Meet your Governors

Focus on all-women’s clubs, membership retention

With an extension of his tenure for the second year, ­Harish Gaur says, “due to Covid-related issues, I am keen to retain members and taking special efforts to induct the right Rotarians after an orientation so that they don’t quit the clubs.” He is hopeful of a 10 per cent growth in membership which stands at 2,800 across 64 clubs. The district will add one more all-women’s club in Rajasthan to the existing tally of seven and “we have set a 2–3 per cent growth in women members who constitute 16 per cent of our strength.”

Rotaract clubs are poised to touch 64 from 30 at the beginning of the year and “it is my wish the clubs sponsor at least one Rotaract club each in the district.” He is also working to increase the strength of Rotaractors to 1,500 by the year-end from around 900 at the start of the year. A mega water dam (GG: $70,000) inaugurated by Gaur at a village near Gwalior will enhance irrigation and fulfil other water needs of 25 hamlets. “We have planted over 1,000 saplings on its banks to retain groundwater. Fish rearing is also taken up at this dam,” he says.

Gaur will be doing 28 Happy Schools with CSR funding, mostly in Rajasthan, for which two GGs ($155,000) are under process of approval. Under a GG project ($62,000), OT equipment are being installed at the Government Hospital, Ajmer, and “we hope to complete the work by December-end.”

RC Bikaner has opened SDCL Daga Rotary Dialysis Centre with six machines at a project cost of $110,400 with a mix of GG ($20,000), DDF ($20,000), cash contributions ($42,000) and directed gift ($30,400). “We distributed 20 ventilators to government hospitals for a GG of $32,000 and the balance met through donations.” His target for TRF collection is $300,000. As a member of a cultural NGO, “I was drawn into Rotary by my friends and became a member of RC Bhiwadi in 2006.”

“We want to resume physical meetings”

Covid has induced an extended period of uncertainty in membership growth and community projects in RID 3110, says Dinesh Shukla. “We are able to hold only online meetings and events, but members want two-way interactions and not just one-way communication and hence, interest in such webinars is beginning to wane,” he says. Secondly, the economic activity has taken a big hit in central UP and middle-class professionals, business and traders are looking forward to physical meets and one-to-one exchanges for exploring tie-ups and revive growth. “But I am hopeful of inducting 300 new members, taking membership to 4,200 by June next year. And we are looking forward to resume physical meetings once the pandemic subsides.”

Women’s membership stood at 15 per cent in the district. “It is difficult to induct more women in clubs as most of them are housewives and are not ­entrepreneurs.” As most of colleges and schools are closed, “we are aiming to add just 200–230 new Rotaractors and charter only a few Rotaract clubs in these Covid times.” Shukla will be inaugurating a dialysis centre with 10 machines at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kanpur (GG: ₹75 lakh approx).

He aims to collect $100,000 for TRF giving. “I will be taking up around 50 Happy Schools projects in Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh and Kashipur (Uttarakhand) through a mix of GG, DDF and private contributions. After becoming a chartered accountant, he joined RC Kanpur Gangaghat in 1987 due to peer pressure from “my friends who asked me to join social clubs to develop acquaintances.”  Very soon, he shifted to RC Kanpur West.

Plans to send a medical mission to Zambia

Membership retention is one of the focus areas, “that I am working on given the Covid challenges. But I am confident of adding at least 600 new members so that membership touches 4,000 by the end of Rotary year, thus netting a 20 per cent growth,” says Harish Motwani. At present, the district has around 3,400 Rotarians across 88 clubs. He is also keen to add at least 100 women members which will increase their strength from 10.8 to 13.8 per cent by June 2021.

Giving a big push to Rotaract is close to his heart as he will be opening 18 new clubs taking the district strength to 50 Rotaract clubs and “almost double the Rotaractors to around 1,600. I am also aiming to open  100 new Interact clubs, of which 18 were already chartered so far.” The district will be adopting 100 villages to make it blind-free through mega eye camps in which “free surgeries will be done with the help of Rotarian doctors and tying up with the local health officials.”

A dialysis centre (four machines) will be opened at the Mac Care Hospital in Ahmednagar (GG: $48,000). “We are having two Covid care centres in Jalna and Ahmednagar, the latter is closed now as cases dropped. But Jalna centre is still active.” He targets $180,000 in TRF giving.

The district will hold a surgical camp either in Jammu or at a remote village near Ranchi after April. “We are holding talks to send a medical mission to Zambia with 20 doctors and five volunteers by May-June,” says Motwani. He was inspired by the PolioPlus campaign by local Rotarians which led him to join RC Beed Midtown in 1997–98. “My brother, a senior Rotarian, is my mentor and guides me in ­decision-making,” he says.

Covid care centres among mega GG projects

A slew of Covid-related GG projects worth ₹4 crore including the setting up of five Covid care centres in Kolhapur are being implemented. “All the 14 clubs in this city have come together for this grand project at a total cost of $84,000. Each centre is replete with ICU beds and other equipment for Covid treatment,” says ­Sangram Patil. Swab testing equipment were donated to the Government Medical College Hospital, Miraj, in Sangli district of Maharashtra and Goa Medical College. In Belgaum, ten ventilators were given to the KLE Hospital and two dialysis centres were set up in Hubli hospitals. Patil is keen to implement at least 10 Happy Schools projects which will be done mostly in the Ichalkaranji town of Kolhapur.

Hope Express, a cancer detection bus, will be holding camps in remote areas for screening villagers for breast, cervical, oral and lung cancers. The project is being done jointly with the Kolhapur Cancer Centre.

Patil is hopeful of adding 700 new members to take the membership to well past 6,000. “I will be adding seven new clubs to the existing tally of 133.” He will be chartering 30 new Rotaract clubs taking its strength to 95 by June next year, while Rotaractors are poised to increase from around 2,000 to at least 2,700. On TRF giving, the he hopes to collect $1 million. Patil will be graduating from Level-2 to Level-3 Major Donor. Having imbued his family value of selfless service, “I was inspired by my mother to join RC Gokul Shirgaon in 1993–94,” he adds.

Medical grants, Happy Schools top priority

His primary aim is to retain members and try to induct 500 new Rotarians to take the district’s  membership to 4,000 by June. “I plan to start 7–8 clubs and have already installed two all-women’s club and one more is in the offing,” says Karunesh K Srivastava. The district has 49 Rotaract clubs with 450 Rotaractors and this figure will touch 1,000 by June 2021.

Twenty-six Happy Schools (GG: $120,000, two CSR grants: $100,000) are being implemented in Gorakhpur. “We are setting up e-learning facilities, adult literacy centres and other RILM facilities. Handwash stations are being installed and toilet blocks renovated to make them gender-segregated units. A mega plastic-free campaign in Varanasi was launched to transport plastic waste to a recycling plant for generating electricity. His target for TRF is $150,000. Medical devices worth $100,000 raised through CSR funds were donated to the Gorakhnath Trust Hospital, while cancer treatment equipment was procured under a GG worth $300,000. Cataract surgeries and another 10,000 eye surgeries are also being planned.

RC Renukoot is doing a GG project worth $100,000 for installing dialysis machines, while RC Mirzapur will be donating Covid equipment for ICU through a GG and providing equipment for cataract surgery. RC Gorakhpur will be donating Covid testing equipment (GG: $100,000) and RC Varanasi Sunrise is doing a GG project totalling $150,000 at the Mother and Child Hospital.

Sewing machines are being provided to 20 vocational centres by 11 clubs. Srivatsava was inducted into RC Barabanki by PDG Alok ­Marwaha in 2006 as “I was impressed by Rotary’s activities to make the world a better place.”