Our
Club was the lead host for Celebrating World Peace and 111th
Birth Anniversary of Rotary International on Tuesday, 23rd
February, 2016 with twelve (12) other Rotary Clubs from District 3140 co-hosting the event held at Rotary Service Centre, Juhu, Mumbai.
Rtn.Shirish
Rege, President, welcomed the Chief Guest District Governor (DG) Rtn.Subhash
Kulkarni and Guest Speaker Ms.Neeta Kolhatkar, Senior Journalist & Rotary
Peace Fellow along with Past District Governors (PDG), District Officials, Presidents
of Co-host clubs and Rotarians and Guests who graced the occasion. The event began with two students of Rotary
KDN Shruti School for Hearing Impaired – the beneficiaries of The Rotary
Foundation programme – to cut a cake to celebrate the 111th Birth
Anniversary of Rotary International.
President then invited Past President (PP) Rtn.Rajendra Ruia, District Avenue
Chair for Peace Programmes and Convenor of the event to conduct the proceedings
for the rest of the evening.
PP Rajendra Ruia
talked about relation between Rotary and Peace - one of the six focus areas of Rotary
International is Promoting Peace. Through
partnerships with several leading universities, Rotary Peace Fellows develop
the skills to strengthen peace efforts, train local leaders to prevent and
mediate conflict, and support long-term peace building in areas affected by
conflict. RI provides up to 100 peace fellowships per year at Rotary Peace
Centers. The mission of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) is to support the efforts
of Rotary International in the fulfillment of the Fourth Objective of Rotary
viz. The achievement of world understanding and peace through local,
national, and international… humanitarian, educational, and cultural
programs.
One of the lesser known facts in the history of Rotary
International is the Rotary’s
relationship with the United Nations which dates back to 1945 when some 49
Rotary members acted as delegates, advisors and consultants at the United
Nations Charter Conference. Today, Rotary holds the highest consultative status
possible with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization.
The Guest
Speaker of the event, Ms.Neeta Kolhatkar was introduced by Rtn.Dr.Mona Shah,
President of Rotary Club of Juhu Beach.
A photo-video grapher, writer and an eminent senior journalist,
Ms.Kolhatkar has over 20 years of experience in television, print and internet
journalism. She graduated in
Anthropology & Sociology with Masters in Social Work, has been associated
with leading news organizations like Times of India, Aaj Tak, India.com, DNA,
Rediff.com, to name a few. Full of passion and enthusiasm for life and
equality, Ms.Kolhatkar is a Rotary Peace Fellow, having completed a Peace &
Conflict Resolution Course at Rotary Peace Centre in Bangkok in the year 2009.
According
to Ms.Kolhatkar, unhappiness leads to conflicts – be it personal, domestic,
religious, political, legal or societal.
Peace is absence of conflict or in other words, conflict resolution
leads to peace. Peace leads to progress
and growth. The Rotary Peace &
Conflict Resolution Course has helped her tremendously in her work as a
journalist. Her perspective of looking
at situations has changed since then, bringing in rationality in her thinking
about the conflicts which she reports as a journalist and at the same time
bringing in positive angles to her reporting, thus giving peace a chance. On asked whether there can ever be peace
between India and Pakistan, she was quite optimistic – we need to trust the
interlocutors who may or may not be people in power. Peace can come through sports, culture or
music. People on both sides love peace
and want peace but the vested interests are not allowing peace a chance.
DG
Rtn.Subhash Kulkarni said a lot needs to be learnt about peace programmes of
Rotary International so that they can be percolated down to the club
level. He urged all the Clubs in the
District to take assistance of the Peace Programmes Committee to recommend
candidates for Rotary Peace Scholarships.
According to the DG, every time we touch a life through any of our
humanitarian programmes, we are promoting peace. He complemented PP Rajendra Ruia and his
dedicated team for having carried on these programmes successfully in District
3140 since over a decade.
Earlier,
Immeidate Past DG Rtn.Ajay Gupta presented TRF's "Citation for Meritorious Service Award”
to PP Rtn.Rajendra Ruia for his devoted and committed efforts in conducting
Rotary Peace Programmes, thus promoting peace and world understanding since
over 10 years for District 3140. This is the second highest award given by TRF. IPDG Rtn.Ajay Gupta also
handed over to PP Rtn.Ruia the Club Trophy by Dist.3140 for the year 2014-15
for Promoting World Understanding & Peace by successful selection of a
large number of candidates recommended for Rotary Peace Scholarships.
The
meeting ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Rtn.Dr.Nandini Deshmukh,
President, Rotary Club of Mumbai Shivaji Park.
