Finding Opportunities for PWDs

RC Calcutta Metropolitan South, jointly with Globsyn and CII observed ‘World Disability Day’ on 3rd December 2007 at Globsyn Crystals, Salt Lake.

The 2 hr program was observed in two parts. In the inaugural session the 4 delegates talked about the significance of the day. The delegates included Rtn. Bikram Dasgupta, Chairman & CEO, Globsyn Group who gave the introductory speech; Prof. R.C. Bhattacharya, Director, Globsyn Business School, gave an insight into the whole event and the significance of the day; Mr. P.K. Sen, Senior Advisor, CII gave a presentation on the various factual data regarding the disabled workforce in India and their employment status and what needs to be done; and Mrs. Sampa Sengupta, Director, Sruti Disability Centre shared the relevant laws and legislations related to employment of PWD’s. All these discussions took place keeping in mind the profile of the audience who were all HR professionals from different blue-chip Co’s. What the Rotaractors gained was knowledge about the required 3 A’s – Awareness, Attitude and Accessibility. All the invitees where given 2 sets of questionnaires about the details of their PWD employment Policies prevailing in their organizations and were also given other awareness brochures.

Thereafter, there were 2 movie screenings, one by CII regarding the various initiatives taken by different Co’s in the field of helping differently abled employees and the second one being that of the Rotaractors of RC Calcutta Metropolitan South regarding their various activities and achievements in this Rota year.

In the second session a 5-member panel discussion took place. The topic of discussion was – ‘Diversified Workforce’ and the panel discussed how to increase the employment opportunities for the People With Disability (PWD). The panel members were Prof. R.C. Bhattacharya; Mr. P.K. Sen, Senior Advisor-CII; Prof. S.B. Roy, Chairman, IBRAD; Mr. Anjan Banerjee, System Engineer, IBM (Diversity Group) and Ms. Dipshikha Basu, System Engineer, IBM (Diversity Group).

Around 30 HR Managers & HR Professionals from companies like Wipro, PWC, ABP, Tata AIG, TCS, Albert David, WEBEL etc. were present in the occasion which lastly ended with a 15 mins question-answer round followed by refreshments.

Date: 3rd December 2007
Reporter: Rtr. Arunava Das & Rtr. Indrani Banerjee

Children’s Day at Child Care

RC Calcutta Metropolitan South together with Rotary Club of Calcutta Metropolitan South celebrated ‘Children’s Day’ today at ‘Child Care’ – an orphanage for girls near Chingrighata.

The day started at 8am when the 100 odd children woke up to see some new friends ready with their breakfast and a lot of gifts. The fun breakfast consisted of breads, bananas and laddus while the children along with some Rotaractors tried their hands at feeding a banana to Pinky – the heroine of Childcare, as she is commonly known!

Rotarians and Rotaractors jointly gifted them 100 mosquito nets, rice and cooking oil for the whole Children’s Day week and medicine sets for cold and cough, fever and stomach disorder, so generously provided by Rtn. Dr. Chopra.

After Breakfast it was time for fun. The Rotaractors joined the children for the exciting game of ‘kabaddi’. There were fierce battles between the two teams. Most of the children looked as if they are all professional players. We took some great lessons from Dolly, Sumita, Anita, Kamala and others about the game. . For some new Rotaractors it was the first project and they enjoyed the project at its best, singing and dancing away with the children. The saddest part of the whole programme was when we were returning back. There were many requests to stay for some more time, but like all things come to an end, we had to return with some very precious memories of Children’s Day in our hearts.

Date: 17th November 2007
Reporter: Rtr. Arunava Das & Rtr. Indrani Banerjee

Sunday-full of Entertainment

RC Calcutta Metropolitan South today helped ‘Bodhayan’ – an organization for Mentally Challenged Children and their Parents, to organize their annual inter school cultural meet for the mentally challenged students at Dr. B.C. Roy Auditorium, Sealdah. Around 20 schools for these special children took part in the day long program. The present crowd of 300 fully enjoyed the great performances in the form of Dance, Song, Drama etc. by the special children.

Six club members led by President Rtr. Indrani worked as volunteers for this program. They helped in the registration process, stage decoration, stage co-ordination, helped in the physical movement of the participants especially to get on and off stage via the stairs, distributing food packets etc. Earlier the club members took part in the souvenir collection for the event and contributed Rs. 3150. The club members while volunteering got some new friends like Amit, Mahabir, Bubai, Abhishek. Though they are called ‘Mentally Challenged’ but their creative talent is no less than an ordinary person. So for the club members they have become ‘Special Friends’.

After nearly 5 hours of dazzling performances came the time for prize distribution. ‘Noble Mission’ got the first prize followed by ‘Morning Glory’ and ‘South Calcutta Ananda Niketan’ as second and third respectively. Mrs. Ranjana Dasgupta & Mr. Romit Dasgupta of Globsyn Group also enjoyed the day with the club members.

Date: 16th September 2007
Reporter: Rtr. Arunava Das

Installation 2007-08

A Match to Remember

The final of the annual football league of Calcutta Deaf & Dumb School was played today at the school grounds. The league was organized and sponsored by Rotaract Club of Calcutta Metropolitan South (Globsyn Business School). The students were formerly divided into 16 groups, who played each other from August 28th from which the two finalist teams emerged.

The day started with the first match among the staffs, where ‘Blue & White’ team beat ‘Black & Red’ team by a solitary goal. This saw a lot of cheer from the crowd of students. Then the action packed final was played between Group A winners and Group B winners, where the latter won the match by two goals to nil. But the real fun was watching the 3 Goldar brothers controlling the ball like Maradona or Pele.

The match was followed by serving lunch packets to all present and the prize distribution ceremony, where trophies and towels (as requested by the students) were handed over by the Principal Mr. Samir Samanta, Club President Rtr. Indrani, Secretary Rtr. Arunava & Treasurer Rtr. Susovan. Staff players were given torches as complimentary gifts. Prof. Deboprasad Chattopadhay of Globsyn Business School actively took part in this project. Mrs. Rajlakshmi Banerjee, daughter of founding principal Late Atal Chand Chaterjee was also present in the occasion.

Date: 1st September 2007
Reporter: Rtr. Arunava Das

More than 200 attend Membership Development Drive

RC Calcutta Metropolitan South today organized ‘Membership Development Drive’ with the first year students of Globsyn Business School at Globsyn Business School, Salt Lake, Sector – V as part of their ‘Club Service’ project. Around 210 young would be managers attended the three sessions according to their specializations. Club President Rtr. Indrani Banerjee, Secretary Rtr. Arunava Das and Treasurer Rtr. Susovan Saha gave them power-point presentation on Rotaract, its work, past projects done by the club etc. It was followed by brief Q&A sessions. Prof. Deboprasad Chattopadhyay and Mr. Avik Mukherjee specially helped them in the process. The responses of the students were very positive. Till this report is made already 23 people mailed their application to become a part of this great movement.

Date: 10th August 2007
Reporter: Rtr. Arunava Das