stay near his family.

In the past, the couple worried constantly about making ends meet, but today, thanks to Daupati’s hard work, they are assured two proper nutritious meals a day. Unlike in the past, there is no dearth of choices in preparing the family meal — there’s fenugreek (methi), spinach, capsicum, brinjal and tomato growing aplenty in her backyard and the best part is that she doesn’t have to spend much to grow them.

“A couple of years back if someone had told me that I would be able to afford to eat vegetables, I wouldn’t have believed them,” says Daupati.

So what has been the game-changer for this impoverished family? A few years back, activists from the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) showed up at her door and proposed that she grow vegetables in the small patch of land at the back of her house.

Desperate to make sure that her little son ate well — he was very weak and fell ill frequently because of lack of nutritive food — she agreed. “When they came to me with seeds, I was quite sceptical of the idea. I had never grown vegetables previously.

But then I decided to give it a try and followed all their instructions.

74 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

Thankfully, at least our meals are taken care of,” she adds.

As such, the daily struggles for the couple have not really eased. Financial troubles are an intrinsic part of their existence. “Yet, ever since Daupati has cultivated the kitchen garden, the pressure on me has marginally reduced.

With food growing right here in our backyard, I know that however bad the times are, we will get food on

our plates at the end of the day,” says Munim.

Acute food insecurity is common in Madhya Pradesh. As per the National Institute of Nutrition, 49 per cent rural children below five years in the State are stunted, 52 per cent are underweight, and 26 per cent are wasted. Moreover, the National Family Health Survey figures reveal that 57.7 per cent of

married women between 15-49 years, and 82.6 per cent children between 6-35 months are anaemic, making them vulnerable to several diseases.

Worst affected Poor and marginalised tribal communities are among the worst affected because they are dependent on seasonal agriculture and forest produce

great risk during childbirth and end up having extremely weak offspring needing special diet, which they are unable to provide. FES has initiated an intervention here to deal with this grave issue by giving the families seeds for developing a kitchen garden.

Generally, Gond tribals depend on wage work to make a living, but then there are several days when they are unable to earn anything. Those who own small pieces of land usually cultivate hardy cereals, such as kodo (wild millet) and kutki (little millet), which grow even in drought conditions and in poor soil, apart from maize and paddy.

The yields, however, are not even sufficient to see them through more than one season. Nonetheless, these days, thanks to their green kitchen patches, they are able to include vegetables regularly in their meals, which not only keep them fed but also provide them with sufficient vitamins and other essential nutrients.

Her kitchen garden is a big boon, specially considering that work for her husband is rare in the village.

“On most days he has to travel to the tehsil town, 2 km away, but there is no guarantee that he will come back home with money. But even as we continue to cope with several challenges, which crop up frequently as there is not enough money in the household, at least I am assured that we will not go without food.”

The industrious young woman employs good farming practices to nurture her garden. “I use recycled water to irrigate the patch and it’s only natural manure for my plants. Every season, I have a selection of green and leafy vegetables, among other produce. Be it fenugreek in winter or bottle-gourd in summer, my little girl relishes everything I make for her. Her health has improved tremendously,” says Laxmi, as a big smile lights up her

With food growing right here in our backyard, I know that however bad the times we will get food on our plate at the end of the day.

to keep their home and hearth going.

Unfortunately, climate change and increasing inaccessibility to forest areas, brought on by the inconsistent enforcement of the Forest Regulations Act (FRA), have only deepened their food and livelihood insecurities.

In Niwas block, chiefly inhabited by Gond tribals, malnutrition is widespread among women and children. Undernourished mothers are at

Just like Daupati Bai, Laxmi Bai Kudape a resident of Padarpani village in Niwas block, used to spend sleepless nights agonising about making ends meet and feeding the family. Her husband, Devendra, a daily wage labourer, would often be without work and so she would have to forage around for food to make sure that at least her oneyear-old would not sleep hungry.

Natural manure Now that she has understood the nutritional benefits of consuming the fresh, seasonal produce and begun growing her own vegetables she is more at peace.

face. Neither Laxmi nor her daughter is reeling under the dilapidating effects of undernourishment any longer.

Uniformly, there is a renewed sense of hope in all the families that have benefited from the seed distribution.

