{Mumbai} Metro & Aarey - Making a difference to environment

Rotary Club of Bombay West, a leading Rotary Club of RI District 3141, lead hosted a District Seminar on METRO & AAREY – Making a Difference to the Environment at Rotary Service Centre, Juhu on 1st Nov 2019.

Among the keynote speakers at the Seminar was none other than Mrs.Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited which is building the Metro Line 3 and proposing to have its car shed in land allotted at Aarey in Goregaon.  The other keynote speaker was Mr.Mayank Gandhi, a well-known Social Activist.  The Seminar was followed by a Panel Discussion with Mr.Bharat Dabholkar, Mr.Hussain Indorewala, Mrs.Sandra Shroff and Mrs.Tejaswini Kolhapure as Panel Members.  Panel discussion was moderated by Mr.Gopal Jhaveri. 

Mrs.Bhide made a fact-filled presentation to the 200+ strong audience comprising of Rotarians, Rotaractors and general public, highlighting the importance of the Metro Network for Mumbai Metropolis, the immense benefits to the environment and justifying the location of car shed at Aarey.  A very convincing presentation followed by responses to the questions in a calm and composed manner by Mrs.Bhide was applauded by the audience, though a small group of activists attending the event were not aligned with the information and views expressed by her.

Mr.Mayank Gandhi said he was himself very much against a single tree being sacrificed in the name of the development.  However, he said we need to appreciate the democratic process of the country, accept the decision of the judiciary and move forward.  The best way to heal the injury caused by knocking of a few thousand trees was to grow more trees.  He announced his commitment to grow one crore trees in Maharashtra, including around one million in Mumbai City.

Rtn.Rajendra Agarwal, District Governor Nominee, the Chief Guest at the event while addressing the gathering, highlighted the tremendous amount of work being done by Rotararians in Mumbai and elsewhere in India and abroad.  He said Rotary was open to partnerships with Corporates, Government or NGOs to take up projects beneficial to the environment.  Earlier, Rtn.Samapti Patel welcomed the guests by offering them cute planters – a green initiative which has replaced the traditional gifts / flowers.

The Seminar was organized by the District Non-Medical III (Environment) Team led by Avenue Chairs Rtn.Dr.Ashok Kothari and Rtn.Vanamali Ramaswami, with Rtn.Anand Gupta, District Chair, taking the lead as the Convenor.  During his year as President of Rotary Club of Bombay West, he had successfully implemented Project GreenEARTH where trees were planted to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries of members and spouses.  He had also launched a campaign to opt for eco-friendly cremation to save 85 lakh trees annually which are cut to feed the wood-based crematoriums. For the first time in history of RC of Bombay West, the event was streamed live on its Face Book Page by Rtn.Yazdi Tantra.

The District Avenue Team was well-supported by the organizing committee of RC Bombay West.  The event was co-hosted by Rotary Clubs of Bombay Banda, Bombay Powai, Bombay Seacoast and Mumbai Juhu.

-          Rtn.Aslam Merchant

More Event Photos : https://photos.app.goo.gl/nVEZ4HiKA7J6G6rZA

Independence Day @ Rotary KDN Shruti School for Hearing Impaired

Rotary Club of Bombay West and Management, Teachers, Staff, Parents and Students of Rotary KDN Shruti School for Hearing Impaired, JVPD, Mumbai celebrated India's 73rd Independence Day.  Chief Guest Shri Ameet Satam, MLA, Government of Maharashtra, did the honours of hoisting the tri-colour amidst thunderous applause and drum beats.

The special children of the special school performed skit based on freedom fight, a well-choreographed dance on a patriotic song and a beautiful performance by younger ones with dumb-bells - all of which was enjoyed by the audience which included several members of RCBW.

Shri Ameet Satam, while addressing on the occasion, was extremely impressed with the work being done by RCBW and referred to it as "Service to God".  He promised all his support to the School and its various activities.  

PP Rtn.Ramesh Oza, Hon.Director of the School and the force behind the success of this wonderful permanent project of RCBW gave his blessings to one and all present.  Later, the School Management celebrated his 85th Birthday by cutting a cake.

Principal Smt.Vasvi Dave gave a brief background of the School and thanked everyone for participating in the event.

