Mehta, an accountant, is chair of the Skyline Group, a real estate development company he founded. He is also a director of Operation Eyesight Universal (India), a Canada-based organization.

Mehta has been actively involved in disaster response and is a trustee of ShelterBox, UK. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, he helped build nearly 500 homes for families affected by the disaster.

He pioneered a program that has performed more than 1,500 life-changing heart surgeries in South Asia. He is also the architect of the TEACH Program, which promotes literacy throughout India and has reached thousands of schools.

A Rotary member since 1984, Mehta has served Rotary as director, member or chair of several committees, zone coordinator, training leader, member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, and district governor. He is also the chair of Rotary Foundation (India).

Mehta has received Rotary’s Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Awards.

He and his wife, Rashi, are Major Donors and members of the Bequest Society.

For the 2021-22 Rotary year, Mehta wants members to focus their efforts on empowering girls and ensuring their access to education, resources, services, and opportunities so that future generations of women leaders will have the tools they need to succeed. Mehta asked members to use Rotary’s belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical in all we do as a compass to guide this work.

“There are many issues that girls face in different parts of the world, and you as leaders will ensure that we try and mitigate the disadvantage of the girl that they may have,” he said.

To be able to do more through service, Rotary needs to increase membership, Mehta said. Membership has hovered around 1.2 million for the past two decades. He challenged the incoming governors to be catalysts in their districts to help increase membership to 1.3 million by 1 July 2022. Mehta’s Each One, Bring One initiative asks every member to bring one person to join Rotary within the next 17 months.

Increasing membership while also continuing our commitment to eradicating polio, fighting COVID-19, and serving our communities is an ambitious goal. “And that should excite you,” Mehta said. “Rotarians love challenges.”

https://cdn2.webdamdb.com/md_YNCiUh3RVS95.mp4?1611936094

I am sure you are having an enriching experience as you Serve to Change Lives. One of the ways you can make the greatest change in a person’s life is to help them learn to read. Literacy opens up the world to us. It makes us better informed about life in our own communities and opens vistas to other cultures. Reading and writing connects people and gives us another way to express our love for one another.

September is Basic Education and Literacy Month in Rotary. Enhancing literacy skills is critical in our pursuit of reducing poverty, improving health, and promoting peace. In fact, if all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, it would result in a significant cut in global poverty rates.

Without education, illiterate children become illiterate adults. Today, 14 percent of the world’s adult population — 762 million people — lack basic reading and writing skills. Two-thirds of that group are women. Literacy and numeracy skills are essential to obtaining better housing, health care, and jobs over a lifetime.

Especially for girls and women, literacy can be a life-or-death issue. If all girls completed their primary education, there would be far fewer maternal deaths. And a child is more likely to survive past age 5 if he or she is born to a mother who can read. Improving outcomes for more people worldwide is possible only if countries remove barriers to education for girls. The economic argument for doing so is clear: In some countries where schooling is geared toward boys, the cost of missed economic opportunity is more than $1 billion per year.

Empowering people through education is among the boldest goals we have as Rotarians. We don’t have to travel far from our homes to encounter those whose lives are being curtailed because they struggle with reading, rely on others to read for them, or cannot write anything more than their own name.

Starting this month, consider how your club can Serve to Change Lives through literacy: Support local organizations that offer free programs to support adult literacy or local language learning, or that provide teachers with professional development centered around reading and writing. Become literacy mentors, or work with an organization like the Global Partnership for Education to increase learning opportunities for children around the world. Have conversations with local schools and libraries to see how your club can support their existing programs or help create needed ones in your community.

In India, the TEACH program, a successful collaboration between the country’s Rotary clubs and its government, has demonstrated how to scale up literacy efforts to reach millions of children. And at a time when schools across India were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program’s e-learning component reached more than 100 million children through national television.

Literacy is the first step out of poverty. As Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has noted, “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.”

Your Rotary, Rotaract, or Interact club can earn a Rotary Citation for achieving goals that strengthen Rotary and your club. Goals include increasing club membership, developing sustainable service projects, giving to The Rotary Foundation, and building awareness of Rotary in your community.

Citation for Rotary Clubs

Citation goals can be found in Rotary Club Central. To achieve the Rotary Citation, review the 25 available goals, select at least 13, achieve those goals, then report your achievement in Rotary Club Central.

All activities need to be completed by 30 June.

Citation for Rotaract Clubs

Rotaract clubs that achieve the Rotaract goals by the end of the Rotary year will earn a citation.

Only Rotaract clubs that are listed as active in Rotary International’s database can earn the citation. To confirm that a club is active, Rotarians can check the Listing of Club-Sponsored Organizations in Rotary Club Central.

All activities need to be completed by 15 August.

The Rotaract club president or Rotary sponsor club president can nominate a Rotaract club by completing the online nomination form for the citation by 15 August. Only one nomination should be submitted for any given Rotaract club.

Citation for Interact Clubs

Interact clubs that achieve the Interact goals by the end of the Rotary year will earn a citation.

Only Interact clubs that are listed as active in Rotary International’s database can earn the citation. To confirm that a club is active, Rotarians can check the Listing of Club-Sponsored Organizations in Rotary Club Central.

All activities need to be completed by 15 August.

The sponsor Rotary club’s president completes the online nomination form for the citation by 15 August. For Interact clubs with more than one sponsor club, only one nomination should be submitted for any given Interact club.

Resources and reference

• Citation Goals and Instructions for Rotary Clubs (PDF)
• Citation Goals and Instructions for Rotaract Clubs (PDF)
• Citation Goals and Instructions for Interact Clubs (PDF)
• Rotary Citation Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
• 2021-22 Presidential theme
• How to create a My Rotary account (PDF)
• How to Update Rotaract and Interact Club Information (PDF)
• Rotary Citation Discussion Group