Speeches :
End Polio Now
(Speech delivered on 7 Aug 2009 during National Orientation Meet on Polio in New Delhi)
The Rotary year 2009-10 has just begun. At the dawn of the new Rotary year, I take this opportunity of warmly felicitating and welcoming the new Rotary Leadership who will be assuming onerous responsibilities to further strengthen Rotary’s commitment to build a happier and prosperous society.
It takes one person to initiate a fight but it takes masses to win the battle. If it hadn’t been for people’s whole hearted participation, Gandhiji’s non-violence movement may not have been possible. India may not have got the distinction of attaining freedom in a unique way.
The Dandi
march may not have held a swadeshi significance if the masses had not
participated in and supported the movement.
Similarly my friends, the task of eradicating Polio is not the task of one person or organization or a problem of just “A “sect of society or country. It involves all of us.
Since 2005, there has never been a better chance to wipe out polio. During 2008 there were 559 polio cases. This was lower than the figure of 874 cases reported in 2007. As on 31st July 2009- 163 cases have been reported as against 346 cases last year during this period. Transmission is low in the endemic states. It is now time for Rotarians, to be armed to the teeth like the Ninja and perform the role of the terminator.
Friends, let me put before you all, the statement made by Mr. Bill Gates, who is one of the greatest supporters to the cause of polio eradication.
I quote from leading media reports:
IT IS NOW OR NEVER TO ERADICATE POLIO
India’s inability to stamp out Polio has raised serious fears that the virus causing the crippling disease might never be eradicated.
In an ominous warning, Microsoft founder Bill Gates told the media on Thursday, the 23rd July, 2009, that those implementing the programme, funding agencies and common people will soon feel fatigue, thanks to the virus constantly making a comeback.
Gates said “We have spent money in India’s polio projects.
We have to get polio eradicated with urgency. If we don’t get eradicated now, we may never be able to get it done” Polio cases have been piling up in India every year. Even
though transmission of P1 (the most dangerous strain of polio virus) has almost been arrested in UP and Bihar in the last one year, India is earning a dubious distinction of having the world’s highest number of Polio cases.
UNQUOTE
The license to kill the deadly polio virus has been given to every one of you.
Polio is the enemy at the gates. Bombardment of the virus is the only way to eradicate it. If the world must remain polio free can Rotarians be missing in action?
US President Barack Obama has pledged his support to a new global effort to eradicate polio.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given US $ 355 million.
Google Foundation has contributed US$ 3.5 million.
Rtn. Harshad Mehta, Mrs. Usha Lakshmi Mittal, Shrimathi Rajashree Birla and many more donors have voluntarily contributed huge sums of money to Rotary for eradication of polio.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has thrown the entire weight of the UN behind Rotary in the task of eradicating polio. Celebrity actors like Mia Farrow. Amitabh Bachhan and other influential people around the world have advocated for the polio eradication programme.
Children from USA, Italy and many other countries in the West have emptied their piggy banks to Rotary just to show their concern for the welfare of the children in the last four endemic countries. So what is your role?
Faith, faith and faith in yourself is the secret of success. You must have the faith that you can do the job of eradicating polio. Swami Vivekananda said, “If you have faith in all the gods and still have no faith in yourself, there is no salvation.” You should know that there is nothing impossible for the human being. Thinking that you are weak to fight against a virus is the greatest weakness. In this epic battle against polio you have been taught never to say, “I cannot.”
The decades of struggles and mistakes have made you strong. All these years you have been holding the ideal a thousand times everyday. The ideal of polio free world. Yes, India failed to eradicate polio last year. But this year is another chance.
This year Rotarians are not going to brood over what happened last year. Rotarians are thinking of strength. They have to tap the strength that is already within them. Can anything be done unless you exert yourself to your utmost? Face the enemy boldly, stand up and fight till the virus is dead and gone. This year we cannot afford to take one step back.
This year I urge you to take up the single goal of polio eradication as a priority. Dream of it constantly, think of it, and live on it, network with your group and other agencies.
This is the way to succeed. All success comes with concentrating on the task on hand. The level of concentration differentiates people. You become great or small depending on this power of concentration. If the people in other countries like Bangla Desh and Sri Lanka have achieved the goal of eradicating polio, it shows how much they have concentrated on the task. It made them great. Can we afford to become small in front of their eyes?
Time and again we have heard excuses about the size of the country, the literacy levels, the religious bias of certain community and many myths and stories of how people have been reluctant to bring their children to the immunization booths.
If Rotarians were just ordinary human beings then they can find excuses. But Rotarians are not ordinary human beings. They have an iron will to cross the ocean on a raft! They have the courage and strength to pierce the mountains.
The mind has two abilities. The first ability is to focus or concentrate and the next is to expand. The mind also is of two kinds. The open mind and the closed mind. When you fail to surmount a gigantic problem and accept the situation and say, “This is how it is,” then the mind is closed.
People lose as a result of limited knowledge. Education is the manifestation of the perfection in human beings.
The training we need to penetrate the cities and villages to take the message of polio eradication is provided by the partners of Rotary. If the negativity in field workers still exists then it means that it has found a hook to hang on.
Negativity needs a support to grow. If this support is cut off then the field workers will be able to visit more and more homes and immunize children.
The formation of the Ulema Committee was a bold step that drove away the negativity about the resistance from a section of the community. Persistent efforts by a dedicated team of Rotarians made the formation of the committee a reality and the results are there for all to see.
You have come to this final juncture of the battle against polio. This is because something in you kept saying constantly that you have to save the children of the world.
People became Rotarians to add value to this world. From 1985 Rotarians have been preparing every single minute to be at this vital moment – a moment when we can just finish off polio from the world.
What should you do with this moment? How will you seize this precious moment? Reach the unreached. Take the oral polio vaccine to every corner of this country. We have seen volunteers from Rotary coming from USA and other countries and helping us during the NIDs.
What is their objective? Why should they do this for you? How long can they do this for you?
Friends, let us appreciate that Rotary International has for the first time in our history, made a corporate commitment to the world to achieve eradication of Polio from the face of the earth.
The affluent countries where there is no Polio are extending anxiously and enthusiastically all financial and technical support to enable us to eradicate the disease from our part of the world.
This would, however, happen only when each one of us commits to make available our skills and resources, especially TIME, to volunteer for this task.
Let us concede that everything is not all right in our efforts and there is further scope for improvement. We may have done well, but we have to do better. We have indeed done a lot, but we must do a lot more. We have reached many friends in this campaign but many more are still indifferent, sitting on the fence They have to be cajoled, convinced and motivated to join us.
We have used a number of methods and means for social mobilization and public awareness. But here are many more methods that can be thought of, innovated and gainfully translated into action. Let us think of means that are catchy, attractive and magnetic.
We have to transform this Polio campaign into a People’s movement. On the immunization days and a week before,.
Let us, therefore, plan right from now, benefiting from the guidance of senior Rotary leaders and the imagination of young Rotarians alike. Given a clear vision and determined action, I am confident that the goal will not be difficult to attain.
No one else can write our story of success. Begin right now! End polio now!
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