Vijay Kumar. P 10H, Saraswati Nilayam Jawahar Nagar Trivandrum 695 003

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The Round Table is an international organization for young men from various walks of life and different vocations. In India, the retirement age for its members is 40 years, which I believe is integral to the beauty of this movement. The per capita contribution of the members of Round Table India (RTI) for community service is the highest for any service organization in the country. But despite that, we do not disguise the fact that the members are in it primarily for the fellowship and good times that we have.

The goal of RTI is to educate one million children by the year 2008. Primary education for every child, is a fundamental right as by the constitution of our country, but unfortunately the Government is short of the means to provide the same. RTI proposes to build 1500, which requires a fund flow of 180 crores – no mean target for a small group of 2500 tablers (as it’s members are called) spread across the country. In the last couple of years, we have seen enormous response to our call for ‘Freedom Through Education’ and we have already signed MOUs with the Governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – with several more state governments having evinced interest in associating with us. We are also in discussions with the Government of India (Department of Education and the Planning Commission) to progress our contributions in the field of primary education.

Personally, I have benefited a lot from the experiences gained by active involvement since joining RTI in 1997. I am currently serving on the National Board of Round Table India as its HRD Convenor, and I have been asked to continue for one more year. Many of the Tablers come from an excellent academic background (IITs and IIMs) and serve in senior executive capacities, such as Director Communications of Ranbaxy, Vice President (HR) of Bharathi Telecom (both with me on the National Board), Director (Marketing) of Microsoft India etc. The sharing of thoughts and experiences with such groups is in itself an intellectually stimulating experience.

I would strongly recommend friends at InApp to consider joining this movement at some time, since it is an organization that brings immense value addition to its members and provides fine learning in leadership.