Conducting eye-camps is fine, but we could do with some ‘eye-opener” camps. This was his plea to Rotarians. It came from the national human rights commission member Mr Shivraj V  Patil in his inaugural address at a recent district conference of Rotarians in Mysore. For someone who hasn’t been a Rotarian and has been skeptical of any club-initiated service project (held for propaganda, photo-opportunity, and  to sex up the club annual report) I have a refreshingly positive impression of Rotary Mysore.

They run a school that has a high reputation. The public rating of the Rotary School is evident during admission time, when you see parents lining up at the school gate hours before Sun-rise. Another notable rotary work is promotion of adventure sports (good work, here, by a proactive Rotarian, aptly named, Tiger Solanki). The Rotary Mysore  brought out a while back a tourist guide-book (not quite the ‘Lonely Planet’ grade).The point is the Rotary here betrays signs of ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking in terms of its service projects.

My sense is that Rotarians who applauded Mr Patil might even take his speech seriously. His message, as ‘The Hindu’ reported it, was that Rotary Mysore, ‘instead,  of merely conducting eye-camps, should hold 'eye-opener' camps. Rotarians should not only be torch-bearers of society but also its opinion-makers. They should mobilize opinion for building an active civil society, dedicated NGOs, a committed law-enforcing agency, pro-active judiciary and an independent media.

My thoughts are the Rotary can help by sponsoring a citizen’s initiative to set up a watch-dog mechanism and a social think-tank, peopled by individuals (non-Rotarians not excluded)l chosen for their merit, expertise, and little else. Figure-heads and those with political agenda need not apply.

See related items: Hope; Archery, a rotary initiative; and Shiela Irani, an inspiration.