RCB lays out the red carpet for District Governor’s Visit
On Monday, 22nd February, Team RCB led by President Vincent Raj, laid out the red carpet for District Governor, Rtn. Nagendra Prasad, during his Governor’s Official Visit (GOV) at the Rotary House of Friendship.
The superb band from our Rotary Bangalore Vidyalaya (RBV) welcomed the DG to the venue, which was elegantly and meticulously decorated. The invocation hymn to Ganesha was rendered melodiously by Ann. Supriya Raghunathan.
In his welcome address, President Vincent Raj mentioned some of the main events of the year so far, which included Model UN, Yuva Yamini, Rotoquiz, Yadalam Inter College Debate competition, Spelling Bee, Hackathon, Four Way Jest (Fellowship Event), Palar River Rejuvenation Project, various eminent speaker events and he highlighted that we have 12 new members so far this year, 5 of whom are ladies.
Director of the International Services Committee, Rtn. Vish Iyer announced the updates on the PHF donations to the Rotary Foundation.
Rtn. Ambika Narayan made an announcement about the District Conference going to be held in Mysore in May 2021 and requested members to register in large numbers.
District Governor Rtn. Nagendra Prasad gave away the trophies to the runners up of the Rotary MasterChef Competition – Rtn. Nilesh Kapse and Rtn. Jigisha Rajguru.
The GOV Special Edition of the Rotator was released by Assistant Governor Rtn. Prabhudev Aradhya. Members who joined earlier this year – Rtn. Jigisha, Rtn. Pradeep Bijur and Rtn. Sandeep were pinned. Rtn. Ravishankar Dakoju announced that he had donated Rs. 42 Lakhs from the sale of his Mercedes Benz car and he added Rs. 8 Lakhs to the fund, making it a total of Rs. 50 Lakhs to TRF. He also stated that this money would go to the Palar River Restoration Project.
Assistant Governor Rtn. Zarir Batha introduced District Governor Rtn. Nagendra Prasad with glowing words of appreciation. He listed his various accomplishments, achievements, awards and interests.
In his Keynote Address, District Governor Rtn. Nagendra Prasad said that even though this year has been a challenging time, the Rotary Wheel has not stopped turning. As the theme for this Rotary year is “Rotary Opens Opportunities”, it is very apt that so many doors have opened for us to serve in this tough time. Our community service has helped in covid relief in a big way.
Rotary is all about connections, opportunities and leadership. Teamwork is of utmost importance in all our ventures. 1231 new members and 17 new clubs have been added to our district 3190 in this year so far. There are now 151 clubs in our district. Our district has executed 3100 projects in the past 8 months! We are the top ranking district in the world as far as membership is concerned and with Environment being our focus area, this will soon put us on the RI map too, as we’re planning the rehabilitation of 7 villages in the long term on a global grant.
With the challenges have come opportunities too and we did our best! DG Nagendra Prasad mentioned that he has attended so many meetings online that he has been nicknamed “Zoom Governor!”
With the 12 new members who joined this year, RCB now has 262 members. RCB has executed 46 projects so far this year, with a sum of Rs. 5.84 crores. DG Nagendra Prasad suggested that we take up some work on Agriculture and encourage farmers with loans to start organic farming and give them guidelines on how they could increase their produce.
He also spoke about a successful new project of some of the clubs in our district, called the Gramalakshmi Scheme, in which vocational support was rendered to rural women, training them in tailoring and other crafts, helping them procure machines and working capital to aid them, in addition to being monitored for a period of 3 years.
As this challenging year made us think of new ways of coping, some training sessions were held online. Also we invited the best speakers at our meetings, as they were able to connect from anywhere in the world! Projects of Youth Services and the International Services Committee were successfully held online too.
DG Nagendra Prasad encouraged our members to register for the 3 ICGFs that are due to be held next month. He wished us all the best for the rest of the Rotary year.
President Vincent and Secretary Gowri presented commemorative mementos to the District Dignitaries and the proceedings concluded with the Vote of Thanks by Secretary Gowri, followed by the National Anthem.
We had a lovely evening of Fellowship, along with refreshing drinks and a scrumptious dinner and a fabulous time was had by all! Many Congratulations to President Vincent and to his entire team for a super successful GOV!
Ann. Pragya Jain, Editor, IWCB