Astrology  Chat  Cityscape  Classifieds  Entertainment  Health  Matrimonial 
Music  News  Panorama  Search  Shopping  Services  Tours & Travel  Home

The Rotary Club of Madras, as part of its Platinum Jubilee celebrations, will honour nine 'platinum' personalities who have made significant contribution to the development of the country and the society, at a function to be held in Chennai on February 20, 2004.

Its president D Sudhakara Reddy said the 'platinum' personalities identified are agricultural-scientist M S Swaminathan, M Balamurali Krishna, violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman, historian S Muthiah, danse guru Kalanidhi Narayanan, film actor M N Nambiar, Dr A M Selvaraj, Planning Commission member K Venkatasubramaniam and industrialist K S Narayanan. They will receive a platinum coin each.

Reddy said, "The platinum people we propose to honour have literally shaped the destiny of our country and have placed, in some cases, our country on the world map. Threir contribution is unparalleled and it is a humble gesture on our part to honour, recognise and acknowledge the greats of yesteryears whose untiring work is bearing fruit even today."

Some of them are entering the 75th year in 2004 just like the Rotary Club, Reddy pointed out.

Outlining the projects in aid of the handicapped and the needy, Rotarian S Gunasekhar said the Rotary Club of Madras has deeply cared about the plight of the handicapped. The work that the Club has done dots the city. From the construction of classrooms for challenged students in Bala Vihar, out-patient department in Oattatraya Orthopaedic Medical Centre, building a hostel for the CSI School for Deaf and Dumb, Santhome, funds for a dormitory that would house 200 amputees at the Indian Red Cross Society, Tamil Nadu Chapter, the Club moved on doggedly to spread light around through its service. The Club has also done singular work in eradication of leprosy through their project OPEL - Operation Leprosy Project, the brainchild of Rtn. PDG Dr. M. Natarajan. Other such need-based community projects are the Mid-day meal scheme for college students which in time, got implemented by the State Government for school children. In the College scheme, donor and recipient do not meet and the recipients do not even know that their meals are 'free' thus saving them embarrassment.

The work the Club has done for children cannot be ignored. Few people know that the Child Trust Hospital began in 1980 as a small house with only four beds. Rtn. PP.PHF. SL Chitale shared his vision for a world class non-profit children's hospital offering free treatment to patients from lower income groups with Rtn. Dr Kenneth Hobbs from Canada. Three Rotary Clubs from Canada responded with generous donations. The hospital's reputation grew faster than its capacity to hold all the patients. Donations poured in and today this hospital is an eight-storied, 200-bed centre.

Last year, at a cost of Rs. 18 lakh, the Club built 22 low-cost shelters at Ennathur Rotary Puram. The Collector of Kancheepuram pitched in with Rs. 5 lakh towards providing the roads, water and electricity. Houses, which became homes to 22 families!

The Red Measles Immunization Programme that the Rotary Club of Madras undertook with Dr. Kenneth Hobbs of the Rotary Club of Canada is the largest immunization project in the history of India. What began as a one-time delivery trip to hand over 68,000-dose programme against red measles became an ongoing journey of hope, faith and fulfillment. Needless to say Murphy 's Law went into action. Everything that could possibly go wrong did! Nevertheless, as Henry Ford had said obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. Dr Hobbs along with Rtns Chitale, Kumar and Gopal managed to get this programme off the ground. But not before Dr. Hobbs realized and recalled Dr. Jacob's words.. .that this was a mere drop in the ocean. In the developing world, measles claimed half the children's lives in the age group of 1-5. When he went back, Dr. Hobbs organised to send half a million doses. This was the beginning. By the end of 1981, 2.5 million children were immunized by Rotarians in District 320.

Statistics on poliomyelitis or known more as simply 'polio' in India were frightening. The disease had existed in the country for 3,500 years, it is said. 750 children were crippled by polio in a day and another 75 died of it. Add to this other deadly childhood diseases like measles, whooping cough, triple antigen cholera and small pox and we face a lethal cocktail that'll spare nobody. Rotary International grant of $2million came through in May 1985. The campaign by Rotary International fanned out to every polio-afflicted country. The PolioPlus programme was inaugurated on May 1, 1987 at a time when India had the dubious distinction of being the country with the most number of polio cases in the world. 110 million children needed to be vaccinated.

The power of the media was harnessed to spread the message in Tamil Nadu. Through Rtn. AV Saravanan of AVM Studios, the Club asked two popular movie satrs - Manorama and Rajnikanth - to star in two short films, explaining why PolioPlus was necessary. Such is the power of the silver screen in the State that people flocked to the centres for a 'Monorama' or 'Rajni' injection, says Gunasekhar. A little-known fact is that both actors refused payment and at a function when the film actress was thanked and presented with a sari, she promptly returned it. Other film stars like Bhanu Priya, Parthiban, Prabhu and Kushboo have also been roped in to spread the message of life and death. The journey was tedious but in 1999, Tamil Nadu had only 11 cases of polio and today the State has been declared polio-free. While this may be a victory for the State that has once recorded the highest number of polio cases, it is disheartening to know that India continues to be ranked amongst the six countries where polio prevails. Rtn. Chitale, the key driver of this programme who has been honoured with the Regional Service Award by the Rotary Foundation simply says, "We succeed because we don't look at what's not possible."

The Polio Rehabilitation Centre run by the Rotary Club of Madras has been made possible by one of the biggest 3-H grants ever by the Rotary Foundation, a grant of Rs. 2 crore. A variety of courses are conducted revolving round marketing skills. Since 1998, 76 students have completed their Secretarial Practice course, 192 in Computer Applications, 58 in Tailoring, 27 in TV & Radio Servicing, 13 in Art and 15 in Music.

The Rotary Club of Madras set out to restore temple tanks which dot the city. 11 of the 37 temple tanks have been restored by the Rotary Club of Madras. However, the Club is unhappy over negligence shown by the people.

The Tamil Nadu Governor will hand over the platinum awards at a function in Chennai on February 20, 2004.

RR