Saving them from
sex slavery Jaishree
T
he difference between perception and reality, one of the great challenges that Rotary India has been battling with, was conveyed when Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi disclosed at a Rotary meet in Delhi, “There was a time when I used to be annoyed with Rotary for merely being a sewing-machine-distributioncentre — you give the sewing machine and with no affordability to buy materials, I would wonder in what way the machines are going to
L to R: PRIP Kalyan Banerjee, Awardees Mugdha Dandekar and Sunitha Krishnan, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, PRIDs Ashok Mahajan and Y P Das, RID P T Prabhakar and PRIP Rajendra Saboo.
24 ROTARY NEWS JULY 2015
help the poor. They would only sell the machines and use the money. But today you do amazing work!” This change in her perception and recognition of Rotary’s “amazing work” came at a recent meet in Delhi to present Rotary India awards. These awards have been conferred annually for the past 22 years by the Rotary Awards for Service to Humanity (India) Trust. This year’s theme was to recognise organisations and individuals working towards ‘educating and empowering children of sex workers.’