Vol. 54 Issue No. 38 Mumbai March 19 to March 25, 2013 Pages 8 Price Rs. 3/-

ForthcomingmeetingsMarch 19, 2013

The Sohrab Godrej award for Sci-ence and Technology to be presentedto Dr. Spenta Wadia, Professor at theTata Institute of Fundamental Re-search and Director of the Interna-tional Centre for Theoretical Sciences.

March 26, 2013Mr. Mahender Vasandani, Presi-

dent of M. Square, to speak on “Im-proving Mumbai Through UrbanDesign”.

April 2, 2013A talk on innovation by Dr. Swati

Piramal.

It has won many awards for its inno-vative initiatives, but few know that

the popular Magarpatta City has a“City Council” that acts like a munici-pal corporation and that the CMDfunctions as a municipal commissioner.

A unique township just outside Punespread over 430 acres of original farmland, it houses 40,000 residents andhosts 60,000 professionals who workat the IT park in the complex.

The “City Council”, among otherthings, handles the garbage (about 400tonnes is generated and processed in-house every month) and the sewagelines and conducts other civic functions.Sewage water is treated and used forlandscaping, in air conditioning unitsand for raising the ground water level.

Every house in Magarpatta City hasa solar water heating system. With9,000 apartments, this means a verylarge installation of solar water collec-tors. Further, there is an extensive net-work for rainwater harvesting. Bothwater and power supplies are alsomanaged by the “City Council”.

In other words, all civic activities inMagarpatta City are decentralised andhandled by the private sector. This revo-lution came about because the PuneMunicipal Corporation could not lookafter civic services and told the pro-moters quite clearly, “If you want todo it, do it; otherwise, we will do it –but (we will do it only) when we wantto do it”.

And so the management ofMagarpatta Township Developmentand Construction Co. Ltd. decided thatrather than depend on the monolithic(Pune) Municipal Corporation whichwas managing a large area and “doingabsolutely nothing”, it would be betterto divide the township into small wardsand manage it on its own.

One of the biggest problems in hous-ing societies was the collection ofmonthly maintenance charges. To over-come this, the “City Council” collecteda one-time fee from all 9,000 apart-ments. The money was invested andgenerated income which helped main-tain the entire city, thus making it aunique, cost-subsidised township.

9,000 apartments in Magarpatta City handle 400 tonnes ofgarbage every month, with the CMD acting as ‘civic chief’

Every house in Magarpatta City has a solar water heating system – and thereare 9,000 apartments, says Mr. Satish Magar, CMD of the MagarpattaTownship Development and Construction Co. Ltd., at the last meeting

Mr. Satish Magar, the Chairman andManaging Director of MagarpattaTownship Development and Con-struction Co. Ltd., made the above rev-elations at the last meeting when hespoke about the genesis of MagarpattaCity and how it had evolved over thelast two decades.

Manojj Patodia, who introducedhim, said that he was the brain behindthe project that involved the familiesof 123 farmers (who were the land-owners) and getting together as share-holders in a company that was givingthem rich benefits.

Now a powerful brand, it offeredfine living, smart buildings, broad av-enues, modern health care, schools, anIT park, a green and eco-friendly envi-ronment and the biggest park in Pune.

Wharton Business School had pre-pared a case study on Magarpatta forinclusive capitalism. A similar exercisehad been undertaken for the 9th WorldCongress of Metropolises in Sydney,Australia. Former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam had lauded the project.

Mr. Magar started by pointing outthat the name Magarpatta was derivedfrom his family name. His surname wasMagar and “patta” meant a belt of land.Thus, contiguous belts of land ownedby people whose family name was

Magar were together called Magarpatta.The origins of the family in that areahad been traced back to about 350years.

He had a special word of praise forfour persons without whom his dreamcity would not have been possible. Firstof all, he mentioned Mr. Sharad Pawar,whom he had met in his capacity asChief Minister in 1993/94. Next, therewas the late Mr. Bal Thackeray whopresided over the State government thatfollowed the one headed by Mr. Pawar.

The third person who had renderedgreat help was the late Mr. D.M.Harish, the father of Anil Harish, whohad given him professional help tomake his dream come true. And finally,Mr. Deepak Parekh, Honorary mem-ber of the Club and the chief of HDFC,whom he had approached after he hadreceived all permissions but did nothave money to start construction.

Mr. Magar recalled that he had ex-plained the plan under which the farm-ers would form a company and de-velop their land to Mr. Pawar. Thefarmers were worried that as the landhad been classified as urban land, itwould fall under the purview of theUrban Land Ceiling Act (since re-pealed). It was also possible that thefarmers would sell their strips of land

and blow up the money before theyreached home.

“It was his greatness and his gra-ciousness that he (Mr. Pawar) acceptedthe proposal on behalf of the govern-ment. And then the governmentchanged... I would also like to pay myrespects to the late Mr. BalasahebThackeray who, against all odds, or-dered that the project be approved –and it was done in his tenure.”

Hailing from a farmer’s family, Mr.Magar said, he was a first-generationentrepreneur who did not know muchabout the world (he was not streetsavvy) and had few friends in Bombay.But he was advised to meet Mr. D.M.Harish, who was called “the Boss” inincome tax matters.

When he told Mr. Harish that heknew nothing about income tax, he gavehim some books, such as “D.M.Harish on Income Tax”, which he cher-ished and still possessed after so manyyears. There was another lawyer, oneMr. Soli Dastur, who ultimately drewup an agreement and more than 850farmers signed on that single document,without any consideration.