Pointing to her lush kitchen garden, a philosophical Daupati concludes, “I feel proud of what I have managed to accomplish. It just goes to show how even the smallest endeavour can have a profoundly positive effect in life.”

Somewhere in the background, her son, who used to be quiet and listless at one time, squeaks with delight, running around like all healthy children his age. (© Women’s Feature Service) MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 75

Destination Dubai — the venue for the Rotary Zone Institute 2016.

A

stounding souks and malls, Manhattan-style skyline and mesmerising sanddunes, distinctive landmarks such as the impressive Burj Khalifa and the Palm Jumeirah beach. Join us at Dubai, one of the most exciting cities in the world. This land of delicious dates and glittering gold is the business hub of the Middle East, offering everything — size, quantity, quality.

The desert beckons you to lounge in its eclectic mix of luxury shopping, ultra modern architecture, lively nightlife, Desert safari, camel rides, falconry, yachting and skydiving. Add colour to your trip — visit the world’s largest Miracle Garden with 45 million varieties of flowers, and shop till you drop dead.

Dazzling Dubai Zone Institute guarantees you a memorable experience. An Ice-­ breaking session with RI President John Germ on a catamaran and a sit-down dinner at the Armani Pavilion with a stunning view of the Dubai Fountain.

Nothing is impossible Let us all gear up to get re-energised by recalling some of Rotary’s greatest moments, which teaches us that nothing is impossible.

• Polio eradication work over 30 years, spending $2 billion and partnering with WHO, UNICEF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

• Natural disaster management. Building 11 villages and 142 schools after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Tremendous work in rebuilding schools destroyed by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and the devastating floods in Uttarkashi. And now, after the Nepal earthquake, Rotarians have done 4,000 temporary shelters and are geared up to build 1,000 pucca houses.

Convenor: RI Director Manoj Desai Chairman: PDG Raja Seenivasan, RI District 3230

For more details and registration, please visit www.dubairotaryinstitute2016.org

dubai promotion.indd 76

3/4/2016 12:00:00 PM

Make sure Rotary News Moves with you!

Changing your address? Please write to us before you move, two months in advance. Mention your Club name, RI District Number and Rotary News Account Number from your magazine address label or simply attach the label itself.

Your Rotary News Account Number Name Rtn. _________________________________________________________________________________ Rotary Club of __________________________________________________ RI District ____________________ New Address (Please write your NEW Address below, in CAPITAL letters) ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ City / Town _____________________________________________________ PIN Code ___________________ Mail this coupon to: ROTARY NEWS TRUST, 3rd Floor, Dugar Towers, 34, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai-600 008.

ANNOUNCEMENT With effect from March 1, 2016 the revised RI exchange rate is US $1 = INR 68.00 Source: RI South Asia Office

ROTARY GLOBAL REWARDS: THE GOOD YOU DO COMES BACK TO YOU

Presenting a member benefit program too good to keep to yourself. With discounts on travel, hotels, dining, services and more, Rotary Global Rewards is designed to help you get more good work done and build Rotary friendships.

Rotary Global Rewards. It’s our way of giving back to those who give so much FIND ROTARY GLOBAL REWARDS AT ROTARY.ORG/MYROTARY

Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor, trustees of the Rotary News Trust, or Rotary International.

Every effort is made to ensure that the magazine’s content is accurate.

Information is published in good faith but no liability can be accepted for loss or inconvenience arising from errors or omission. Advertisements are accepted at face value and no liability can be accepted for the action of advertisers. The Editor welcomes contribution of articles, news items, photographs and letters, but is under no obligation to publish unsolicited material. The Editor reserves the right to edit for clarity or length. Contributors must ensure that all material submitted is not in breach of copyright or that if such material is submitted, they have obtained necessary permission, in writing, for its reproduction.

Photographs in this publication may not be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without the consent of Rotary News Trust.

Printed by Mukesh Arneja at Thomson Press (India) Ltd, Plot A-9, Industrial Complex, Maraimalai Nagar 603209, India and published

by Mukesh Arneja on behalf of Rotary News Trust from Dugar Towers, 3rd Flr, 34, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai 600 008.

Editor: Rasheeda Bhagat.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 77

Monitoring BP at Home Dr A Muruganathan

H

ypertension is a major health problem in India and the leading cause of a million deaths annually. It is directly responsible for 57 per cent of deaths caused by strokes and 24 per cent of coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths in India. Increased awareness, treatment and control of high blood pressure are critical to the reduction of mortality and morbidity.

