Why I am a Rotarian

The first quote I heard about Rotary International, was by management guru Late Sharu Rangnekar. He used to say “Those who can’t become Presidents in their company, become Presidents of Rotary Club”. So you can imagine my reaction as a senior executive in a large corporate, when a visitor would present me a visiting card with his designation in a Rotary Club on it. I used to say to myself, “Oh no, not one more of those small timers with big ideas about himself”.

But destiny ruled otherwise. I had to shift to Thane a few years back and didn't know a soul in the city except one couple who happened to be Rotarians. When I said I was worried about not having any friends in this new place, they said, “Rajeev don’t worry, just join my Rotary Club and you will have a great time in Thane”. And boy did I have a good time! From the day I started attending weekly meetings of the club as a prospective member, the who’s who of Thane would introduce themselves to me and would invite me to dinners & get-togethers. I would also get to hear some eminent speaker every Tuesday evening. But after a few months, the novelty wore off and I started losing interest. Then suddenly one day, the President Elect called me and asked me if I would like to join his Board of Directors. When I asked him what that meant, he said don’t worry we will guide you. And guide they did. As a Pulse Polio Chairman, I was taken around 35-40 centres in Mumbra & Kalwa and I learnt how dedicated Rotarians and Municipal employees were Making a Difference. This opened my eyes to a totally new aspect of Rotary. I realized Rotary is not just wining and dining but lot of solid work for the community. As I handled various other portfolios in subsequent years, I realized what a great institution Rotary is. The theme I liked was, “Fellowship for Service”.

Since I have spent my career in a hierarchical corporate world, what I enjoy in Rotary is the challenge of getting volunteers to work as team without any authority over them. I am highly impressed by the amazing organizational structure, succession planning and strategic vision, where at the stroke of midnight of every June 30^th, the entire organization from top to bottom changes but the institutional values, strategic aims & objectives remain the same.

I am proud to belong to an International community which gives me the privilege of entering into any Rotary meeting anywhere in the world and of being accepted there as one of them. As a Rotarian, I get credit for any good work done by any club anywhere in the world.

Rotary gave a higher aim to my life which was caught up in busy corporate life with its politics, pettiness and greed. It gave me relief from frustration at the corruption and wrongdoings in the society around us. But best of all it gave me hope for the humankind. 

Thank you Rotary.

My Thane of Future

Compared to most of my friends who have been born and brought up in Thane, I am a new comer with just 9 years here. But my love for this great city is no less than theirs.

What with housing construction activity going on at feverish pitch all around, Thane is definitely growing today but I feel this growth is not one which is going to contribute much to the city but will only burden it in future in terms of additional requirements of utilities and infrastructure like power, water, educational institutions, transport, highways, health care etc. Thane will only become more and more a suburb of Mumbai without any identity of its own. It will be a residential base for increasing commercial prosperity of Mumbai.

For a city to really prosper on its own, it must add value to the state and the country. It must thrive economically on the goods and services it provides to the society outside the city. It must think young, be innovative and continuously reinvent itself.

For a long time Thane had a solid manufacturing base in Textiles, Engineering, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals from small, medium and large scale industries. It generated revenue for the city government, gave employment to thousands and attracted talent from all over the country. Today almost all large industries have either shut shop or shifted their base elsewhere. Many medium and small scale industries are in doldrums. Just a drive through Wagle Industrial Estate will suffice to prove my point. High cost of labor, low level of skills, smaller scale of production and cheaper imports have made manufacturing here unviable for many of these industries.

Thane city needs to create an identity for itself distinct from that of Mumbai by using its strengths to its advantage. Firstly it has real estate which is cheaper than Mumbai. Due to its proximity to Mumbai and a green national park, it can attract top Indian and International talent which looks for cosmopolitan environment with clean living. With all the new residential construction in progress, it can comfortably house a large workforce. It is close to two International Airports of Mumbai, one of which will hopefully come up in the next few years. Most importantly, due to its geographically small area for a large metropolis, it must have environmentally friendly industry so that its citizens have a clean life.

High end Information Technology is one area which fulfils all these requirements and utilizes the advantage of Thane. By high end I mean IT developmental labs and high end software development activity and not call centers which are more suitable for upstate smaller towns. Where to put this industry? With manufacturing in shambles, Wagle Estate comes to my mind as a perfect fit for IT industry. MIDC should buy back all the land it can from present lessees / owners, many of whom will be more than glad to do it. Those industries and residents who want to continue business, should be consolidated in one area of the estate with proper compensation for their disruption. MIDC should consolidate the present smaller plots into large land parcels, construct world class infrastructure like roads, electric power supply, top class public transport and offer the land to large Indian and International software giants for setting up their base here. Each land parcel should be minimum 4-5000 sq Meters to ensure that only the biggies enter the fray. It is high time we abandoned our mindset of small is beautiful and invite those who can provide employment opportunities to maximum number of skilled people.

With so many persons working here, other businesses providing services to those people will also grow dramatically. Restaurants, malls, transport, automobile, travel and similar industries as well as educational institutes will expand, opening up more opportunities for businessmen as well as people working in these industries.

How long will it take? Maybe 5 years with a Chandrashekhar at the helm or more with someone else; but we are talking about Thane for the next 60-70 years; so this is a small time invested for a long term gain.

Internationally, Thane will have its own identity as a knowledge center. Its citizens will have cleaner, better life with less commuting and more facilities created by the revenue rich Municipal Corporation. Maybe the TMC will compete with this newspaper for the title of Thane Vaibhav!

In short if Bangaluru and Hyderabad can do it why can't Thane?