For more photos : www.rcbw.org->Photo Albums

Shri Rohit Arora Talks about "Power of Love"

Shri Rohit Arora, the guest speaker at the Club's meeting held on 24th July, 2019, spoke about "Power of Love" explaining the concepts lucidly with his deep understanding of Indian scriptures.

A B-Tech from IIT Mumbai with a PG in Finance & Analytics from ISB Hyderabad, Shri Arora is a corporate consultant and a trainer.  

According to Shri Arora, everybody experiences love right from the time they are born, but love changes its meaning as one grows. It can lead to agony when it goes away. So it can be a source of bliss or misery. Dwelling upon difference between 'love' and 'moh' (attachment), he said a person with true love imparts values whereas 'moh' leads to ego.  To experience pure love, one should live truthfully, excercise restraint, have mercy for fellow living beings and donate generously.

Shri Rohit Arora was introduced by Rtn.Shirish Rege while Rtn.Chandramohan Saigal gave a formal vote of thanks.  He was earlier welcomed by President Samapti Patel.

- Excerpts from Meet Report by Rtn.Manish Mehta

Kruttika Desai's One-Act Play with a Social Message

On Wednesday, 17th July, 2019, our Club at its regular meeting, staged a one-act play with a social message by Ms. Kruttika Desai,  a very accomplished and versatile actress who has acted in 25 television serials, Hindi movies and many Guajarati plays. She has acted in serials like Buniyaad, Chandrakanta, Kismat, Zameen Asmaan, Superhit Muqabla and Kusum etc. and is an excellent dancer too. 

The one act play presented by Ms. Kruttika, titled ‘LAAPSI – A Mother’s Love and Struggle for her Child’, was hard hitting on the topic of surrogacy.It dealt with the plight of a poor woman who, for the love of helping and securing the future of her own disabled child, advents into the process of surrogacy to help a childless couple, for which she is to be given a hefty sum in return. The woman eventually gives birth to a handicapped child whom the couple refuses to accept and she is not given the money for carrying the child either. She finally returns to try becoming a surrogate mother again as she accepts and keeps the surrogate child that she has given birth to. 

The mesmerizing acting by Ms. Kruttika left everyone in the audience spell bound. The one act play brought to the fore the depth of the actor’s thought process and her intense desire to throw light on the burning social issue of surrogacy. Rtn. Dr. Usha Jayachandran gave a touching vote of thanks to the actress for her emotional and spell binding performance.

- Report by Rtn.Dr.Usha Jayachandran

RCBW Organizes Workshop on Organ Donation Awareness

Rotary Club of Bombay West organized an Organ Donation Awareness Training Workshop for Rotarians of District 3141 as well as members from the neighborhood community.  Over 125 people participated in the Workshop held at Rotary Service Centre, Juhu on Sunday, 14th July, 2019 with District Governor Rtn.Harjit Singh Talwar as Chief Guest.  Among the experts who made presentations at the Workshop were Dr.Sunil Keswani, Dr.Queresh Maskati and Dr.Girish Trivedi who are dedicated to this worthwhile cause.  

CA Shailesh Haribhakti on Indian Budget

Rotary Club of Bombay West kick started it's first regular weekly meeting on 10th July, 2019 with Rtn. CA Shailesh Haribhakti his talk on "India on the Path to a 5 Trillion Economy?" and his emphatic response was It Certainly Will.

Rattling off facts & figures, he enthralled the spell bound diverse audience comprising of Rotarians, Rotaractors & Bombay Industries Association members with his insight and views of the economy and the final 2019 budget presented by economist fin min mrs Nirmala Sitharaman.

India is currently poised with 190 lakh cr GDP, which is roughly just short of 3 Trillion $ (211 Lakh Cr), with a GDP growth rate of 6.8%.

to reach 5 Trillion $, the GDP growth Rate has to be 8%, which seems possible

due to the following factors

• stable government with a clear mandate.
• USD fluctuations: from 64/- 3 rs ago to 72 and then 68. there have been large swings
• dramatic changes on the macro front
• fiscal deficit is contained at 3.4 % and further it is brought down to 3.3 %, this signals to the world that inflation is contained & on a downward trend, improves India's sovereign rating, raising possibility of Gov borrowing from  international financial markets at very low interest rates from countries like france, where the interest rates are -ve, and Japan

 

Large corporates will not need have to negotiate with bankers! When they can raise funds from international bond markets. L&t needed Rs.500 crores, it was offered 3500 Cr! And is currently in process of borrowing 550 Million USD.  Startups /sme/microfinance firms have extra ordinary access to easy credit.  Big Boys of the indian industry have access to international markets. Currency markets foward cover is lower than inflation. Coupon rates are lower than domestic markets. Compared to china debt to gdp ratio of 3, India's debt to GDP is <1, so there is considerable headroom to borrow from International Markets.