As for Mr. Deepak Parekh, theproject would not have taken off with-out his assistance. He had confidencein the team behind it and believed thatthe concept would work even thougheveryone else was sceptical.

(Continued on Page 2)

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 2

(Continued from Page 1)But what was so special about the

plan? Mr. Magar explained that forthe world Magarpatta was an inte-grated township but for its sharehold-ers it represented a change of attitude.

Most farmers, after selling their landnormally spent the money the waythey wished to; they knew nothingabout savings, investments or incometax and one fine day the tax depart-ment took away everything that re-mained – after blowing up money onnon-productive activities (some alsoresorted to vices).

Magarpatta converted landownersinto developers. The land that the farm-ers owned was used as the raw mate-rial to prepare a fine product – homes,parks and an entire infrastructure thatwould benefit the proposed city andthe original farmers and landowners,too.

“The best thing is that Magar-patta created entrepreneurs out oflandowners. Second-generationlandowners are always a problem.We read in newspapers that wher-ever land has been taken away(sold, grabbed or acquired), thereis a problem. People with emptyminds, sitting idle, not knowingwhat to do, can be a great problem.

“We took the opportunity to createentrepreneurs. Construction is not ex-actly rocket science. What you need isgood supervision. We adopted the back-ward integration process, manufac-tured sand out of stone, went for fab-rication and construction work, every-thing. The idea was that they (the sec-ond generation landowners) should notwaste their money doing nothing. Theyshould become entrepreneurs and theirmoney should be invested for theircoming generations.

“The land offered a one-time op-portunity. It had been inherited fromour forefathers. We had to create a newkind of entrepreneur and keep themoccupied. The idea was to bring abouta change of mindset; a farmer onlyknew how to work on his farm.”

Mr. Magar said the fact that therewere about 800 beneficiary familiesowning over 400 acres meant that theindividual family holdings were small.All the shareholders of the companywere farmers, there was no outsider,no outside funding, no rich investor.

But the experiment paid off. Today,more than 75% of the population hadturned into entrepreneurs and was onits own. A few had gone back to agri-

‘MAGARPATTA HAS CREATED ENTREPRENEURSOUT OF SECOND-GENERATION LANDOWNERS

– WHO ARE ALWAYS A PROBLEM’

Farmers who sell their lands blow up the money before long, says Mr. SatishMagar at the last meeting, which was conducted by President-Elect Nirav Shah.Seated next to Mr. Magar is Manojj Patodia, who introduced the guest speaker

culture, but it was a side business forthem, not their mainstay.

As far as the outside world was con-cerned, Magarpatta City offered 430acres of infrastructure, 9,000 apart-ments and more than six million squarefeet of IT space. Forty thousandpeople lived and 60,000 peopleworked there. There were hospitals,playgrounds, gymnasia, differenttypes of recreation centres, a shop-ping mall – all in one compound andall of it creating wealth.

Mr. Harish and Mr. Dastur had sug-gested a revenue-sharing formula. Asper the agreement signed in 1998-99, apercentage of the sales proceeds wouldgo towards the land cost as and whenit accrued. This ensured that the share-holders enjoyed the fruits of appre-ciation of land.

When the project was launched, ini-tial sales rates ranged between Rs.1,000 and Rs. 1,500. Now that it hadbeen completed (in 2012), the pricewas nearly Rs. 10,000. Thus, the pro-portionate amount, the cost of landwhich the farmers received, had kepton increasing. It was appreciation forthe land and there was a continuousstream of income.

The IT park of about six millionsquare feet was owned by the com-pany. It was leased out and the leaserentals went back to the farmers byway of dividend on a perpetual basis.

Another point to note was thatall the farmers stayed within thecommunity, in 7,000 out of the 9,000apartments. They had neither sepa-rate buildings nor separate locali-ties but were dispersed all over in

the middle-class community. InMagarpatta City the population wasmiddle class.

“One of our aims, along with finan-cial security, was social engineering.The farmer, who was not educated,who did not know the urban way ofliving even though his land lay in anurban area, was now living in an urbanagglomeration along with the upwardlymobile middle-class. Most of them(other residents) work in the IT in-dustry, where knowledge is equity.

“So they (the farmers) started send-ing their children to good schools. Allthe children are either studying in anICSE school inside Magarpatta or in anearby IB school. We needed to bringthis change in order to upgrade theentire social scene, because money it-self is not everything.”

Mr. Magar said that once the con-struction process started and peoplestarted living there from 2002, the con-cept of city management was also in-troduced, thanks to the Pune Munici-pal Corporation which did not appearkeen to immediately provide the town-ship with civic services.

Turning to medical services, Mr.Magar said when it was observed thatthe nearest hospitals were about sevenor eight km. away, it was decided tohave a hospital within the township.Some of the doctors practising in theneighbourhood were approached andgot together to form their own com-pany.

They set up a private limited com-pany which established a 275-bedhospital that was constructed at cost.Magarpatta City had a stake in it but

it was the doctors who ran it. The hos-pital was not only serving the com-munity but also doing a lot of charitywork for those living outside. It waswell-equipped and was doing quitewell.

The next question was managing thecommunity and its social and culturalinfrastructure. That was when the con-cept of the “City Council” came up.One representative was elected to itfrom every 75 apartments and 33% ofthe seats were reserved for women.“We feel that they can do a better jobin management and maintenance, be-cause they are more vocal and stron-ger.”

(It was at this stage that Mr. Magardescribed how Magarpatta had its own“City Council” that looked after allservices and he acted as its MunicipalCommissioner, as described at the be-ginning of this report.)

