Ajay Madan is Rotary District Governor

PRESS RELEASE 

Ajay Madan of Kurukshetra is Rotary District Governor 

Rtn Ajay Madan of Kurukshetra is the new District Governor of Rotary International District 3080, which includes Chandigarh, and parts of  Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and UP. 

With 85 clubs and over 3500 Rotarians, the District 3080 has a long tradition of serving humanity with major projects like free heart surgeries, blood donation, medical missions to African countries, among others. 
This year, the District intends to bring 2000 new Rotarians to its folds as well as extend its youth wing Rotaractor. 
DG Ajay Madan plans to plant 15 lakh trees by 15th August in the entire District, collect over 1 lakh units of blood, promote literacy and provide 10,000 benches in schools which do not have the facility. 

A free vaccination drive to protect the girls reaching puberty against cervical cancer is also being launched in the Rotary District. 

Pledging organs, Covid vaccination campaign, and medical facilities in remote villages of Uttrakhand have already been launched. 

Today, the District 3080 tied up with HARTRON and launched a free computer education for the children who lost their parents to Covid19. 

Rtn Ajay Madan 
District Governor 2021-22
Rotary District 3080
M: 97287 00233

Fourth Indian Shekhar Mehta to lead Rotary International in 2021-22

Indian business leader and philanthropist takes office as Rotary International President for 2021-2022

 

Fourth Indian to lead the 116-year-old service organization

 

New Delhi, July 1, 2021: Shekhar Mehta, Chairman and founder of real estate company Skyline Group and member of the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Mahanagar, today begins his one-year term as the Rotary International's 111^th president leading 1.2 million Rotary members globally.

 As president, Mehta will focus on empowering girls globally by providing access to education and resources that offer them leadership opportunities in the future.

 "Equality is a fundamental human right, and it's necessary for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world," said Mehta. "Still, girls and women worldwide face inequities in areas including health and education and experience significant violence and disproportionate poverty. Rotary encourages clubs and districts to prioritize projects that improve the health, well-being, education, and economic security of girls in their communities and around the world."

 In the last year, Mehta has been actively involved in strengthening Rotary's response to COVID-19 in India. Under his guidance, Rotary clubs across India are working with local governments and authorities to boost the vaccination roll out and delivery along with providing infrastructural support to hospitals and COVID-19 care facilities. Rotary is also playing a critical role in mobilising relief work across communities most impacted by COVID-19 pandemic.

 Mehta has previously spearheaded PAN India initiatives to provide underserved communities with access to clean water and sanitation, healthcare and basic education. He has also led efforts to support communities in disaster recovery in collaboration with the Government of India.

Mehta's 'Saving Little Hearts' initiative, has so far provided over 2500 life-saving heart surgeries to children from disadvantaged families suffering from congenital heart defects across South Asia. He also has been actively supporting the TEACH program that aims at helping India attain 100% literacy by 2027 and had earlier played a pivotal role in recovery efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

 "Over the last 100 years, Rotary has grown from just one to 4000 clubs with 1.75 lakh Rotary members in India, and 36,000 clubs with 1.2 million members worldwide. Just in 2019-20, The Rotary Foundation in India supported global grant projects worth 28.4 million USD. Moving forward, Rotary will aim to actively support the central government in achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals across Rotary's areas of focus," he added.

 As president, Mehta will oversee Rotary's top priority of ending polio worldwide. Alongside its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has achieved a 99.9 percent reduction in polio cases since spearheading the initiative more than 30 years ago. Since then, Rotary members have contributed $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Today, just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

 Since 1995, Rotary has worked with the Indian government to institute national immunization days each year to immunize 172 million children under five years of age. India has remained polio-free for last seven years.

 

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About Rotary

Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world's most pressing humanitarian challenges. We connect 1.2 million members from more than 36,000 Rotary clubs in almost every country in the world. Their service improves lives both locally and internationally, from helping those in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world.

 

 For any media queries, please contact:

Jyoti Rai - Jyoti.Rai@rotary.org

Silky Chandwani - Silky.Chandwani@genesis-bcw.com

 

 

Rotary announces Big Service Projects in Northern India

World President of Rotary Shekhar Mehta to visit Kurukshetra on 10^th July

Kurukshetra, 27 May:  Rotary International District 3080 announced the plantation of 15 lakh trees in the District, informed the Kurukshetra born business person, Rtn Ajay Madan, who takes over as District Governor on 1^st July.

