Address at the inauguration of the Late Bhupesh Vinod Bhate Floor of the Nana Palkar Rugna Seva Sadan Building
Address by Shri CH Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the inauguration of the Late Bhupesh Vinod Bhate Floor of the Nana Palkar Rugna Seva Sadan Building at Parel, Mumbai at 1730 hrs on Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Dr Harshad Punjani, President of the Nana Palkar Smriti Rugna Seva Samiti, Dr Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, Dr Smt Kamaxi Bhate, Dr R A Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr Avinash Supe, Director, KEM Hospital, Dr B R Barwale ji, Shri Vijay Gokhale Ji, Shri Ravi Bhusari Ji, members and trustees of the Nana Palkar Samiti, donors, doctors, volunteers, social workers, invitees, ladies and gentlemen,
At the outset, I extend my greetings to you and especially to all women on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
When women are empowered, the entire nation is empowered.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has rightly said: “It is time to move forward from women’s development to women-led development.”
I am immensely pleased to visit the Nana Palkar Rugna Seva Sadan today and to dedicate an entire floor of the Rugna Sewa Sadan to the memory of late Bhupesh Vinod Bhate.
I convey my appreciation to the Bhate family for making a generous donation to the Nana Palkar Rugna Seva Samiti. I am sure the donation will help the Samiti to further expand and improve its facilities and extend its services to more needy patients and their relatives.
At the personal level, there is a sense of fulfillment for me having visited here. Last year while attending the programme organized by the Nana Palkar Samiti on the occasion of Doctors’ Day, I had made a promise to visit the Nana Palkar Samiti and to see its work.
In a city like Mumbai where the cost of lodging and boarding is extremely prohibitive for the common man, it is truly remarkable that the Samiti has been offering low cost accommodation to patients and their relatives coming from all corners of the country, either free of cost or at a nominal price. I am told, the Samiti is also offering dialysis and other facilities to people at a very low cost.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Nana Palkar Samiti, represents the core values of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
One of the stanzas in the prayer of the Sangh is:
त्वदीयाय कार्याय बध्दा कटीयं, शुभामाशिषं देहि तत्पूर्तये ||
Which means, “Oh Loving Motherland, we are all committed to carry on Your work. Give us Your holy blessings so that we may reach our goal and fulfill our commitment.”
The Nana Palkar Samiti is an embodiment of the motto of selfless service to society advocated by the founding fathers of the Sangh, including late Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar and others. The Nana Palkar Samiti is a tribute to the great work initiated by late Nana Palkar ji and others.
Of course, it goes to the credit of successive trustees that they have carried forward the work started by Nana Palkar Ji.
I convey my appreciation to Dr Harshad Punjani, President of the Nana Palkar Samiti, and to all the members and volunteers of the Samiti for their dedicated work.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a matter of great pride for each one of us that India is emerging as a global economic power. However, it is our collective responsibility to see that India’s economic progress translates into overall development of the country and benefits all sections of society.
We will have to be mindful of the fact that a large majority of people in India are in desperate need of financial and humanitarian assistance in one form or the other.
According to the World Bank estimate, nearly 12.4 percent of the people of India or 17.2 crore people in India live below the poverty line.
If these 17 crore people were living in one single State, it would have been the second biggest State in India, – next only to Uttar Pradesh – having at least 5 crore people more than Maharashtra !!
Our development will have little meaning if it doesn’t touch the lives of these people. Today more than ever, we need a partnership between the Government, Private Sector, Non Governmental organizations and Individuals to improve the quality of life of our people across the country.
Intervention by the Private Sector and by service organisations is particularly critical in the fields of health and education.
Healthcare infrastructure in large cities like Mumbai is under tremendous strain due to growing population.
Many of the government and municipal hospitals in Mumbai were created in the Pre- Independence era, when the population of Mumbai was much less. For instance, when the J J Hospital was created way back in the year 1845, the population of Mumbai was less than 10 lakhs !
In the early 20th century when Nair Hospital and KEM Hospital were started, the population was still around 20 lakh. Likewise, when Tata Memorial Hospital was created, I guess, in 1941, the population of Greater Mumbai was less than 30 lakh.
Today the population of Greater Mumbai has crossed 15 million, which is at least five times the figure in 1947. We therefore need to create at least a couple of large hospitals like JJ and KEM in Mumbai alone. Likewise we need one more Cancer Hospital in Maharashtra, perhaps in other part of the State, say in Nagpur, to reduce the burden on Tata Memorial Hospital.
In the present scenario, we need urgent measures to strengthen and upgrade public and charitable hospitals in Mumbai and to reserve more beds for the poor in the private and corporate hospitals.
Likewise, we also need more Rugna Seva Sadans and Dharam Shalas in Mumbai. This area, Parel, is a ‘hospital district’ of Mumbai and we definitely need more Rugna Seva Sadans and Dharam Shalas in this area.
I will appeal to the Nana Palkar Samiti to prepare a plan for building another large Rugna Seva Sadan in this area, considering the need for next 50 years. Alternately, it should think of expanding this Centre to accommodate at least three times more people.
I assure you that I will be the first donor for the new project. I also assure you that I will make use of my good offices to find a suitable land for the Palkar Samiti to expand the services of the Rugna Seva Sadan.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mumbai has been the city of business leaders who were also great philanthropists. These noble souls have created several public institutions for the people which are serving society even today. The footprints of the philanthropic work done by individuals and families like the Jamsedjee Jejeebhoy, Nana Sunkersett, David Sassoon, the Tatas and the Birlas are visible every where.
Time has come for us to move beyond the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility and practice Individual Social Responsibility. From Corporate Philanthropy to Individual Philanthropy. We must promote the culture of giving in our society. The Bhate family has shown us the way.
It is reassuring that Young India is more than willing to discharge its Individual Social Responsibility and contribute to the social agenda of the country. Channelizing the youth power for social work will help us improve the standard of living of our people and ensure effective outcomes of social programmes.
I am very happy that we are honouring Shri Pratap Ji Bhate and Shri Krishna Ji Chhatre today. Shri Krishna Ji Chhatre has made immense contribution in the making of this institution. We need many more people like him today.
Once again I convey my appreciation to the Bhate family for their generous donation to the Nana Palkar Rugna Seva Sadan and I wish the Samiti Godspeed in its future endeavours.
Thank you
Jai Hind Jai Maharashtra