The newly installed president of Rotary Club Panaji Riviera speaks about the Club’s plans for the year ahead
Congratulations on taking over as president of Rotary Club Panaji Riviera. How has your journey in the Club been leading up to the leadership position?
I joined Rotary on 11th September 2014 on the invitation of my college friend Rtn. Siddharth Zantye. I had just moved residence to Caranzalem from Mapusa and Rotary was a means for me to get to know people in Panaji.
As I got to know the members of the club and settled in, I was entrusted with the job of Sergeant of Arms for the Club. In the next year. I was inducted into the Board of Directors as Community Service Director. It was during this year where the desire to serve the community was enkindled in me. The following year. I became the Club Service Director. The next year, I took charge as the Club Secretary where I really got to know the ins and outs of Rotary. This was followed by a year of being the President-Elect. Which brings me to 1st July 2020 when I took over the reigns as Club President of this prestigious club, Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera. I am today the 17th President of this club which was chartered on 16th June 2004.
What is the focus area of your club for this Rotary year?
The focus areas of our club for this year are: 1. Cancer detection and prevention by means of putting into use the wonderful equipment that is about to be installed at Rugnashray, Bambolim, through the hard work of Immediate Past President Rtn. Yogish Kulkarni and his team in the field of breast and cervical cancer detection.
2. Participation in the literacy mission of Rotary India by helping children from rural areas to get online for their classes, so that no child needs to miss out on his or her education just because their parents cannot afford the tools for the virtual classes.
3. Addressing environmental concerns and helping in the ‘Water Mission’ of Rotary India.
4. Growing local economies by helping in improving the skill sets of school and high school dropouts in the field of technical education and vocational courses. This will be the need of the hour as we stare at rising unemployment in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic.
5. Improving the engagement and bonding between the members of our Club through innovative fellowships.
While we do align our club focus areas with the focus areas of Rotary International, we do have a few projects which are different.
Tell us about the pet project of the Club, the Home for Jawans?
One such project which is very close to our hearts is the construction of the Jawan’s Home at Salvador do Mundo on land owned by the Sainik Welfare Board. This project was conceptualised during the tenure of Past President Rtn. Amit Palekar. We are in the process of obtaining the final clearance for the same from Government of Goa. Once we get this, it will take us approximately 4 to 6 months to procure all construction clearances and then we immediately start with the construction of the home. This home has been planned for Retired Defence Veterans who are abandoned by their families or who are unable to look after themselves. We would like to give back to our brave veterans something in return for their valour while defending and safeguarding our borders.
How have the various sub-committees planned their respective focus areas?
We have 5 Avenues of Service – Club Service, Vocational Service, Community Service, International Service and Youth or New Generation Service. Each of these are headed by a set of very competent Directors who decide on the projects to be conducted within their Avenue of Service. We also have Chairpersons for various committees which help in the overall functioning of the club and the delivery of our services. While I do ultimately lead the entire team of Directors & Chairpersons, this is a total team work and effort. I have had many meetings with the entire team over the last 2 months or so to chalk out the programs for the year; though this time, almost all of these meetings have been held in the online space – all this while being ably helped by the Club Secretary Rtn. Tanvi Sawant and Club Treasurer Rtn. Prasad Pawar.
This year, having started on a sombre note due to the Covid 19 pandemic, what measures has the Cub taken in its drive to support society in times of the pandemic?
Our Club took a very proactive approach when the first lockdown took effect. Under the able leadership of the outgoing President Rtn. Yogish and his team, we reached out to approximately 5000 odd migrant labourers and poor Goan families and provided them dry rations. We also reached out to a few orphanages and old aged care institutes.
Our Club has worked on a Global Grant project of a value of Rs. 75 lakhs. We will be providing certain essential equipment to the Directorate of Health Services like 1 ventilator, RNA Extractor and PCR Analyser etc. This will go a long way in helping to fight this pandemic. All these equipments are expected to be handed over and installed in the next month.
Recently, our Club donated a clothes dryer to the Candolim Health Centre as they were facing difficulty in drying all the staff overalls after being washed.
We will also be looking to provide automated sanitizer dispensers at various PHCs in the next few weeks along with a month’s supply of sanitizer liquid.
What does your leadership team bring to the table in terms of their professional expertise and how do they plan to put that into play in rotary service for this year?
Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera has members from diverse professions and many of them are leaders in their business or profession in Goa. The leadership team comprises members as diverse as doctors, engineers to financial wizards. Each of these members bring their core competencies to the table and this is what helps us to solve any problem which may beset the community by seeking inputs from each of these members.
Our members are also well networked in their professional fields and it takes just a phone call to garner the best advice required to solve any problem placed before us. Each member is a ‘Cog in the Wheel’ which keeps the Rotary Wheel moving ahead to find solutions for problems faced by the community.
Please explain your vision in perspective for the Rotary theme for the year…
‘Rotary Opens Opportunities’ is the theme for this year coined by RI President Rtn. Holger Knaack. The theme has three doors in a semi open position signifying the theme of opening opportunities.
We, as a Club, have given the theme a positive twist, ‘Rotary Opens Infinite Opportunities’. We have taken the theme into the realm of the infinite. We are living in a world beset by problems such as lack of access to water, sanitation, essential health services, basic electricity in some parts of our country and the world, environmental issues and so many more, which give us Rotarians the opportunity to come forth, brainstorm, develop and thus discover solutions to these very problems. Each problem can be viewed in multiple ways as an opportunity for us to come forth and serve the community. Thus, the theme for this year ‘Rotary Opens Opportunities’ allows us the opportunity to apply, to put into action, the basic motto of Rotary which is Service above Self.
What legacy projects do you wish to carry forward?
Conducting of cataract detection camps followed up with free cataract surgeries through our partner Bhagwati Trust, Menstrual Hygiene programs for adolescents in schools, the transformation of rural schools into ‘Happy Schools’ are some of the legacy projects that we will continue this year, too. Some of these will need to be kept on hold until the Covid-19 pandemic is under control. But we will try to modify the delivery mechanisms of the others so that we can implement the solutions that have been fine-tuned over the years.
What has been the contribution of the Club to society over the years?
Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera, over the past 16 years, has been serving humanity in the sincerest way possible; and while doing so, has created a niche for itself through certain significant, signature and permanent projects.
The Ananta Physiotherapy Centre is an initiative by Bandekar Charity Foundation and Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera, in Vasco da Gama. This Centre was inaugurated under the able leadership of our Past President Rtn. Madhavi Bandekar Shetye and is currently one of Riviera’s permanent projects. The gift of solar lighting to Bulanjury a remote village in Gambia, Africa was a significant international project by Past President Rtn. Siddharth Zantye. The bright yellow helmets given 4 years ago to motorcycle pilots around Goa embellished with the Rotary Wheel and safety slogans was a project by Past President Rtn. Raja Melvani.
Whether we are donating books to school-children or conducting a blood donation camp or a cataract detection camp, even as we evolve to keep up with the changing times and community issues, the essence of who we are and what makes a Rotarian doesn’t change. We are still based on a classification principle, because diversity is our strength. We still treasure The Four-Way Test perched on our office tables, because high ethical standards in our professions don’t ever go out of style.
‘Service Above Self’ is the central motto around which Rotary has been built. That is the main reason why each one of us joined Rotary in the first place. May we, in this year, ‘Open the Doors to Infinite Opportunities’ for each one of us and the society at large