Ajay Madan, addressing over 500 Rotary leaders here today at the virtual Rotary District Training Assembly informed that nearly 3,500 Rotarians in the District and the new leaders are all geared to "Serve to Change Lives", which is the Rotary International theme.

He informed that this year the fourth Indian in Rotary's 116^th years of service,  Rtn Shekhar Mehta from Kolkata, who would take up the leadership of 1.2 million Rotarians of the world.

Carrying the dream project of incoming Rotary's world leader Shekhar Mehta to increase the global membership from existence to 1.2 million Rotarians to 1.3 million Rotarians.

In our District 3080 which comprises of Chandigarh, parts of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Utrakhand and UP, with nearly 86 Rotary Clubs, Ajay Madan said that nearly 2000 new Rotarians would be brought into the fold of Rotary to make a difference in the lives of the people.

Rotary is known worldwide for eradicating polio in the world, the new year starting 1^st July, the District intends to plant 15 lakh trees during July itself, collect nearly 1 lakh units of blood through regular blood donation camps, provide 10,000 benches in the schools, and much more.

Ajay Madan also announced that it would be a unique honour for the Rotarians that the world President of Rotary International Shekhar Mehta would be arriving in Kurukshetra to formally install the District Governor and Team for 2021-22.

Rotary District shall be signing an MoU with HARTRON on 1^st July forproviding free computer training and arrange their employment who lost their parents in Covid19. 

Ajay Madan informed that Organ Donation campaign will be launched to register maximum number of people besides vaccination of teenaged girls against cervical cancer, besides continuing vaccination drive against Covid19. 

Rotary Club Shimla and Mussoorie would be installed to recycle plastic bottles on both the Malls.

Disaster Management would be undertaken. A warehouse in District 3080 would be setup in Chandigarh to help the needy during disaster management.

All trucks and tractors shall be fitted with reflectors to avoid road accidents during the year, Ajay Madan informed.

Member of Parliament PDG Vivek Tankha, said that under Rotary's medical mission, Rahat, medical camps for the underprivileged shall be organised pan India starting with the first one at Leh on 1^st July.    

The Rotary District Training Assembly was addressed by former world President of Rotary International Rajendra K Saboo, Member of Parliament Past District Governor Rtn Vivek Tankha, and Rotary International Director 2021-23 Dr Mahesh Kotbaghi, PDG Deepak Aggarwal, District Trainer PDG Manmohan Singh, PDG T.K. Ruby, PDG Jitendra Dhingra, and senior Rotarians including PDG Madhukar Malhotra, PDg Praveen Aggarwal, PP Rtn CJ Singh, PP Rtn AP Singh, among others conducted the training for the incoming club leaders.

 

K S Raju Legal Trust to move UN to recognize genocide of Hindus and Sikhs

Kerala Governor, Chief Minister Punjab, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Addl Chief Secretary Tamil Nadu Dr Jagmohan Raju, and filmmaker Harvinder Sikka address

K S Raju Legal Trust organized a virtual session to celebrate the 400^th birth anniversary of the 9^th Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji.

Speakers from three different religious backgrounds addressed the webinar including Governor of Kerala Shri Arif Mohammad Khan, Art of Living founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh.

In his opening remarks the moderator of the session, Dr Jagmohan Singh Raju, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt of Tamil Nadu lamented that UN has conveniently ignored the genocide perpetrated on the Indian populace over centuries ignoring acts of violence against non-Abrahamic religions like Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.

He also appealed to commemorate Guru Tegh Bahadur's martyrdom day as a 'Day of Commemoration in memory of the Hindu and Sikh victims of Genocide and Holocaust.

All the speakers referred to Guru Tegh Bahadur's martyrdom a unique example in the world when he stood against the oppressors to condemn forcible religious conversion and persecution of people from a different religious beliefs.

Shri Arif Mohammad Khan, Governor of Kerala in his presidential remarks referred to Guruji's sacrifice which epitomized the values that the Sikhism has imbibed over the centuries believing in the oneness of mankind.

Quoting extensively from Guru Granth Saheb, Vedas and Indian ethos that have been time and again proven by the Sikhs through their acts and firm belief in 'sarbat da bhala', Kerala's governor recalled how Sikhs with miniscule presence in the state rallied from across the country and abroad to help the flood victims last year.

What better way to demonstrate the religious tolerance and oneness can be better displayed when the foundation stone of the world's most sacred place of Sikhs, the Golden temple, was laid by a person of different religious denomination.

Capt. Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab, recalled the long association his family had with the Gurus who visited Patiala, a legacy that is being carried forward by renovating all those places where Gurus visited under the "Charan Chho" project.