One of the functions of the “CityCouncil” was to decide on what neededto be done to upgrade the lifestyle, tohelp cultural interaction and to createa community out of the unique combi-nation of people living there.

“About 60% of them are less than40 years of age. So you can imagineour Friday and Saturday nights... But20% of the population is more than65 or 70 years old. We have a veryyoung population and also a very oldpopulation. Most of these (the aged)are those whose children are not inIndia.

“For their sake, all the buildingsand footpaths have ramps and thereis a doctor on call as also security oncall. We started it as a marketing gim-mick but through the ‘City Council’we launched the system of hospital-ity which has become a great success.The young, whose parents are nothere, spend time at the weekend withthe elders whose children are notthere. Thus the right balance is man-aged.”

Mr. Magar said elections to the“City Council” were held every threeyears and everyone wanted to be onit. It needed a lot of money becauseevery festival of every religion wascelebrated together, right from Janu-ary 26 to December 25. At the time ofDiwali, 40,000 lamps were lit all overthe area in a matter of a few minutesby all the residents.

All this required money. In the ini-tial stages, the company spent themoney but that was not sustainable.

(Continued on Page 7)

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 3

The Sohrab Godrej award for Sci-ence and Technology will be pre-

sented to Dr. Spenta Wadia, Professorat the Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch and Director of the Interna-tional Centre for Theoretical Sciences,at the meeting of March 19.

Prof. Wadia is attached to the TataInstitute of Fundamental Research inBombay and also the InternationalCentre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR) in the Indian Institute of Sci-ence Campus at Bangalore. A Distin-guished Professor at the former, he isDirector of the second, that is, theICTS-TIFR.

Born in 1950, he is an alumnus ofSt. Xavier’s College and of the IndianInstitute of Technology, Kanpur. Heearned a Ph.D. from the City Collegeof the City University of New York.A Fellow of the Enrico Fermi Insti-tute, University of Chicago, between1978 and 1980, and Staff Scientist atthe University of Chicago from 1980to 1982, he has, since 1982, been amember of the Faculty of the Depart-ment of Theoretical Physics, TIFR,and is a past Chair of this department.

He was a Visiting Professor at theInstitute for Advanced Study atPrinceton, USA, in 1991-92; and atthe Centre European Recherche Nucl-eaire (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland,in 1996-97 and again in 2003-04.

Among the awards and distinctionsthat Prof. Wadia has earned are theJ.C. Bose Fellowship, Department ofScience and Technology, Governmentof India, in 2006; the Indian PhysicsAssociation C.V. Raman Award, 2005;TWAS Physics Prize, 2004; and theSteven Weinberg Prize of the AbdusSalam International Centre for Theo-retical Physics, Trieste, Italy, 1995.

Elected a Fellow of the IndianAcademy of Sciences, Bangalore,in 1992, he was elected a Fellow ofthe Indian National Science Acad-emy, Delhi, in 1997; the New YorkAcademy of Sciences, New York,in 1997; the National Academy ofSciences, Allahabad, in 2000; andof the TWAS, Trieste, Italy, in 2006.

He has held honorary positions asStaff Associate, Abdus Salam Interna-tional Centre for Theoretical Physics,Trieste, Italy, from 1996 to 2001; asFellow, Japan Society for the Promo-tion of Science (JSPS), 1996; and Hon-orary Faculty, Jawaharlal Nehru Cen-tre for Advanced Scientific Research,Bangalore.

Prof. Wadia has been a member ofthe Commission on Mathematical

‘The Higgs Man’ to receivethe Sohrab Godrej Award for

Science and TechnologyPhysics, International Union of Pureand Applied Physics (IUPAP) from1997 to 2002. He is a permanent mem-ber of the International Advisory Com-mittee of the annual international con-ference on string theory.

He has held visiting positions at overa dozen reputed international institu-tions, such as the Solvay Institutes,Brussels; the Isaac Newton Institutefor Mathematical Sciences, Universityof Cambridge; University of Rome, TorVergata; Autonoma University ofMadrid; Harvard University, JeffersonLaboratory of Physics; Institute forTheoretical Physics, University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara; Departmentof Physics, Stanford University.

Prof. Wadia has also held visitingpositions at the University of Tokyoand the Yukawa Institute for Theo-retical Physics; the Theory Divisionof CERN, Geneva; the MathematicalSciences Research Institute, Univer-sity of California, Berkeley; Labora-`toire de Physique Theorique, EcoleNormale Superieure, France; the NielsBohr Institute, Copenhagen, Den-mark; and KEK, the National Labo-ratory for High Energy Physics,Tsukuba, Japan.

Since 2000, he has been invited ondozens of occasions to deliver lecturesat some of the most prestigious insti-tutions of the world.

Prof. Wadia, who works on issuesof fundamental physics including el-ementary particle physics, stringtheory and quantum gravity, has alsobeen interested in cross-disciplinarybiology.

He addressed the Rotary Club ofBombay on “The Higgs” on August 7,2012.

Shailesh Haribhaktidonates Rs. 5 lakhsVice-President and President-Nomi-

nee Shailesh Haribhakti has madea magnanimous donation of Rs. 5lakhs on the occasion of his birth-day.

President-Elect Nirav Shah, who con-ducted the last meeting, pointed outthat Shailesh, who was celebratinghis birthday on that day (March 12),had made the contribution to theClub’s charity trust.

Members greeted the announcementabout Shailesh’s generosity withloud applause.

Nirav had the last word when he said,“May his tribe increase!”

Boost for the cancerendowment fund

The Ernst & Young Foundation,through the good offices of Farokh

Balsara, has made another generousdonation to boost the Aloo DalalCancer Endowment Fund.

