Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa

Talk on Union Budget 2011-12 was delivered by Mr. M. A. Sundaram. Mr. Sundaram spoke to a packed audience that comprised of corporates and students, and addressed the following - The challenges that the FM had while drafting the budget including political pressures and the possibility of the elections having an impact on the budget rather than the other way!! The steps the the FM took to meet the challenges. The FM did not tall promises and made only those proposals that are achievable.

The speaker had reasoning of how the proposal targets could be met… AND what made it possible to achieve targets of the earlier proposals. The impact (positives and negatives) of the budget on major sectors were discussed in detail.

Replying to a question the deficits were compared to other developing / developed economies. Emphasis on overall governance specially on the distribution system for food stock and may the government should privatise the distribution system. Mr. Sundaram debated on the issue of FDI in retail Vs a better distribution system. Effects of political turmoil on oil prices and its impact on the budget proposals.

Also present was Rtn. Prakash Saraswat of RC Vasco who spoke about Rotary.

Mr. M.A. Sundaram has over 50 years experience of working in Government, Public and Private Sector Industries. He has worked as Joint Director (Finance) in the Railway Board, New Delhi, Finance Director of BRPL a Public Sector Petrochemical Corporation in Assam, Vice-President (Finance) in Zuari Industries Goa and Reliance Industries Mumbai. Mr. M. A. Sundaram was also Chief marketing Coordinator, Goa for DSP Merrill Lynch. He has studied Modern Management Techniques in USA and Canada under a United Nations Fellowship. He has been a Visiting faculty in Railway Staff College Vadhodra and Institute of Rail Transport, New Delhi. Mr. Sundaram is now a Visiting Faculty in Goa University, Goa Institute of Management, Ribandar and MES College.

Rotary Guest Speaker, vocational

Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa, in association with All Goa Govt. recognised unaided Schools Association held the “Science is Fun” Projects Exhibition on Sunday 12 December 2010 at Regina Mundi High School, Chicalim (Goa, India). The exhibition was open to the public from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm.

65 students from 9 schools – Keshav Smruti High School, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, GHS Mangor Hill Vasco, Navy Children School, Regina Mundi, Airway Public Shool, Deepvihar High School, St. Andrews Institute and St. Joseph’s Institute displayed their projects.

The judges were Prof. Terence, Prof. Hirkude of PCC Verna, and Mr. Deepak Khaitan, President, All Goa Govt. recognised unaided Schools Association. The best projects were:

Category: Below 6th standard: Gayatri Salkar – Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Pushkar Pandit and Aditya Chaudhari – Airway Public School, Tyrel Nunes – Regina Mundi.
Category: 7th-8th standard: Anuj Jaiswar, Steven Vaz and Joseph Francisco Da Silva – Regina Mundi, Shivam Sharma and Sairaj Kakodkar – Deepvihar high school.
Category: 9th-10th standard: Zave C. Vaz and Jafar S. Govikhan – St. Josephs Institute, Vinay R. Tandel – G.H.S Mangor Hill Vasco, Ankita D’Souza and Shilpa B. Kavlekar – Navy Children School.

Also present on the occassion were DGE Avinash Potdar, Rtn. Anand Kulkarni, District Secretary 2011-12, Rtn. Durgesh Haritay – DGSC 2010-11, Rtn. Ashok Naik, Rtn. Ajay Bhatia – President RC Belgaum South, Rtn. Prakash Saraswat, GSR Rtn. Santosh Lotlikar, AG Rtn. Tejendra Lawande, AG 2011-12 Rtn. Atul Naik, Br. Anish, Principal of the host school Regina Mundi. Mr. Deepak Khaitan, Mr. Cherian, Mr. Shetty from the All Goa Govt. recognised unaided Schools Association were present to lend their support and guidance. We also acknowledge the support of Vidya, Rohit and  Nisha for helping make copies of the DVD, Niharika for the calligraphy, and Sparsh and Parag for the photography.

To help kickstart project ideas, 15 schools from around Vasco da gama Goa were given the DVD Learner’s Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta and his team. The DVD is a treasure trove for a child to know how things work, and has hundreds of ways of making Science Fun to Learn. The schools are requested to show the DVD to teachers and students. The schools are welcome to make copies of the DVD LEARNER’S LIBRARY and allow teachers, students, parents to make copies of the work. The work is in the public domain. The objective is to have more children use it, adapt it, and improve it. The DVD contents are also available on www.arvindguptatoys.com.

Also see http://www.rcdabolim.org/2010/distribution-of-dvd-learners-library-to-schools/

Rotary education, projects, school, vocational

Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa, in association with ALL GOA GOVT. RECOGNISED UNAIDED SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION, presents Science is Fun DVD + Project Exhibition

We have distributed 15 DVDs to schools around Vasco da gama Goa. The DVD Learner’s Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta and his team.  The DVDs are a treasure trove for a child to know how things work, and has hundreds of ways of making Science Fun to Learn: the concept of Magnetic Levitation / Maglev trains explained using small magnets, an old slipper and a pencil, or the basics of astronomy explained using an old bucket handle, plastic balls, cycle spoke and thread, etc.