He informed that nearly 103 such places in Punjab have been identified which are not only being preserved to keep the future generations in touch with their great heritage and the values that Sikh Gurus promoted, besides undertaking a massive forestation efforts as part of celebrations with planting of 60 lakh saplings under current anniversary celebrations of Guru Tegh Bahadur and 75 lakh were planted earlier during Guru Nanak Dev's 500^th celebrations.

Guru Saheb stood for secularism and he was a universally acknowledged spiritual leader and was rightly called, 'Hind di chaddar', he said.

His government is preparing several programmes to commemorate the occasion which had to be postponed because of the pandemic and once the situation eases our endeavour is to spread the message across the globe, Capt Amarinder Singh said.

Besides renovating the jail in Bassi Pathana where Guru sahib were imprisoned, his universal message of one humanity and religious freedom shall continue to be promoted.   

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar began his address with "Waheguru ji ki khalsa, waheguru ji ki fateh", and said that Guru Tegh Bahadur taught a powerful message to the world that you should not forsake those who believe in you.

The exemplary role that Sikhs have always played during any crisis is reflection of the teachings of the great gurus that they have imbibed into their lives, Sri Sri said.  They have learnt the lesson that as human you cannot be a back-bencher or shy away from one's responsibility as a human to help those in need, to stand up and act.

And the greatest truth, Gurudev said, is not to be carried away ever by the arrogance and pride of power, but stay humbled and standup for truth.

Later, reputed filmmaker of "Nanak Shah Faqir" and "Raazi", Harvinder Singh Sikka, in his expression of gratitude considered the opportunity as a Divine gift for being a part of such discussions which revealed many unknown facets of Sikh history, including Maharaja of Patiala's interaction with the Sikh Gurus that need to be documented and shared.

Sikhism, more than a religion, began and still is, a way of life, remarked Harvinder Sikka. 

K S Raju Legal Trust to move UN to recognize genocide of Hindus and Sikhs

K S Raju Legal Trust organized a virtual session to celebrate the 400^th birth anniversary of the 9^th Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji.

Speakers from three different religious backgrounds addressed the webinar including Governor of Kerala Shri Arif Mohammad Khan, Art of Living founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh.

In his opening remarks the moderator of the session, Dr Jagmohan Singh Raju, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt of Tamil Nadu lamented that the UN has conveniently ignored the genocide perpetrated on the Indian populace over centuries ignoring acts of violence against non-Abrahamic religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism.

He also appealed to commemorate Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom day as a ‘Day of Commemoration in memory of the Hindu and Sikh victims of Genocide and Holocaust.  

Its objective, Dr Jagmohan Raju said, is to remove bias and protect the future generation from violence and persecution by learning from the past and protecting human rights.

Recalling some of the incidents in Sikh history, he said Hindus, and later along with Hindus, the Sikhs, suffered the worst of genocidal violence and religious persecution during fifty years of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s reign (1658-1707)

Guru Teg Bahadur, the 9^th Sikh Guru was the one who stood up against this forcible conversion and ultimately faced execution on 11 November 1675.

The story of fight against religious persecution by Mughals continued when the 10^th Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, lost his sons in the battles, two of whom were bricked alive in a wall. 

All the speakers referred to Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom a unique example in the world when he stood against the oppressors to condemn forcible religious conversion and persecution of people from different religious beliefs.

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Need to spread Guru Tegh Bahadur's message of Harmony and Secularism: Chief Minister Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday underscored the need to propagate the ideology of the 9th Sikh Guru, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, around the world, to promote the values of peace, harmony, secularism, and co-existence, which Guru Sahib upheld through his supreme sacrifice.

Taking part in the deliberations during a webinar organized by K.S. Raju Legal Trust on 'Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Epitome of Resistance against Genocide and Conversion of Hindus and Sikhs under Islamic Rule in India', the Chief Minister said the secular character enshrined in the Constitution of the country was a shining example of 'unity in diversity – a deep-rooted philosophy of 'Hind Di Chadar' Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib.

Guru Sahib preached the concept of 'Sarbat Da Bhala' to create a harmonious society, where people, regardless of color, caste, creed, race, and religion, can live together in peace and harmony, he pointed out. 

He said he was blessed to have been personally associated with the celebration of several momentous occasions related to Sikh history, including the 400th anniversary of the installation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji at Sri Harmandir Sahib in 2004, followed by 350th Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, 350th Birth Anniversary of legendary Sikh warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, 550th Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and now the 400th Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib during his present term as chief minister.