The World Health Organisation report states that a 2 per cent reduction in diastolic blood pressure could prevent 3 lakh deaths from cardiovascular disease by 2020. What cannot be measured cannot be monitored. What cannot be monitored cannot be controlled. Early diagnosis is the critical step to initiating proper management; BP can be monitored at ease from home itself.

Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) Self-measurement of BP or home BP monitoring is regular measurement of blood pressure by the patient outside clinical settings. It is recommended that HBPM should become a routine component of BP measurement in patients with known or suspected hypertension. It is useful to rule out white-coat and masked hypertension.

Oscillometric monitors that measure BP on the upper arm are recommended as they give accurate readings according to standard international protocol. Two to three readings should be taken while the patient is resting in seated position, both in the morning and at night, over a period of one week.

78 ROTARY NEWS MARCH 2016

A total of 12 readings are recommended for making clinical decisions.

HBPM is advised in patients with newly diagnosed or suspected hypertension, to distinguish between white-coat and sustained hypertension. If the results are equivocal, ambulatory BP monitoring may help to establish the diagnosis; in patients with pre-hypertension, HBPM may be useful for detecting masked hypertension; it is recommended for evaluating the response to any type of anti-hypertensive treatment and may improve adherence.

The target HBPM goal for treatment is less than 135/85 mm Hg or 130/80 mm Hg in high-risk patients.

It is useful for the elderly, in whom both BP variability and the white-coat effect are increased, and for diabetic patients in whom rigid BP control is of paramount importance. Others

requiring BP monitoring include pregnant women, children and patients with kidney disease. This can greatly reduce medical costs while improving the quality of care.

An ideal gift Every family has at least one hypertension patient. NGOs, medical associations and individuals can donate the BP apparatus as a gift to every non-medical family for birthday or wedding anniversary functions. This is an ideal gift because it improves healthy living for the family. Just like weighing scales, a vending machine to measure BP is yet to be invented.

Digital BP instruments can be kept at public places for early diagnosis.

(The writer is Past District Governor of D 3202 and President of Hypertension Society of India.)

Membership in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives As on February 2, 2016

RI RI Rotary No. of Women Rotaract Interact Zone District Clubs Rotarians Rotarians

Rotary at a glance Rotarians

: 12,21,630*

Clubs

: 35,115*

Districts

: 535*

Rotaractors

: 2,01,342

Clubs

: 8,754

Interactors

: 4,41,278

Clubs

: 19,186

RCC members : 1,99,732 RCC

: 8,684

*As of February 02, 2016 As of December 31, 2015

5 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

2981 2982 3000 3011 3012 3020 3030 3040 3051 3052 3053 3060 3070 3080 3090 3100 3110 3120 3131 3132 3140 3150 3160 3170 3180 3190 3201 3202 3211 3212 3220 3230 3240 3250 3261 3262 3271 3272 3281 3282 3291 3292 Total

104 63 111 66 71 78 94 93 63 68 58 95 111 75 81 85 106 71 123 82 145 95 64 125 142 109 136 132 133 89 76 145 80 97 73 78 58 105 184 123 153 94 4,134

4,299 2,877 4,749 2,785 3,050 4,025 5,169 2,134 2,464 3,396 2,231 3,946 3,133 3,193 2,054 2,017 3,674 2,917 5,379 3,523 7,593 3,382 2,260 5,314 5,861 4,885 5,183 4,977 4,195 3,696 2,052 6,004 2,842 3,663 2,417 2,914 1,123 1,769 5,389 3,266 3,976 3,380 1,53,156

176 105 386 374 425 231 577 248 184 511 243 343 269 184 85 108 176 268 998 346 1,089 290 104 320 290 452 273 259 226 190 253 481 343 580 241 316 168 310 720 266 665 445 14,518

46 38 180 36 51 79 60 40 42 33 15 44 56 52 28 10 48 33 66 52 122 72 10 35 49 90 76 74 10 63 69 148 51 40 15 37 36 27 202 112 52 97 2,496

207 102 363 89 99 375 223 99 122 128 30 100 144 167 36 81 49 48 201 113 362 171 38 260 405 211 99 376 67 202 188 408 127 189 97 63 13 35 79 21 106 98 6,391

RCC

166 37 99 28 54 297 127 135 330 126 90 115 54 98 122 146 71 49 70 96 141 109 80 156 148 44 46 39 119 120 77 298 127 171 42 68 13 35 181 38 551 90 5,003

Source: RI South Asia Office

Rtn B Amaranath of RC Bangalore Central, D 3190, was awarded a PhD in yoga and research by S-VYASA Yoga University, Bangalore.

