JOIN USRotary Bangalore Jeevan Bhima Nagar held its 13th installation ceremony recently at Hotel Bangalore International. The members also took time to give a vocational award to Arunachalam Muruganantham, the inventor of low-cost sanitary napkins.
At the function, Rotarian Ronnie Vincent was installed as the new president by immediate past president Rotarian Abhishek Ranjan.
The newly-elected team comprises of Rotarian Manoj (secretary), Rotarian B Viswanath (treasurer), Rotarian Manohar Sivara (joint secretary and commercial services), Rotarian Girish Nair (youth service), Rotarian Anshuman Sonbhadra (international services), Rotarian Prathima Reddy (sergeant at arms), Rotarian CM Reddy (vice president and president elect), Rotarian Ravindranath (director-TRF), Rotarian Jothish (director-club services) and Rotarian Abhishek Ranjan (IPP).
The club crossed the 50-member threshold and aim to get 75 members by next year. Eleven new Rotarians were inducted and seven of them were women. District governor Rotarian Manjunath Shetty presented the pins to everyone.
The guest of honour for the evening was Dr J Alexandar, former Chief Secretary of Karnataka, who was also inducted to the club. He congratulated Rotary Jeevan Bhima Nagar for being awarded as the Best Club in District 3190.
He also spoke about the need for more clubs like Rotary and how people like to belong to something bigger than them. “We are living in an exciting world because of the unbridled growth of science and technology. But we need peace and to get that we need justice and for that we need love,” he said.
Arunachalam, who is recognised as one of the world’s most influential people in 2014 by ‘Time’ magazine, was handed over an advance of Rs 3 lakh to help with his project.
He has innovated grass-roots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.
Speaking on the occasion, Arunachalam urged Rotary Clubs to partner and help decrease the girl child school dropout ratio. The first people to receive free sanitary napkins from him at the event were children from ‘Reaching Hands’.
He doesn’t believe in marketing or commercialising his products, rather making sure that all women in the country have access to sanitary napkins.
“In India, when you tell women that 90 percent of women don’t use sanitary napkins, no one reacts. Indian women adjust with anything, they use leaves, paper, cloth and even sawdust and sand as absorbents. But women in the West, flinch when you tell them such facts,” he says.
In the past years, the Jeevan Bhima Nagar members have been involved in many projects. The enthusiastic bunch that comprises many youngsters, takes an active role in providing water purifiers and wheelchairs to the Railways, money to special needs schools, campaigning for gender equality, providing health camps and improving services to people.
The club has sponsored a mid-day meal programme and signed an MOU with NU Hospital for a dialysis centre for AIDS patients on this occasion. There was an award ceremony and dinner to
complete the night.