Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa

Talk on the “Union Budget” was given by Guest Speaker Mr. M. A. Sundaram.

Some highlights:

Budget seen to be a foresight visionary budget impacts of which will be seen in 2012-13. Path for bring the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP (and internationally well accepted norm for credit rating of the Country’s economy)  has been laid. Budget focused on public spending through PPP where the govt sees value in the delivery system of the private sector. Govt easing the freebies of subsidies to bring the markets and consumer to realistic pricing rather than keep the consumers in the habit of an unwarranted ‘comfort zone’. Budget did make a reference of the start point of the Direct tax Code and the GST (1 April 2011). The process of unified rates for GST has been seen in this budget … Excise duty and Service tax at the same rate (10%). Individual taxation, Research expenditure, Environment related projects saw major pluses in this budget. Ease of compliance to small assesses (no audit requirement….).  Dampeners, have been the rise in fuel price and increase in tax rates for MAT.. the later not being a major dampner.

Mr. M. A. Sundaram is highly respected Rotarian and a visiting faculty at numerous colleges. He has been Ex Joint Director (Finance) Railway Board in Delhi, Ex Finance Director Bongaigaon Refineries & Petrochemicals Ltd., Ex Vice-President (Finance) Zuari Industries and Ex Vice- President (Finance) Reliance Industries Ltd. Mr. Sundaram is currently a Non-Executive Independent Director of De Nora India Ltd.

Mr. Sundaram is a Friend of Rotary, and has also been our Guest Speaker last year to explain the Union Budget.

Rotary Guest Speaker, vocational

As a part of our initiative to partner with schools, we donated reading material to one of our partner schools – Yuvak Sangh High School, Headland Sada, Vasco. The 134 books and magazines will augment the school library, and will be used by the children. Thanks to Amit T, Karuna, Lalit, Shubhangi and Sonali for donating books.

Please help collect reading material from your home, office, and from your friends and family. The material / envelope should be marked with your name. Your small contribution will go a long way to improve reading and learning in children.

FAQ:

What can I donate ?
Reading Material can include any books and magazines in reasonably decent condition that will help a child read and learn. They can include the 5-year old India Today that you have lying somewhere at home, the Amar Chitra Katha that your child doesnt read anymore, Gode Goshti in Marathi, or the workbook on Financial Accounting from your graduation that you have not touched for ages. They can be in any language (English, Hindi, Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Tamil, or even Swahili), and on any topic under the sun.

What will the club do with the reading material ?
These books and magazines will be sorted according to topic, suitability etc. and then donated to our partner institutions. We will be donating the reading material to the schools: (classes 1st to 10th) and colleges (11th-12th, B Com / BBA / BA) students. The children will be from ages 5 years to 20 years.

Which are your partner institutions ?
These schools and colleges are in the vicinity of Vasco / Dabolim, and have been shortlisted after evaluation on numerous parameters by our members Amit B and Snehal.

Rotary education, projects, school, vocational

The All Goa Open Category Chess Tournament was conducted Jointly by RC Vasco and RC Dabolim in association with Goa State Chess Association. The prize money was sponsored by Dr Peter Carvahlo , chess coach and associated in hosting chess tournaments.

The Chess tournament was held at Regina Mundi School, Chicalim, and had 108 participants taking part over the 2 day event.

Rotary projects, vocational

An unique summer camp that blends art & craft, sports, personality development, environmental awareness, games, fun and more…

Dates: 18th to 24th May
Time: 09:30 am to 1 pm
Venue: Rotary Hall, Tilak Maidan, Vasco
Age Group: 9 – 12 years
Fees: Rs. 750/-

Rotary community, fundraiser, projects, vocational

Our Guest Speaker Mr. M. A. Sundaram spoke about the current financial crisis in the world, and its origins. The first signs of the impeding crisis started in 2007 with a slow down in SUV demand, and snowballed with the Lehman Brothers incident. He discussed the Indian Budget 2009 considering the prevailing global situation and election year. He also compared Disposable Income to Credit, Exports as a % of GDP, and Domestic Savings Rate of many countries.

Mr. M. A. Sundaram is a highly respected Ex Joint Director (Finance) Railway Board in Delhi, Finance Director B.R.P.L., Vice President (Finance) Z.I.L. He is also a Rotarian from Vasco da gama, and a visiting faculty at numerous colleges.

Rotary Guest Speaker, vocational

Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa will partner with (an) Education Institution(s) – a School or College, to try to Improve the life of children from lesser privileged sections of society.

We discussed the process so that the project can be easily repeated by us and by other clubs in the future:
1. Which Education Institution ? We will select the institutions based on some pre-defined metrics, instead of going with a school that is preferred by a member.
2. Focus Areas: Based on the data collected, we will decide whether the institution needs assistance in improving the quality of Teachers, purchase of Teaching Aids, or improvement of Infrastructure.
3. Investment: The above data will help us decide where we need to invest our time and money.
4. Feedback and Reward: This will ensure that we can clearly measure the effectiveness of our efforts, reward the best performers, and as this is a long-term project, use year 1 results to tweak year 2 focus areas and metrics for success.

Please DOWNLOAD the Presentation & Process PPT and Template for data XLS that were used by Lalit. Please note that these are meant to be a thought starter and template only. It will be refined as more members study and discuss it in subsequent meetings.

Project committee would be consisting of Snehal, Lalit, Jen, Umesh, Amit T, Charuta, Avez and Amit B.

We are looking for Rotary Clubs and Organizations that want to partner with us on this project. If you have any suggestions that will help us improve the effectiveness of the project, or would like to help financially, please contact us.

Please also see http://www.rcdabolim.org/projects/partner-with-a-school/

Rotary community, education, projects, school, vocational

In November 2008, we visited the Keshav Smruti School in Dabolim, Goa. The objective was to understand whether we can add value to the school. We met the teachers and administrators of the school, and had a quick look at the school infrastructure.

In the next club meeting, it was decided to visit numerous schools to collect pre-determined data. This data will form the basis of deciding which school we will work with, and what are the specific inputs the school needs.

Dinesh, Snehal, Amit T and Lalit visited the school along with Rtn. Santosh Lotlikar of Rotary Club of Vasco da gama.

Rotary community, education, projects, school, vocational