We have requested schools to show the DVDs to teachers and students. The schools are also welcome to make copies of the DVD LEARNER’S LIBRARY and allow teachers, students, parents to make copies of the work. The work is in the public domain. The objective is to have more children use it, adapt it, and improve it. There are PDF books on the DVD that can be printed and distributed.

The DVD contents are also available on www.arvindguptatoys.com

The DVD distribution will be followed by a Science Exhibition to help increase usage of the DVD among children and schools.

Rotary education, projects, school, vocational

We sponsored tickets of the play Junglenama for under priviledged children from Hamara School (School for street kids) and Matruchaya Orphanage. The play was brought to Goa by two friends Renu Rao and Roshan Bandekar.

The play is about a struggle for existence for animals by the animals. Babbar Khan (The Lion) and his small army comprising of Cheetah, Monkey, Deer, Horse and an Elephant along with the other animals rage a war against the Human atrocities and save their Jungle land. The play responds to the need for an idea of coexistence of Animals and Humans.

The script has been based on a story by Gulzar. It has been adapted for the stage by Varun Narvekar and Sarang Sathaye.

Rotary community, education, vocational

As a part of our Educational projects, we distributed the DVD Learner’s Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta and his team. This DVD was handed over to Mr Anil Kher on the CII Goa Education Panel for onward handing over to some schools and Science Clubs, and Mr Deepak Khaitan of ALL GOA GOVT. RECOGNISED UNAIDED SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION. We will be rolling out the next phase of this project to encourage use of the DVD shortly.

The DVD Learners Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta is a treasure trove for a child to know how things work, and has hundreds of ways of making Science Fun to Learn. It also has e-learning content in the form of hundreds of short Videos, PDF Books, and photographs giving step by step instructions on how to make simple toys from trash.the concept of Magnetic Levitation / Maglev trains explained using small magnets, an old slipper and a pencil, or the basics of Astronomy explained using an old bucket handle, plastic balls, cycle spoke and thread, etc.

The Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa is focused on improving the employ-ability of students from lesser privileged sections of society. Our Education Projects are thus helping selected schools by improving infrastructure, training of teachers and providing teaching aids. In the last few months, we have donated an LCD projector, Laptop, books, bags to high performing girl child, helped build toilets at 2 schools – Yuwak Sangh and Anjuman, have planned a teachers training programme, and are working on helping the partner education institutions further.

Rotary community, projects, vocational

We have donated an LCD projector to MES College Zuarinagar Goa to coincide with the official visit of the District Governor (RID 3170) Rtn Mahesh Raikar. Also present were AG Rtn. Rtn. Nikhil Lawande. The LCD projector will be used by the teachers to improve the quality of education in classrooms. The project has been completed under the District Simplified Grants (DSG).

The Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa is focused on improving the employ-ability of students from lesser privileged sections of society. Our Education Projects are thus helping selected schools by improving infrastructure, training of teachers and providing teaching aids. The teaching aids donated by Rotary will help improve the education imparted to students. In the last few months, we have donated a Laptop, books, bags to high performing girl child, helped build toilets at 2 schools – Yuwak Sangh and Anjuman, have planned a teachers training programme, and are working on helping the partner education institutions further.

Rotary community, education, projects, RID 3170, vocational

One difficulty faced by teachers was the difficulty in motivating students to study, especially students from poor families or with parents who are uneducated or not available at home to spend time with the child.

We gave bags as awards to the high performing girl child. This should in turn motivate other students to study harder. Bags were donated by Rohit & Sonali.

The Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa is focused on improving the employ-ability of children from lesser privileged sections of society. We are thus helping selected schools by improving infrastructure and providing teaching aids.

Rotary community, education, projects, school, vocational

As a part of our focus on Education, we donated used reading material to one of our partner schools – Yuvak Sangh School, Sada, Vasco. The books and magazines will augment the school library, and will be used by the children.

You can help by collecting 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. This is a great idea for people who love their books, and don’t want them to just become clutter. Its best to pass them on so that they can impact someone’s life and be useful once again. Children from financially challenged backgrounds usually do not have adequate reading material at home – any used books, text books and magazines you donate will go a long way in helping them develop the reading habit and will have a positive impact on their lives. Donations can include books in any language, or even good magazines such as India Today, Time, National Geographic and comics such as Tinkle. The books and magazines should be in reasonably good reading condition.

Rotary community, education, projects, school, vocational

We organised a unique summer camp that blended art & craft, sports, personality development, environmental awareness, games, fun and more… This was held between 10th -16th May 2010 from 10:00 am to 1 pm at Rotary Hall, Tilak Maidan, Vasco for the Age Group: 7 – 12 years. The children enjoyed numerous activities ranging from Cooking, Fire / Traffic Safety, Environment, Sports, Drama classes, and a visit to the Aviation Museum.

Rotary fundraiser, projects, vocational

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