Explaining the concept of 'innovating to 0', Mr Haribhakti mentioned the positives of last 5 years.

• 100 % electrification of villages
•  Swachh Bharat mission 
• India will be open Defecation free resulting in reduced illness resulting in better hygiene & health of citizens, saving precious resources. 
• Har ghar mei Nal se Jal: likely to save 30 cr Rural women x 2 hrs daily which which will lead to immense savings and reallocation of resources. The investment envisaged for this is several 100 cr every year. 
• Highway / Roads construction rates have doubled. 
• Chandrayaan-2 mission is on the verge of being launched whose objective is to also to explore/map the availability of helium, an antidote to pollution, supposed to be in abundance.   
• 100 million us$ new funding needs to be found.

Budget has also given boost to Electric Vehicles. With a exemption of 1.5 lakh interest on loan for EV pruchase. Also GST on EV is reduced to 12%. A number of Indian and German Auto cos are in process of launching introducing EV in Indian Market which has the numbers for sustained growth. L&T is putting up a 10000 cr solar wind park in 3 yrs time. India is targetting 40% energy from renewables, which will drasticlly change the balance of payments, this has given rise to complete fresh thinking. First time in history of india UID + Family Bank Account + DP access & Device to transact are all available and implemented.  

Housing for All is real: Mahindra Life Spaces has 70% booking on launch of affordable housing!

The whole mindset of people has changed for the better to a performance oriented one as a result about 50% of builders who operate in the same fashion as earlier are on the verge of closing.

GST: One nation One Tax though not without the initial hickups is now in its third year..

Demonetisation: Incredible 50 million tax payers increasing to 100 million, though 60 million will be below taxable limit. 

New initiatives such as faceless tax assessment, requiring no visit to the IT officer has eliminated corruption.

New Eligibility criteria for Persons for filing Tax return have been introduced such as foreign travel spending above 2 lac on foreign trip or withdrawal of 1 cr cash from Bank will entail filing Tax return. 

Determined Tax demand on a capital  gain is going to be a reality in the near future due to compulsory Aadhar / Pan in transactions & better data mining at the ITO back end.

Loan / Credit processing for MSME will take 59 minutes. Startups have been given a big boost, Angel investor premium valuation norms have been eased. Capital gain on sale of Residence if invested in startup is expempt upto 2021. 

To reach 5 Trillion GDP, where will the investment com from ? 105 Lakh cr is expected from PSU disinvestment. Increase in minimum Public share holding to 35 % in listed cos. Next 2 Trillion will come not from the 35 % urban population of India but from the 65 % Rural people of Bharat who are experiencing money in their own Jandhan accounts.

Pension for all & Pension for traders is also announced.  14 % salary of government employees goes in Pension/EPF accounts. The number of registered persons on EPF has gone up by 10 times. 60% withdrawal qualifying for tax exemption.

Mobility for all, country wide common card for use on all public transport.

10000 farmer producer organisations to be launched. Every woman can avail 1 Lakh loan for investing in equity in self help groups.  Social stock exchange: every social organisation's accounts will be audited and information shared / listed.  Banks to be monitored by a RBI appointed regulatory authoriy, though co-operative and regional banks have been left out currently, there is going to be significant drop in NPA 

 

This is a budget of continuity, infrastructure growth, excitement & clearly shows the path way to a 5 Trillion $ economy.

- Report by Rtn.Manish Mehta, Hon.Editor, Flying Carpet (club bulletin)

Rtn.Samapti Patel - the New President of Bombay West

Rtn.Samapti Patel was installed as the 'Smart' President of Rotary Club of Bombay West at the Installation Ceremony held at Rotary Service Centre on 3rd July, 2019.  District Governor - Dist.3141, Rtn.Harjit Singh Talwar was the Chief Guest.

The Ceremony was attended by large number of dignitaries from the District 3141, Members and Spouses of RCBW, Rotaractors, Members of Inner Wheel Club of Bombay West, friends and family members of Rtn.Samapti Patel.