President-Elect Nirav Shah announcedat the last meeting that the E&YFoundation had contributed a sumof Rs. 3.84 lakhs.

Birthdaydonations

Chander Alimchandani heads thelist of members whose birthday

donations have been received in theweek gone by.

President-Elect Nirav Shah said thathe had contributed Rs. 10,001, whileMohsin Contractor had donated Rs.7,501 and Roda Billimoria Rs.6,700.

Further, PP Pradeep Saxena had sent acheque for Rs. 5,001 and HoshangNanavati and Jaidev Merchant havegiven Rs. 5,000 each.

Nirav thanked all the members for theirgenerosity.

Vandana, threeothers become

Paul Harris FellowsDr. Vandana Bulchandani and three

new members admitted to theClub recently have become Paul Har-ris Fellows.

Each one of them, Vandana, AshokGokal, Manoj Murarka and PeterBorn, has made a contribution of Rs.54,000 (equivalent to $1,000) andbecome a Fellow.

President-Elect Nirav Shah, one ofthe foremost votaries of The RotaryFoundation in the Club, thanked themfor their generosity and welcomedthem into the club of PHFs.

THE FOUR-WAY TEST

Of the things we think,say or do

1. Is it the TRUTH?2. Is it FAIR to all

concerned?3. Will it build GOOD-

WILL and BETTERFRIENDSHIPS?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

And these are some of the flags I have brought for you. Hon. Secretary Sitaram Shah presents President-Elect NiravShah some of the banners that he had received in the course of his visit to the Rotary Club of Madras.

(Right) Vice-President and President-Nominee Shailesh Haribhakti, who celebrated his birthday on March 12,is greeted by Nirav Shah who announced that Shailesh had made a magnanimous donation of Rs. 5 lakhs

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 4

PP Kalpana Munshi, who is serv-ing District 3140 this year as Di-

rector in charge of “Service 12Projects”, organised 12 major ser-vice projects over the last fewmonths with the support of 124Rotary Clubs spread all the wayfrom Cuffe Parade to Virar and fromChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus toBadlapur.

With an enthusiastic workforce of over6,000 Rotarians totally dedicated toserve the children, the youth, womenand the aged in society at large,Kalpana and her team, ably guidedby District Governor Dr. BalInamdar, attempted to make Rotaryand its myriad activities visible allover the community.

The State’s Home Minister, Mr. R.R.Patil, inaugurated the series ofprojects which had the well-knowncricketing icon, Kapil Dev, as thebrand ambassador.

Organised for the first time on such alarge scale, the “Service 12 Projects”has been applauded as an outstand-ing initiative of the District Gover-nor, well executed by the Director incharge, Kalpana. The aim of creatingawareness in every nook and cornerof the city and its extended suburbswas a huge success.

Here are brief descriptions of the “Ser-vice 12 Projects” undertaken by theDistrict.

ONE Entrepreneur Development: Atthe seminar for aspiring small andmedium entrepreneurs, a total of 21applications for about Rs. 30 croreswere submitted to the institutionsconcerned.

TWO Free Cataract Surgeries: Freesurgeries were offered to 5,000 poorpatients. Spectacles were also dis-tributed without charge.

THREE Touching Little Hearts: Withsupport from the SiddhivinayakTrust, paediatric cardiac surgery wasarranged for 200 children at theKokilaben Ambani Hospital.

FOUR Civic Awareness Campaign:Held over three days, this campaignattracted participation by 25 col-leges and covered the crucial aspectsof cleanliness and hygiene.

FIVE Rotary Kanheri Utsav: Thislasted four days and involved musi-cal concerts, cultural programmes as

DISTRICT 3140’S ‘SERVICE 12 PROJECTS’ (STEERED BYKALPANA) HELP SPREAD AWARENESS ABOUT ROTARY

District Governor Dr. Bal Inamdar (right), District Chairperson PP Kalpana Munshi and others at the seminar forsmall and medium entrepreneurs at which applications for projects worth Rs. 30 crores were received.

In the second photo are those behind the project that offered cataract surgeries to 5,000 poor and needy patients

Kalpana Munshi lights a lamp (left) at the inauguration of the cricket tournament for the blind. Standing next to her isthe cricketing legend Kapil Dev, who was the brand ambassador for the 'Service 12 Projects'. Kalpana, Kapil and

Bal (right) with one of the teams taking part in the cricket competition

A performance at the ‘Thane Global Festival’ organised by all the Rotary Clubs of Thane. At right, Dolly Thakoreinterviews Mr. Shaimak Davar as District Governor Dr. Bal Inamdar looks on. Mr. Davar and several others were

presented with lifetime achievement awards

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 5

DISTRICT 3140’S ‘SERVICE 12 PROJECTS’ (STEERED BYKALPANA) HELP SPREAD AWARENESS ABOUT ROTARY

well as group and individual danceperformances. Other highlights of the“utsav” were “Earth Day” celebra-tion, a job fair, a beauty contest,medical camps and so on, all of whichattracted around 1,00,000 footfalls.

SIX Global Thane Festival: A festivalto highlight the heritage and cultureof Thane, it was organised over aperiod of nine days and saw someexcellent presentations.

SEVEN Carnival for the DifferentlyAbled: The differently abled, includ-ing spastics, the blind and the physi-cally and mentally challenged, weregiven an opportunity to display theirhidden talent.

EIGHT Cricket Match for the Blind:Brand Ambassador Kapil Dev inau-gurated the cricket tournament forthe blind which saw participationby seven teams, some from Bombayand Maharashtra and others fromGujarat, Karnataka and Goa.

