He joined Rotary in 1985 guided by Dr Vijay Aradhye, a Rotarian. “I was impressed by its global efforts to eradicate polio, and diverse work for needy people,” says Dr Suresh Saboo.
RC Chopda – RID 3030 Around 400 youngsters were offered jobs by top companies at a job fair held…
Having lived in Delhi since 1958 I have some very fond memories of it, before it started becoming a gas chamber about 40 years ago. Very few people now remember Delhi as it was before the Asian Games of 1982. Those games turned the old bucolic and bureaucratic Delhi into a boom town and it has not stopped booming since then. The fixed population of Delhi today is around three and a half crore. Another crore or so people float in and out annually. In 1980 the population was barely 70 million, mostly rural, living in the areas of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh surrounding Delhi like Gurgaon and Noida. Indira Gandhi’s farmhouse, by the way, was on the very southwest outskirts of Delhi. Today it’s south central. All those rural areas have been assimilated into a single toxic zone called the National Capital Region (NCR) and they are fully urban now. The NCR is so huge that when you fly into Delhi you can see the pollution the region causes rising up to 15,000 feet and extending some 200 miles in all directions. This is largely because in 1980 there were barely a lakh motorised vehicles. Today there are around three million.
Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it. That most times we learn more from mistakes than from success is a well-known fact. Here is a unique lesson from Larsen and Toubro (L&T) which tells us that one can simply be too good for the given task.
Prioritise your health, and never procrastinate when it comes to work and major decisions in life,” advised DGN Ravishankar Dakoju, RID 3192, at a meeting of RC Madras, RID 3234. “Life is unpredictable. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or even the next moment. So, don’t postpone critical decisions and burden your children. Even though children today are smart and know what to do when, with a clear vision,” he said.
An environmentalist friend has wisely said that green habits should be gently inculcated rather than pushed down people’s throats. Her take is that humans like to break the rules and dislike being dictated. So, any harsh list of dos and don’ts will likely be discarded or forgotten quickly. The more rebellious may even follow all the don’ts diligently and avoid the dos!
As Rotary president, one of the key priorities of RIPE Mario de Camargo will be “to retain you all, keep you engaged as too many — 155,000 Rotarians — are quitting Rotary each year. But we don’t own Rotary as we are here for a purpose, and we have to keep it going for the next generation with a good succession plan,” he said, addressing the membership conclave in Hyderabad.
In a massive bid to address the huge problem of adult illiteracy in Madhya Pradesh, where the 2011 census put the number of adult illiterates at 1.07 crore, Rotarians across the state, led by RID 3040 (MP has four Rotary districts), have been working with the state government agencies addressing illiteracy.
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A rural public health centre at Kumbalgodu, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, now benefits from sustainable solar energy, thanks to the support from Rotary Club of Bangalore Lakeside, RID 3191, and its CSR partner Pai & Pai Chemicals.
Remember the good old song by Andy Williams that was so popular in the early 1960s?
In July this year, Rotary Bangalore South Parade, RID 3191, in association with optical products manufacturer Carl Zeiss, launched the project Gift of Sight to provide 15,000 spectacles and 1,440 intra-ocular lenses (IOLs) to individuals undergoing cataract treatment across Karnataka. The project will be implemented every year at the Sri Sathya Sai Sarala Memorial Hospital located in Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, in Chikkaballapur, 60km from Bengaluru.
RC Delhi Safdarjung, RID 3011, along with the NGO Smile India, organised a dental check-up programme for 100 children with special needs at the Vision Special School in the city. Besides complete dental examination by professionals, and lessons in oral hygiene, the camp also included application of fluoride to the children’s teeth to reduce the risk of developing caries. Fluoride helps strengthen tooth enamel, making it more resistant to acid attacks from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth, explains club president and dentist Priya Oberoi.
For 22 years since 2002, the Rotary Community Corps (RCC) Tirumalpuram in Madurai (RID 3000) has been coaching rural youngsters to
In a novel initiative to stress the importance of the vital role of past leadership in Rotary’s continued success, RI District 3233 recently organised Kalankarai Vilakku, a conclave in Chennai dedicated to past presidents of clubs in the district. The event drew an overwhelming response of over 450 participants, proving that the district leaders’ objective of engaging and leveraging the experience of former club leaders had hit the bull’s eye.
Mumbai was one of the stopovers for RIPE Mario de Camargo during his recent India tour, where he addressed Rotarians on critical topics such as membership growth, retention, partnerships and leadership succession. “We need more members, because we are getting old. But don’t go fishing for Rotarians just to boost numbers. Identify people who share our values and collective mindset,” he emphasised, cautioning against indiscriminate induction of members. He urged Rotarians to explore professional and trade associations for potential members. “We must promote new format clubs such as satellite and cause-based clubs to attract youngsters, and promote Rotary’s good work on social media,” he said, and urged the delegates to revive their connect with former Rotarians.
With an alarming rise of deforestation and growing demand for urban housing in and around Bhubaneswar, the city’s Rotaractors have been
The Rotary Club of Bombay Queen City, RID 3141, installed vocational skill development centres in three schools for special children
The Rotary Club of Chennai Bharathi, RID 3234, has adopted a fairly new and interesting method to tackle mental wellbeing…. by pressing into service a triple combination of sound, art and dance therapies to engage a large number of people, with the special focus being on those who are dealing with various issues related to mental health.
[downloadlink]https://rotarynewsonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Rotary-News-Plus-November-2024-LR.pdf[/downloadlink] https://issuu.com/rotarynews/docs/rotary_news_plus_november_2024_lr?fr=xKAE9_zU1NQ
RC Trichy Diamond City Queens — RID 3000 Under Project Aasai Magal (maternity-cum-childcare project), pregnant women at a government hospital…