R. I. President: Gary C.K. Huang Dist. Governor: Ajay Gupta President: Mohan Joshi Secretary: Sandeep Vasani Hon. Editor: Dr. Usha Jayachandran VOLUME NO. 61 ISSUE No. 15 MEET REPORT - 1st OCTOBER, 2014 PRESIDENT SPEAKS In a major crackdown, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has sent showcause notices in one go to over 10,000 non-governmental organizations, asking why their licenses should not be cancelled after they failed to file their annual returns of foreign receipts. NGO's have been advised to immediately justify why their registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act should not be cancelled. The decision to tighten the norms of NGO's comes against the backdrop of recent reports of the Intelligence Bureau raising questions about the working of such trusts, especially those obtaining funds from abroad. Several NGO's receiving overseas funding, use the money for fuelling protests against development projects relating to coal, bauxite mining, oil exploration, nuclear plants and linking of rivers. By tightening the noose around NGO trusts and charitable institutions, the government has empowered senior income tax officials to cancel registrations of these entities. As per the new provisions, the registration of a trust could be cancelled if its income does not ensure the benefit of general public. While making your contribution to Rotary, you are sure that your money is utilized for the right purpose. Your contribution helps to strengthen peace efforts, provide clean water and sanitation, support education, grow local economies, save mothers and children and fight disease. Your money is supported by Rotarians who invest their time and expertise in implementing projects. Rotary Club of Bombay West has planned several projects which will impact young children and your support is solicited through contributions to the Rotary Service Public Charitable Trust. Rtn. Mohan Joshi Published on: 8th October, 2014 The meeting began with cake cutting to celebrate the 80th birthday of two of our senior rotarians - PP Rtn. Shashi Walavalkar & Rtn. Michael Mascarenhas. President Mohan Joshi thanked them for their significant contributions to the Club. Stem Cells a new ray of Hope The speaker for the evening was the charming and eloquent Dr. Natasha Merchant. She gave a very interesting & informative talk on the subject of stem cells and how they present a ray of hope in the areas of disease treatment where medical science currently has no cure. Dr Natasha was introduced by her uncle and our own Rtn. Aslam Merchant as a dental surgeon running a successful private practice by the name of Smile Merchants Dental Care Centre in Lokhandwala. She specializes in laser dentistry and aesthetic dentistry and is a research advisor and a keynote speaker for Stemade Biotech, the pioneers in Dental Pulp Stem Cell Banking in India. Dr. Merchant started her talk with the Greek mythological story of Pandora 's box and like in the story, she said, stem cells presented a ray of hope to the medical profession to tackle diseases. Introducing the subject she said that the functional unit of each organ in our body is the cell. We have heart cells, liver cells, kidney cells etc. Like the fertilized egg viz., the zygote, which goes on to develop all types of body cells, stem cells too have this ability of self- renewal to form any cell type. Therefore the first place scientists looked for and found stem cells was in the embryo. While stem cell harvesting from the embryo is not permitted, there are a Contd. on Page 2 8th October : Mr. Nitin Ghadiyar: Achhe Din Ayenge 15th October : No meeting due to elections 18th October : Diwali get-together ( 22 nd October meeting preponed) 29th October : Vocational Excellence Award Flying Carpet 8th October, 2014 1 MEET REPORT - Contd. from Page 1 lot of places in the body where stem cells can be found. Common sources are bone marrow, fat tissue, adult muscle, corneal stroma, and dental pulp (both from baby teeth and wisdom teeth). Stem cell therapy has raised hopes in dealing with three major diseases where medical science does not have a cure i.e. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and Type I diabetes. Stem cells have also been effective in areas such as cancer, spinal cord injuries, cardiac conditions etc. Alzheimer's is a neuro-degenerative disease. It is a type of dementia in which the brain cells die and the brain shrinks. More than 3 crore persons have been diagnosed with this problem in India. Experiments in stem cell therapy have shown encouraging results. In Parkinson's disease the dopamine secretions in the brain diminish and the cells producing these chemicals start dying. Again a large number of persons in India and across the world suffer from Parkinson's disease. Stem cells have been found to convert to dopamine producing cells and reverse the disease. In the case of Type I diabetes (i.e. childhood diabetes), stem cells have been programed as insulin producing cells and have been able to reverse the problem. In the concluding part of her talk Dr. Natasha presented 3 interesting cases where stem cell therapy had shown miraculous results. In the first case, Laura Dominquez was