NINE Lifetime Achievement Award andScholarships: Seven dignitaries fromdifferent fields were honoured andten students were granted scholar-ships. The main criteria for selec-tion were practising high ethical stan-dards in their occupations and fol-lowing the Rotary ideal of service,both in the workplace and otherwise.Dolly Thakore moderated theprogramme.

TEN Flame of Education: Rupeeseleven lakh in scholarships weregiven to 665 underprivileged andmentally challenged children frommunicipal and other schools for chil-dren with special needs. The schol-arships would pay their school fees.

ELEVEN Career Guidance Seminar:Two thousand five hundred childrenfrom 26 schools were given aptitudetests. Based on the results, they weregiven appropriate vocational guid-ance. It took a total of 40 sessions toaccomplish this task. Kalpana madea brief speech in which she urged thestudents to make full use of the ca-reer guidance exhibition.

TWELVE Rotary Micro-Finance Glo-bal Summit 12: One thousandwomen from various self-helpgroups received a total of Rs. 1 crorein loans at a programme at whichSHGs were given detailed informa-tion about micro credit.

The Rotaract Club of H.R. Collegeorganised the 16th annual inter-

city, inter-school personality con-test styled “Vogue” on January 28.Students from schools in Bombay,Pune, Lonavala and Nashik tookpart in this popular competition.

The Club’s Taskforce Directors,Rushab Shah and Trividha Mehra,stated in a press release that while“beauty lies in the eyes of the be-holder, it is the personality that getsattention”. Further, since the youthof today were the leaders of tomor-row, it would pay huge dividends iftheir personality was augmentedwith the addition of leadership quali-ties.

Rounding up the idea behind the con-test (which was held at the Y.C.Chavan Auditorium), the two Di-rectors said, rather philosophically,that “a beautiful appearance will lasta few decades, but a beautiful per-sonality lasts for a lifetime; our aimwas to make sure through the 16thedition of ‘Vogue’ that the youths’inner personality is brought out andit lasts for a lifetime”.

Turning to the programme, they saidthat it lasted a little over threemonths and was divided into vari-ous phases involving school coor-dination, workshops, speaker ses-sions, a talent round and “the finalglamorous day”.

Thanks to the efforts over the previ-ous 15 editions of the competition,this year it attracted no fewer than22 partners and three sponsors, allof whom served to add glitter to theevent. The sponsors this year wereVardhaman Fantasy, Go CheeseGovardhan and San Churro.

One of the highlights of this year’sprogramme was the talent roundcalled “Glow in the dark” which washeld in the amphitheatre at BandraFort.

As for the final at the Chavan Audito-rium, it attracted over 1,000 stu-dents cheering and rooting for con-testants from their respectiveschools. The stage was made of LEDscreens.

The judges for the final were MsGaelyn (MTV VJ), Mr. SameerKochar (TV actor), Ms Marvie Beck(stylist), Ms Deeya Sharma, Mr.Adam and Ms Arushi Virani.

Event coordinators Nikunj Pherwaniand Diksha Kataria summed up theprogramme with these words,“Don’t let what you can’t do stopyou from doing what you can do”.

‘Vogue’, the inter-city, inter-school personalitycontest, comes of age

That there is tremendous talent in the youth of India is a fact. Here is a youngstudent displaying her prowess at the inter-city, inter-school personality contest

called ‘Vogue’ organised by the Rotaract Club of H.R. College

A ‘flash dance’ in progress. The students displayed their talents not only on anindividual basis but also as members of groups performing synchronised

dance movements. This particular ‘flash dance’ was worth going miles to see

This year’s ‘Vogue’ was the sixteenth edition of this increasingly popularannual event. Proof of its popularity was the fact that students from schools in

Bombay, Pune, Lonavala and Nashik took part in the various contests

‘Vogue’ is held over three months and is divided into several phases for bettercoordination. One of the venues for the programme was the amphitheatre atBandra Fort. The final was held at Chavan Auditorium before 1,000 students

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 6

VIREN SHAH IS NO MOREMr. Viren J. Shah, a former Mem-

ber of Parliament, formerGovernor of West Bengal and formermember of the Rotary Club ofBombay, passed away on March 9,2013, at the age of 86. He died inJordan while on a holiday. The lastrites were performed in Bombay.

Admitted to the Club on June 25,1952, he had been loaned the Classi-fication “Steel Bar Distributing” andremained a member till 2000.

On his last appearance at the Clubon August 30, 2011, he was awardedthe first Pravinchandra GandhiAward for Excellence in Public Life.A contemporary of “PV”, Mr. Shahwas, like him, modest to a fault.

Detained under the Maintenanceof Internal Security Act (the infamousMISA) during the Emergency of1975-77, he was charged with an of-fence that would have led to impris-onment for ten years or for life.

Born in Calcutta in May, 1926, hehad close relations with various lead-ers of the National movement suchas Mahatma Gandhi, JawaharlalNehru and others.

He was a Member of Parliamentfor 16 years but over different stret-ches. He served as an MP both in theLok Sabha as well as in the RajyaSabha between 1967 and 1996. Asan MP, he took active interest in is-sues related to women. One of hisresolutions, with specific suggestionson atrocities against women wasunanimously accepted by the RajyaSabha.

Mr. Shah was equally popular inthe corporate sector, for he simulta-neously pursued two careers – in in-dustry and in politics. He started hiscareer in industry with Mukand Iron& Steels Works Ltd. (now MukandLtd.) before partition in 1947.