Noting that while the Government of India had released a commemorative postage stamp on Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji's birth Anniversary, the Chief Minister the state government had sent a detailed Memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a grant of Rs. 938.37 crore for various infrastructural projects in the State as a part of the historic celebrations.

The Chief Minister spoke about the various events planned by his government to commemorate the 400th Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, which had to be shifted to virtual mode to the Covid pandemic. Further, his government had initiated several infrastructural/ development projects, including the  conservation and development of Old Jail at Bassi Pathana where the 9th Guru, along with his supporters, was imprisoned by Noor Mohammad Khan Mirza for 40 days while he was reportedly on his way to meet Emperor Aurangzeb, he added. He also cited projects for the upgradation of Baba Bakala Panchayat to Nagar Panchayat, and the upcoming Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur State University of Law in Tarn Taran district.

The 103 Charan Chhoh places, including 79 villages and 24 towns, connected with Guru Sahib had been identified and given development grants of Rs. 50 lakhs per village and Rs. 1 crore per town for infrastructure development, disclosed the Chief Minister. Also, more than 60 lac saplings have been planted in 6986 villages so far, as part of the ongoing celebrations. 

Speaking on the occasion, Founder of the Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravishankar said that the unique sacrifice of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib practically demonstrated that 'one should never forsake those who had come to you seeking shelter even if that means sacrificing your life. He lauded the Sikh community, which is known the world over for helping the people in distress or adversity with a sense of commitment, by arranging a free community kitchen (Langar) and now bailing out the people amid the Covid crisis by providing free oxygen service and other medical assistance. 

In his presidential remarks, Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, referred to Guruji's sacrifice and underlined the need to disseminate the basic teachings of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib among the people. He also appreciated the services rendered by the Sikh community from across the globe to lend a helping hand to the people of Kerala, even though the State has a minuscule Sikh population, during the floods last year.

Earlier in his welcome address, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of  Tamilnadu,  Dr. Jagmohan Singh Raju and mentor of the K.S. Raju Legal Trust said expressed gratitude to Captain Amarinder Singh for the kind words for his late father Dr. K.S. Raju IAS, whom the Chief Minister described as an able administrator and a noble soul who rendered remarkable services for the overall development of Patiala city as being Deputy Commissioner. 

Noted Writer, Filmmaker and Philanthropist Harinder Singh Sikka said that this webinar would go a long way to inspire humanity with Guru Sahib's universal message of unity, sacrifice, and righteousness. He also proposed the vote of thanks on the occasion.

Australia-based IHM to provide Rs 10 cr worth scholarships for Indian nurses

 12^h May is World Nursing Day

The Institute of Health & Management (IHM) based in Australia is planning to offer Rs 10 cr worth (AUS-$2 million) scholarships to nurses in India as a mark of recognition of their commitment and dedication during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement on the eve of the World Nursing Day IHM Founder and Managing Director Bijo Kunnumpurath said that scholarship will be worth 2,000 Australian dollars for those undertaking ‘Gateway to Global Nursing Program’ with IHM.

IHM founded and owned by entrepreneur of Indian origin, has created history recently by becoming the only private higher-education provider in Australia to offer of Master of Nursing program.              

The commemoration to celebrate the achievement took place on April 16, 2021 at IHM's North Melbourne campus. Speaking on the occasion Bijo said, "Our vision has always been to enhance lives through student-centric, high- quality, accessible education in health science focusing on research and innovation, and today with the launch of our Master of Nursing program we are headed in the right direction".  

Dr. Philip Brown, IHM's CEO said "We are proud to state that in this pandemic, over 1500 nurses have graduated from IHM and have contributed immensely in helping Australia recover."   

The key features of the course include the incorporation of an elective Professional Experience Placement (PEP) unit with 8 credit points, which helps internationally qualified nurses to get hands-on experience within the Australian Healthcare system, and can gain job opportunities in USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Middle East

Nurses aspiring for a PG program in Australia can get a student visa, which enables nurses from India to study and live in Australia. As a student, they can still work part-time for 40 hrs a fortnight. An Indian Nurse enrolling for a Master's Program can bring their entire family on a family visa and all dependents can work full time in Australia until the Master's degree is completed.

The qualification for the PG program includes an Indian Bachelors Degree in Nursing. An Indian Diploma holder Nurse can also enroll for IHM’S Masters's program. It is a Pathway into Masters without Bachelors. This is the fastest option for an Indian Diploma holder Nurse to complete a Masters.