paralysed below the neck after a car accident fractured her C6 vertebra. Doctors opined that the injury was irreversible. As a result of participating in a stem cell therapy experiment, Laura regained her sensation below the neck and was able to stand and walk with assistance. In the second case, Angela Irizarry who had an underdeveloped left half of the heart, benefitted by insertion of a tissue engineered graft which grew as the heart grew with age. And in the third, Chloe Levine, born with cerebral palsy, regained normal movement from the therapy using her banked umbilical cord stem cells. Stem cell therapy is gaining momentum in India and there are a large number of approved treatments now available. After an interesting Q&A session, the vote of thanks was presented by Rtn. Dr. Kamal D'Mello. Rtn. Hemant Joshi WORLD ELDERS DAY CELEBRATIONS on 27 September 2014 World Elders Day was celebrated at the Shiela Raheja Hall by the Rotary Club of Bombay West in association with the Rotary Club of Mumbai North Island and the Inner Wheel Clubs of Bombay West and Mumbai North Island. World Elders Day celebrations are held world over to raise awareness to issues affecting the elders and to appreciate their contribution to the society. The event attracted an enthusiastic response from the members of the participating Clubs as also a dozen senior citizen groups from the community. Nearly 225 elders joined the celebrations and made it a big success. Highlights of the event included felicitation of elders, a talk on the diet needs of elders and a specially conceived musical programme 2 titled "Khoj Samandar Mann ke Andar". The programme was generously supported by sponsors especially DCB Bank and LIC of India and received help from the Rotaractors of Sathaye College and NM College. The programme began with a welcome address by Rtn. Shanti Gariwal and an invocation song by R/Ann Prakruti Vasani. A group of 22 seniors were felicitated by DGE Suhas Kulkarni along with Pres. Mohan Joshi and Rtn. Bhupendra Shah, President of RC of Mumbai North Island. Their citation read by R/Ann Vandana Joshi recognised them for "harmonious living with family and friends and for your continuing engagement with society especially the younger generation". Mr. Jagdev Singh Thakur one of the Contd. on Page 3 Flying Carpet 8th October, 2014 ELDERS DAY CELEBRATIONS - Contd. from Page 2 Contd. on Page 4 Flying Carpet 8th October, 2014 3 R.N.I No.: 16778 8th October, 2014 elders felicitated is 99 years old and continues to be active and mobile. Mr. Navin Patel (87) who has been actively engaged in the printing of our Flying Carpet newsletter was also felicitated on this occasion for his contribution to society. In his address to the audience the DGE said that age is only a number in our mind and one feels as old as one wants to be. He emphasised the need for elders to look into the future positively with plans, take good care of their health and continue to be useful members of society. Pres. Mohan talked about longevity and the growing numbers of elders in our society. He felt that they should be addressed as seasoned citizens (instead of senior citizens) given the wealth of their experience. Rtn. Mohanlal Gupta compered this part of the programme. This was followed by a talk on "Diet for Elders" by Dr. Jagmeet Madan, a professor for nutrition and an expert on nutrition issues from the Dietetic Association. She talked about the variety of our ethnic diet and the need to learn from it as dietary science is still in a nascent stage in India. She advised senior citizens to lead a holistic life with a balanced diet as one aspect. She talked about the importance of regular water intake for elders as the thirst sensors of the body diminish with age. She concluded by saying that food for elders is important and can be used as medicine. The musical programme that followed "Khoj Samandar Maan ke Andar" was specially created by Rtn. Laxminarayan Baijal for providing Regn. No. MH/MR/N/188/MBI/12-14 enter tainment with a message. The message for elders was about cultivating love, compassion and gratitude in their lives. Mr. Prabhakar Sharma, an accomplished musician, along with his group provided the music with compering by Rtn. Baijal. Many songs found resonance with the audience and had them clapping. Among them were " Hum sache manse nahi pukare to kaise ayange Bhagwan", " Jyot se Jyot jagaate chaloo", "Laaga chunari me daag". The programme concluded with the rendition of "Ay maalik tere bande hum". In his vote of thanks Rtn. Hemant Joshi specially thanked Rtn. Mohanlal Gupta, Rtn. Shanti Gariwal (of Mumbai North Island), Rtn. Laxminarayan Baijal & PP Rtn. Nandlal Chawla for their tireless efforts in making the programme a success. Rtn. Hemant Joshi Printed by Manish Mehta, published by Manish Mehta, owned by Rotary Club of Bombay West, Rotary Service Centre, Juhu Tara Road, Santacruz (West), Mumbai - 400 049 and printed at UNIQUE PRINTERS, 103 Jagruti Industrial Estate, 771, Mogul Lane, Mahim, Mumbai - 400 016. and published at Rotary Service Centre, Juhu Tara Road, Santacruz (West), Mumbai - 400 049. Editor: Manish Mehta Annual Subscription : Rs.1000/- 4 Flying Carpet 8th October, 2014