Later, he rose to become Vice-Chairman of the Board and Manag-ing Director from 1968 to 1972; andChairman of the Board and Manag-ing Director from 1972 to 1994. Sub-sequently, he served as Chairman ofthe Board with executive powers tillNovember, 1999.

On December 14, 1999, he as-sumed office as the Governor of theState of West Bengal and completed

his term on December 14, 2004. AsGovernor, he opened up the RajBhavan to children from poor fami-lies and encouraged them to visit himregularly. They did so in large num-bers and always received a warmwelcome.

A lover of golf and bridge, he at-tended an Advanced ManagementProgramme at Harvard BusinessSchool and travelled extensively. Heis survived by his wife, two sonsand two daughters.

In New Delhi, the Prime Minis-ter, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said whilecondoling his death that Mr. Shahwas a “distinguished parliamentar-ian who also rendered invaluable ser-vice in the field of industry and com-merce”.

On March 11, the Rajya Sabhamourned the death of Mr. Shah. Chair-man and Vice-President HamidAnsari said that in his passing away“the country has lost an outstandingadministrator and a distinguishedparliamentarian”.

The House observed a minute’ssilence as a mark of respect to him.

The Inner Wheel Club of Bombayhas set forth one of the objectives

that it has been following this Rotaryyear in the following terms:

“The way you get meaning intoyour life is to devote yourself to lov-ing others, devote yourself to the com-munity around you and devote your-self to creating something that givesyou purpose and meaning.”

With this goal in mind, the Clubdecided to hold its general body meet-ing in a pastoral setting. A group ofuber urban women set off by bus earlyin the morning to experience thelifestyle of their counterparts in thevillages near Panvel.

Among those on the bus were Ro-tary President Nowroze and First LadyNiloufer Vazifdar, Pranay Vakil andthe evergreen Ms Silla Ardeshir, thefirst Chairperson for Inner Wheel inDistrict 3140 and spouse of PDG thelate Naval Ardeshir.

The eventful day began withRaksha Mehta and Falguni Mehtashowing the group around theBalwantrai Mehta Local Self-Govern-ment Training Centre at Panvel. Andthen they walked into the villages.

The Inner Wheel Club of Bombayhas, since 1995, focused on 40 villagesin this area, to help them banish hun-ger and to become self-sufficient as faras drinking water, health, education,sanitation and self employment areconcerned. No less than 15,000 fami-

The Inner Wheel Club of Bombayfocuses on toilets, schools, water

lies, comprising a population of40,000, are being continuously sup-ported.

For the successful implementationof this mammoth project, the InnerWheel Club has constructed a dormi-tory for women, provided a kitchenwith dining facilities, an auditorium andan administrative office. This centreacts like a magnet, attracting rural com-munities, and plays the role of a cata-lyst in helping curb poverty, improv-ing the quality of life, promotingwomen’s empowerment and develop-ing human and natural resources tomaintain the ecological balance.

One of the main objectives of thevisit was to witness the setting up of45 individual toilet blocks being con-structed by the villagers themselves,with finance provided by various In-ner Wheel Clubs in Bombay.

So far, the villagers had totally lackedsanitation facilities which had resultedin unhygienic conditions, diseases andinconvenience, especially for women.This project will not only educate thevillagers about clean habits, it will alsohelp attain the target of achieving 100%sanitation in the area.

Another interesting visit was to thelocal “Ashramshala”, the school fortribals at Shantivan. It was establishedin 1994 to uplift the tribal population,steeped in poverty, ignorance and blindbeliefs and to bring them at par witheducated citizens.

The first batch of children attendingthe school consists of 465 residentialstudents and 100 day scholars, all ofthem belonging to the poorest strataof society. The Inner Wheel Club hassponsored the formal education ofthese children along with boarding andlodging expenses.

After being welcomed with songsand music, the visiting team was takento the computer lab set up recently atthe campus. Finally, it sat down towitness an entertainment programme,comprising dances and music presentedby the talents of the “Ashramshala”.

The last stop was the Leprosy Era-dication and Rehabilitation Centre.Leprosy eradication and rehabilitationprogrammes had been carried out inthe 40 villages; thanks to the latestmulti-drug therapy, 63 patients hadbeen declared cured, as certified by aW.H.O. team.

The final engagement for the daywas the general body meeting con-ducted in Panvel by President SwetaVakil. It was truly a novel, enrichingexperience for the members.

Now, the Inner Wheel Club ofBombay, in collaboration with theBalwantrai Mehta centre, plans to ex-pand its activities and reach out to atotal of 185 tribal villages aroundPanvel.

This bus goes a long way to Panvel where the Inner Wheel Club of Bombayhas been doing its best to make a difference in the lives of rural women

Presenting a memento. Inner Wheel President Sweta Vakil and RotaryPresident Nowroze Vakil (first and second from right) at Panvel

Ms Silla Ardeshir, the first Chairperson for Inner Wheel in District 3140 andspouse of PDG the late Naval Ardeshir (second from left), also made the trip

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 7

(Continued from Page 2)Suddenly, Rajnikanth, the superstar,

arrived on the scene with a request toshoot in Magarpatta City for 15 daysfor his film Shivaji. In the normal coursehe would not have been entertained.To say no in a polite way, the town-ship quoted a very high figure of Rs.20 lakhs as charges to allow him toshoot.

Rajnikanth agreed – and that openedthe door for substantial revenue. To-day, Magarpatta City earned betweenRs. 1.75 and Rs. 2 crores every yearfrom film shootings. The money wentto the “City Council” which spent iton cultural activities and also on thecelebrations for Diwali, Holi, Christ-mas, sports and so on.

