Edition 25: Round table school and RBI

On occasion of Akshay Tritya, PURT 144 of Round Table India laid the Foundation Stone for the first Pilot P&G Shiksha School for Underprivileged in Village Kolwan near Mulshi.

The school is Sadhana English School run by Sadhana Village Trust at for residents of nearby villages and is based on the famous Waldorf educational method which promote a spirit of enquiry in the children, a sense of values and a love for arts and nature.


Teachers and volunteers from Germany train the local teachers in modern methods of imparting education and setting of curriculum. The School Fees is only Rs. 5/- per month which includes learning implements, mid may meals and Transport pick and drop within a 12 Km radius.

Round Table India is an organization of young men up to Age 40 who have adopted their National Objective as Freedom Through Education. Under this, Round Table has already built 1262 Schools 3688 Classrooms in last 10 odd years across India. The Average is an astonishing One Classroom Each Day for the last 10 Years. The Funding is obtained vide partnerships with Corporates, Individuals and Governments, and the model employed is a Zero Overhead Model.

Proctor & Gamble launch their Shiksha scheme each year between April to June, wherein a proceeds of the sales from all major P&G Brands goes to eradicating illiteracy.
This year P&G Shiksha and Round Table India will build 4 Schools across India totaling Rs.2 Crores on a 1:1 Partnership and this was the first Bhoomipujan amongst them. The Schools will be operated by Trusts who doing an exemplary job but not possessing adequate infrastructure in Buildings. RTI with P&G Shiksha will bridge that gap for some of them. Speaking on the occasion, Rashi Mittal of P&G reiterated that Round Table India exemplified selfless service and P&G Customers will be happy to be a part of building School infrastructure for underpriviliged.
Also present were Sonam Aron from P&G and Sanjay Kanakia, Karan Gehani, Rajiv Mehra, Prashant Agarwal, Mukesh Ruparel, Kapil Jain and others from Round Table India, as well as Local Sarpanch Shri. Khedkar


RBI Governor Impressed By Archives.

An exhibition of the archives of Reserve Bank of India was inaugurated by the governor of RBI, Dr. Duvvuri Subbarao. While inaugurating the precious and historically important documents and artefacts, which give an idea of the modern economic journey of India, Dr. Subbarao praised the museum.
He said, “I visited RBI Archives when I was here at the CAB in June last year. It was a brief visit; even in that brief visit, I could sense the richness, in terms of historical value, of the material preserved here. I am glad to have an opportunity today to spend more time here and see valuable documents, photographs, artifacts and currency displayed in these Archives. I am also happy to note that the Archives Museum has been recently renovated to accommodate a larger, better and more user friendly display of records.
“The documents and other material preserved in these archives are valuable for the rich historical content they embody. These Archives of the Reserve Bank are not just an internal store of information for the Bank’s staff; they are a record of the events and times that should be of great historical significance. Every document, every object, every artifact here records or refers to an event that may just have been an unnoticed part of contemporary setting in real time. But looking back at them from this distance of time, we get a treasure trove of stories about the Reserve Bank that are diverse and fascinating. There is, for example, the share issue of the Reserve Bank, the largest in the country, the apprehension that it may get into the hands of ‘an exploiting group or caucus’; and the attempt to prevent that. Then there is the story about the first advertisement by the Bank for staff recruitment that caused a traffic jam on the streets of what was then Calcutta.”
According to Dr. Subbarao, “The history of RBI over the past 75 years is indeed replete with such interesting events and developments. These archives tell many of those stories and they include extracts from the Report of the Edward Young Commission recommending the establishment of a central bank for India to be named Reserve Bank of India, the congratulatory telegram dated 1st April 1935 from the Viceroy of India to the RBI Governor on the commencement of operations of the Reserve Bank of India, the draft of RBI Bill 1934, the minutes and photograph of the first meeting of the Central Board of Directors, the design of currency notes and the weights earlier used for weighing coins and gold, a letter from our first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru to Sir C.D. Deshmukh, the first Indian Governor of the Reserve Bank, requesting him to send an analytical report on the deteriorating economic condition and suggest remedial measures, a letter from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi requesting release of foreign exchange for her son Rajiv’s studies abroad, the reasons for closure of the RBI office in London and the devaluation of the rupee in 1966.”
Seeing the praise heaped by the RBI governor, it seems really a thing of pride that Pune hosts this museum.