Role of Humanitarian Service Organisations in Manipur
Rotary Club Of Imphal

Seram Neken *

Rotary Club of Imphal organised "Heart to Heart ( gift the life)" project screening camp at Mantripukhri on 5th Oct 2008
Pix :: Jinendra Maibam

Heart to Heart project of the Rotary Club of Imphal has so far facilitated 85 children suffering from congenital heart diseases. Under this project, poor and needy children have been successfully treated with life saving operations on ailments of the heart free of cost. The documentary film "Heart to Heart" produced by Rotary Club of Imphal and directed by B. Sanzu Sharma won the Rajat Kamal Award for Best Science & Technology film in 2011.

Aristotle says that man by nature is a social animal. The very word 'Human' in Human being indicates that one should be in the service of one's fellow beings in order to be in the society. In modern societies, government alone can hardly serve the complex needs of a human being or a group. Social service and charitable agencies have a great role to play in the social life of its members.

So much of sincere, committed and broad-minded conglomerates of people around the world such as the Rotary Club need to act in the service of humanity, particularly the disadvantaged and needy sections. Rotary club is an international service club, the purpose of which is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

Rotary Club was born in 1905 in Chicago, where business acquaintances of the time - Paul P. Harris, Schiele, Gustave E. Loehr and Hiram E. Shorey attended the first meeting. Rotary club is a secular organization open to all persons regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, gender or political preference. It has now more than 1.2 million members and over 32,000 clubs across 200 countries of the world. Rotary is the second largest service club by membership.

Active and growing involvement in service of mankind in matters of health, disaster relief, community betterment projects, uplift of the downtrodden, women, children and orphans etc. have been the main activities of the Rotary Clubs around the world during a century of its existence.

"Service above Self" being its primary motto, Rotary movement has been in great stride in Manipur in the past one decade or so. Rotary Club of Imphal, one of the best humanitarian service agencies of Manipur has successfully implemented its 'Heart to Heart' project, Cancer Detection programmes and free medical camps from time to time.

Under Rotary Lifeline service, it provides oxygen cylinders to the needy ailing patients who are on treatment at home. The Club donates mortuary vans to the RIMS, organizes regular Cancer Detection programmes at Imphal hospital and provides hearing aides, wheel chairs and tricycles to physically challenged people. Besides organizing health and environment awareness programmes, the Club conducts tree plantation and cleaning projects in the state.

Various competitions on the communal harmony and environment, vocational trainings on tailoring, computer and yoga, and vaccination programmes are organized by Rotary Club of Imphal. The Club honors senior citizens and people of varied vocations annually. It installs awards for the best traffic personnel, the best nurse, the best fireman and the best postman to encourage them in their service. It also maintains and beautifies traffic islands besides organizing tree plantation programmes under the theme 'Save Mother Earth'.

In fact, Manipur society today is facing a lot of tribulations of varied nature. In the fields of education, environment and ecology, human rights, health, emotional integrity, basic infrastructural amenities like power and water supply, transport and communication and so on, the state is yet to feel its complacency. The government, being the institution for serving its people towards a welfare society, needs the all out aid of various social service agencies in order to compete with its counterparts in diverse fields. Here, an energetic Rotary movement with its true humanitarian spirit has surely been serving the state in times of need. Rotary movement has more relevance in a state like Manipur where each and every aspect of human life calls for improvement.

Rotary Club of Imphal has been in the service of humanity towards improving societal shortcomings of the state. Regular projects of social service for environmental protection and ecological balance have been organised at various places of the state. Tree plantations, cleansing of public places, provision of public sanitations etc. are instances in this field.

Blood donation camps, HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns, health camps, charity to the children homes and participation in various social occasions are routine activities of Rotary movement in Manipur.

In matters of establishing peace and tranquility in the society, the movement has put its efforts by way of motivating students in various competitions. Besides providing relief in times of calamities and distress around the world, Rotary movement has successfully glorified social service among those like-minded and broad-minded individuals of the society.

It is hoped that true spirit of Rotary movement will do a lot in bringing emotional closeness among different communities of Manipur who have long been visibly in a tangle.

Love of mankind, love of humanity has provided no room for antagonism and hatred. God wants to be there, where one loves one's fellows. For the sake of Humanity and God, let us all enliven the spirit of social service along the path of Rotary International around the world. Rotary movement embodies what Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, says "the state is the sum total of the sacrifice, on its behalf, of its members."