“It has become a good communityand creates no problem for the devel-oper, because we have the obligationof maintaining it and they are able tolive in harmony. The idea of publicparticipation in city management hasbeen put to the test and the variousmodels we adopted came out of that.

“Originally, we wanted to value-add,then wealth creation came up, thencame city management, public partici-pation and so on and all these cametogether to make Magarpatta Citywhat it is,” Mr. Magar added.

When the floor was thrown openfor questions, Ashwin Ramesh wantedto know whether there was any at-tempt by politicians to hijack theproject in which 800 farmers were get-ting together.

No politician tried to hijack theproject, said Mr. Magar, because twoof the most powerful persons inMaharashtra (Mr. Bal Thackeray andMr. Sharad Pawar) were with him.However, there was a lot of specula-tion about the success or failure of theproject. After all, 430 acres of landwithin city limits was a massive chunk.

Secondly, farmers’ getting togetherin this manner was unheard of and wasbeing attempted for the first time,therefore there was a lot of specula-tion. However, the fact that farmerswere coming together put pressure onthe politicians not to interfere. It tookseven years from the time the projectwas started in 1993 till the time thefirst permission was received in 2000.

At that time, there were no rulesregarding townships, but now therewas a township policy based on theMagarpatta City experience. There-fore, the government was also quite

Rajnikanth paid a huge amount to shoot his film –and suddenly the goddess of wealth started

smiling on Magarpatta

With the farmer who became a successful entrepreneur. From left in this picture are Manojj Patodia,Joint Hon. Secretary Hiren Kara and President-Elect Nirav Shah. In the picture at right, Ashwin Ramesh

asks whether politicians had ever tried to hijack the project

sceptical. But at that time everyonewas looking at new ideas. In 1991,when liberalisation was launched, ev-erybody, including the government,thought of doing something different.Of course, the government was verycautious and wanted to do it at some-body else’s expense.

Shyyamniwas Somani wonderedwhether the co-operation between over800 farmers that Mr. Magar had beenable to ensure could be attempted inthe case of farmers who were commit-ting suicide in Vidarbha and AndhraPradesh. Could he support them orguide them?

Mr. Magar said he would certainlylike to help because he came from thesame background. He was a graduatein agriculture and actually wanted todo farming. But all his land was insidecity limits and there was little scopefor farming.

He had visited many places, includ-ing NOIDA, to study the land acqui-sition problems and the farmers’ prob-lems. He had observed that in mostcases the landholding was very small,about 500 metres, and if one personwas successful with one crop, every-one wanted to do the same; it was aherd mentality.

In this connection, he recalled theIsraeli kibbutz system. He spoke quiteoften on this subject, but the localpoliticians offered no support for it.

Ashok Jatia asked how he raisedthe money to start the construction.Secondly, if his model was success-fully attempted all over India, therewould be no agricultural land left!

Mr. Magar replied that the initialfinance was indeed a major problem.No bank was ready to finance it be-

cause it was a company owned byfarmers. Some even suggested that aportion of the land be sold to raisemoney.

It was then that Mr. Deepak Parekhappreciated the idea after witnessing apresentation. He told them to startwith a small number of buildings, mar-ket them and sell them – “and if youneed support, we are there”. HDFCoffices were used to market the projectin the Middle East and in the cities ofBombay and Pune.

As for the second part of the ques-tion, Mr. Magar said that India was avery populous country. It had 3% ofthe world’s landmass and 7% of theworld’s population. Therefore it wasnecessary to build millions of houses.How one did that, whether by goingvertical or remaining horizontal, was aquestion of debate. But it was neces-sary to house the people.

There was a shortage of 18 millionhouses in the country. But “we onlykeep talking all the time. Agriculturecan be maintained if we use the maxi-mum potential of the land and go ver-tical so that more people can be fitinto less space”.

While designing the township, allthe existing rules and regulations werefollowed, including those under theMaharashtra Regional Town PlanningAct, a comprehensive act that wasenacted in 1961.

The well-known architect, Mr.Hafeez Contractor, had been involvedwith the project in the initial stages,but since he lacked the time to take itfurther, it was given to Pune-basedarchitects who completed it. All openspaces as required under the law wereprovided and not a single law was bent.

PP Arun Sanghi asked how manyacres of land did his own family own.And how did he persuade so manypeople to form a co-operative?

Mr. Magar said his family, his fa-ther and his father’s brothers, ownedabout 30% of the land.

Such was the geographical locationof the area that there was a highwayon one side, a railway line on the sec-ond, a canal on the third side and aninternal road on the fourth. Thus, itwas more like an island area wherepeople were doing agriculture together.

When fragmentation of agriculturalland took place in a family, it was al-ways done perpendicular to the road.When the project was started, most ofthe people had land that measured 20feet by 500 or 600 feet. Every brotherwho separated from the family neededaccess. Fragmentation perpendicularto the road resulted in most of themhaving strips of land; thus, there wasno choice other than coming together.

PP Kalpana Munshi said that theRotary Club was going to build 150houses for adivasis in Thane district.Would his idea of a co-operative town-ship work there?

It was possible to an extent, saidMr. Magar, but apart from houses theadivasis also had to have other sup-port services.

“The basic problem in India is thatnobody wants to give away their land.Here (in Magarpatta) we got peopletogether on a land-pooling basis be-cause it depended on the location ofthe land. If you can achieve that, thenyou can have a settlement in one areaand the balance area can be utilised forother purposes to generate income,”Mr. Magar concluded.

