Rotary President Kalyan Banerjee is SATimes Person of Year 2011

Chicago: The South Asian Times person of the Year is Rotary President Kalyan Banerjee.

He spoke to The South Asian Times.

Keenly aware that Rotary is seen as an organization of the old people– in the West at least — and losing members, RI President Kalyan Banerjee is leading the organization to try to connect with the youth again.

Harnessing the social media is part of the move to mend matters. The legacy of his presidency he wants to leave is “having raised Rotary to the 21st century level so people come to Rotary.”

In India, of course, Rotary is growing and attracting young people. Banerjee’s presidency is bound to give a further impetus and standing to the movement there, prominent Indian Rotarians said, adding that Banerjee’s ascension is matter of pride for all Indians and India. Banerjee, a businessman fromVapi in Gujarat, is a pioneer of polio eradication. The global PolioPlus campaign has made Rotary very visible.

In India no case has been reported for almost a year. “Today PolioPlus has taught us to have a bigger impact in the world,” Banerjee says.

He may be heading the biggest service organizaion in the world, but he tapped his inner core and Indian ethos to come up with the Rotary theme of 2011-11: ‘Reach Within to Embrace Humanity’, pictured into a beautiful logo by artists.