The Rotarians of District 3262 took part in the Statelevel Republic Day Parade at Mahatma Gandhi Marg in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, which was presided over by the Governor of Odisha, S C Jamir.

Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah presided over launching of the book, ‘My 20-year journey in Rotary,’ authored in Tamil by PDG G Olivannan, D 3230. PDG P T Ramkumar (3230), DGNs Gopalakrishnan (3000) and Sivashankaran (3202), Ethiraj College Trust Chairman Muralidharan and the college Principal Dr A Nirmala were also present.

MARCH 2016

ROTARY NEWS 81

IN BRIEF Police verification after passport delivery

Pope Francis debuts in Hollywood

Pope Francis will become the first Pope to act in a film. He will play himself in an American film Beyond the Sun, a family adventure based on the gospel. It was inspired by the pontiff’s wish for filmmakers to cater to children while communicating Jesus’ message to the world. All profits from the film will be donated to children’s charities in Argentina, the Pope’s home country.

Lionel Messi to meet 5-year-old Ahmadi To enable faster issue of passports, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced that firsttime passport applicants will be issued passports within three days provided they furnish certain identity documents and an affidavit stating absence of any police case or criminal record against them.

Police verification will be done after the passport is delivered to the applicant and no additional fee will be charged. The MEA has also launched ‘mPassport Police App,’ a smartphone app, to help verification officers to digitally capture the report into their systems. The government has done away with police verification for reissue of passports since August 2015.

A photo of an Afghan boy, Murtaza Ahmadi, donning the blue and white Argentinian soccer jersey from an improvised polythene bag with the name ‘Messi’ handwritten at the back, uploaded by his brother, went viral recently on the internet. It has inspired the Afghanistan Football Federation to lobby with representatives of the Argentine team to arrange a meeting for Ahmadi to fly to Spain to meet his idol, Lionel Messi. Ahmadi hails from war-torn Ghazni province and his brother made the jersey for him as the family was unable to afford the original.

Cradle for abandoned girl child The Government of Rajasthan, the State infamous for female foeticide, has introduced an initiative called Ashray to save girl children. Under the scheme the government will place cradles in 65 State hospitals where unwanted female babies can be left. The cradles are fitted with alarms that ring two minutes after the baby is placed, giving enough time for the parent to walk away. Tamil Nadu was the first to initiate this scheme over 20 years ago.

Eagles to capture drones The Dutch police authorities have partnered with ‘Guard from Above,’ an organisation that trains eagles and other raptors to tackle unmanned aircrafts in the sky. Drones, being cheap and easy to use in the region, are posing huge problems for emergency vehicles such as air ambulances that need a clear airspace to land.

The birds, which have both speed and strength, will be trained to intercept wayward drones. A video of an eagle’s said capabilities was released and research is under progress to study the impact of the drones on the birds’ claws.

Compiled by Jaishree; Designed by K Vishwanathan 82 ROTARY NEWS MARCH NOVEMBER 20162015

Join us for the Jubilee 30 APRIL 2016

Join President K.R. Ravindran and Rotary District 2080 as they welcome the world to the Jubilee of Rotarians, a special Mass to be celebrated by His Holiness Pope Francis.

Rotarians, family and friends can attend this once-in-a-lifetime event in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Rome, Italy, where Pope Francis will recognize Rotary for its humanitarian service worldwide.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity

VISIT:

R Register online by 15 March

www.rotary-jubilee2016.org

Services and support are available at the event website.

REGN. NO. TN/CCN/360/2015-2017 LICENSED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT NO.TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-431/2015-2017 REGISTERED WITH REGISTRAR OF NEWS PAPERS FOR INDIA 3880/57 ROTARY NEWS PUBLISHED ON 1ST OF EVERY MONTH