March 19 to March 25, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 8

Printed, Published by Rtn. PP Arjun Bulchandani on behalf of Rotary Club of Bombay and printed at Nikeda Art Printers Pvt. Ltd., Unit No.H & I,Kanjur Industrial Estate,Quarry Road, Off L.B.S. Marg, Bhandup (West), Mumbai 400 078 and Published at 97/B, Mittal Tower, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021. Editor Arjun Bulchandani

Regd. No. MH/MR/South-109/2012-14, R.N.I. No. 14015/60Posted on Monday, Mar. 18, 2013

Regd. No. MH/MR/South-109/2012-14; R.N.I. No. 14015/60Posted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai 400 001, on Monday, March 18, 2013

ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY

FOUNDED 19 MARCH, 1929Charter No. 3128, Dated 08 May, 192997-B, Mittal Tower, Nariman Point,

Mumbai 400 021, INDIATel.: +91-22-2202 4089Fax.: +91-22-2202 4509

rotaryclubbombay1@gmail.com

Happy Birthday

Editorial Consultant: Anmol Purohit,Sajjan Sons, 203/204 Triveni, MithChowki, Marve Road, Malad (West),Mumbai 400 064. Cell: 09322227026;Landline: 022-28880712E-Mail: anmolsp@gmail.com

OFFICE-BEARERS 2012/13

PRESIDENT NOWROZE VAZIFDARImmediate Past President Paul GeorgePresident-Elect Nirav ShahVice-President Shailesh HaribhaktiHonorary Secretary Sitaram ShahJoint Hon. Secretary Hiren KaraHon. Treasurer Ishraq ContractorCLUB SERVICE: New MembersDirector in charge Nirav ShahMembership PP Sandip AgarwallaClassifications PP Dr. Adi DasturInformation PP Dr. Kekoo KavaranaMembership Development & District Conference Ramesh NarayanCLUB SERVICE: Programmes/MeetingsDirector in charge Framroze MehtaAttendance Arvind AgarwalProgramme PP Haresh JagtianiFellowship PP Ashish VaidBulletin, Website & Public Relations PP Arun SanghiSergeant-at-Arms Roda BillimoriaCOMMUNITY SERVICE: Medical – IDirector in charge Dr. Percy ChibberChairman Emeritus, Talwada PP Dr. Rahim MuljianiHTEC, Talwada PP Dr. Rumi JehangirADMC, Talwada Dr. Sorab JaveriOral Health Dr. Rajeev NarvekarCOMMUNITY SERVICE: Medical – IIDirector in charge Dr. Vandana BulchandaniControl of TB Dr. Rohini ChowguleCancer Aid Zinia LawyerHeart Care and Health Dr. Aashish ContractorPolioPlus & Differently Abled Shyyamniwas SomaniCOMMUNITY SERVICE: Non-MedicalDirector in charge Sunny PariyaramRCC and Child Care Joseph KoshyOld Age Homes/ Senior Citizens Naresh Kumar JainRural Development Dilnavaz VariavaEnvironment Jagdish MalkaniVOCATIONAL SERVICEDirector in charge Shernaz VakilRotary & Public Awards Ram GandhiVocational Training & Night Study Centres Bimal MehtaINTERNATIONAL SERVICEDirector in charge Ashok MinawalaRotary Foundation & Matching Grants PP Arvind JollyR.I. Programmes & Slumber Kit PP Rajnikant ReshamwalaNEW GENERATIONS: EducationDirector in charge Madhusudan DagaBhavishya Yaan Manish ReshamwalaScholarships & Loans Manojj Kumar PatodiaManagement Studies Poonam KumarNEW GENERATIONS: YouthDirector in charge Arjun JollyInteract Meera AlrejaRotaract Ravindra FotedarRoad Safety Deepak Kapadia

Anil HarishMarch 19

Nita MirchandaniMarch 21

PP Dr. RahimMuljiani

March 21

Vinayak UbhayakarMarch 21

Jehangir ChaglaMarch 22

Dr. Rajeshwar BaliMarch 25

Joseph KoshyMarch 25

Dr. Anand SomayaMarch 25

SpousesNavaz Guzder

March 19Rashna Cooper

March 24Divyaa Kummar

March 24

ServiceAbove

Self

REMEMBER YOUR HOLIDATE WITH NARESH JAIN

Holi ke shubh avsar parullas or umang se hoaapka din rangeen...

Dear Rotarians,

We look forward toyour presence at

THE ANNUAL JAINHOLI KI MASTI...

A day full of live music...the flavours of Dilli ki chaat...

and a shower of rangeen flowerskesar and gulab!

Join us with your family onWednesday 27 March 2013

10.00 am to 1.00 pm at44 Ashok Bhavan, 14th Road Khar

Mumbai – 400052

Rtn. Naresh Jain

R.S.V.P.Ulka – 22840473 / 22826356

At the lastmeeting

(Held on March 12, 2013)ATTENDANCEMembers 140Visiting Rotarians 1Rotaryanns 2Guests 2Total 145Svc. box collection Rs. 4,070

With the festival of colours just round the corner, this group of membersappears to be ready to celebrate. From left are Devendra Bharma,

Renu Basu, Munna Javeri, PP Dr. Adi Dastur and Dr. Nayna Dastur

Empowerment ofwomen

An anonymous donation of Rs.1.25 lakhs has been received for

the empowerment of women.The contribution, said President-

Elect Nirav Shah, was in response tothe appeals made in the past by Presi-dent Nowroze Vazifdar, who has ex-pressed a desire to do something sig-nificant for Indian women.