picture Gallery of Amita Mundra
Amita Mundra DC Inner wheel District 324.
Group Picture Inner Wheel Team.
Hello Womeniya North East Inner Wheel News Desk, Dist 324:
Women Social entrepreneurship is vital for our future. Collectively we can make a change by closing the gap between men and women in the workforce.
Social entrepreneurs are those adventurous, daredevils who drive deep into the pressing problems of society and try to find solutions to them, not by leaving the responsibilities in the reins of the government or business, but by trying to change systems as a whole and persuading societies to take new initiatives
In our social Entrepreneur series today We are introducing you a very dynamic and popular social Entrepreneur of Inner Wheel who always belives in Women Empowerment and Social service is passion for her. She is popular face of Inner Wheel the second largest social organisation of women. Yes we are talking about Amita Mundra who recently elected as District Chairman of Innerwheel District 324. she shared her Vision, Mission, Entrepreneurial and Inner Wheel Journey with Hello Womeniya Com.Edito -in – Chief Aleem Shaikh.
Brief Introduction of Amita Mundra :
Amita Mundra was born in the City of Joy, Kolkata on April 25th. She did her schooling from St. Joseph’s High School, Matigara in West Bengal, and went on to do B.Com Honours from Siliguri College of Commerce. She further pursued Chartered Accountancy where she cleared the Foundation and the Intermediate but couldn’t continue it because of some unavoidable circumstances. She worked at The Calcutta Stock Exchange Limited for two years before getting married to Rtn. Deepak Mundra, thereby shifting to Gangtok, Sikkim where they run the family business. Her husband has been her biggest support system and a best friend who has motivated her at each step.
Amita joined the Inner Wheel Club of Gangtok in the year 2009. Inner Wheel has been her passion right from the very beginning. She has worked assiduously for the Club, doing every possible thing to help the Club grow. She has worked hard for every post assigned at the Club level. She was awarded the certificate for the Most Active Secretary along with the most Vibrant President.
Amita has taken up almost all the posts at the Club level and went on to join the District in the year 2016-17, where too she has tried to give her best. She served as District ISO, District Editor, District Treasurer, District Secretary and District Vice Chairman. Amita has attended one IIW Convention, two Triennial Conference, two East Zone Meet, Fellowship Meets with regular participation in all District functions. She represented her District in the Symposium in East Zone Meet in Guwahati.
Amita is also a member of Marwari Yuva Manch. She served as Secretary and as the President of Marwari Yuva Manch, Prerna Branch – Gangtok for a couple of terms. She was awarded the Best Secretary Award at the National level for her good work.
Amita loves traveling, reading, singing, and capturing the small everyday events of life. She strongly believes in voicing one’s opinion, a quality that has been imbibed in her ever since she was a kid. Her parents, Mr. Kishan Kr. Lohia and Mrs. Sushila Lohhia have always motivated her to be independent and Amita’s mother is her greatest confidant. Furthermore, she is of the notion that everyone should live their dreams because life is not about ifs and buts. She takes up every opportunity that comes her way with great zeal and enthusiasm. Being a perfectionist, she works with every ounce of energy and gives her one hundred percent at whatever task she is assigned. Amita is an optimist who does not give up easily and rises stronger after each fall. She is a strong-willed woman who wants to leave a mark, with her little acts of kindness as she believes that no act of kindness is ever wasted. Amita is a woman of principles who sticks to her virtues and morals. She actively promotes the welfare and development of each unprivileged person, just like her in-laws. Late Mr. Ramchandra Mundra, her father-in-law, and Mrs. Kaushalya Devi Mundra, her mother-in-law are old inhabitants of the state where they have made significant contributions for the society. Amita is a loving mother of two kids, daughter Chesta aged 16 years who is a high schooler pursuing Science, and 10 year old son Dhruv who is in Grade V.
Her message for everyone is to keep chasing their dreams and to never run away from any situation, no matter how difficult the time is because – You Only Live Once.
Brief History of Inner Wheel District 324 –
Inner Wheel District 324 was formed in the year 1992-93 with 10 clubs. PDC Purabi Roy was the founder Chairman of this District. Our district covers the entire North East, Sikkim and parts of Bengal. The states include Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and West Bengal. Initially the clubs in this district was under District 329. It was in 1992-93 that IWD 324 bifurcated from District 329 and an independent Inner Wheel District was started with 10 clubs. The then Association President was Dr. Lalita Seth from District 329.
IIW Theme was “Understanding”
The District 324 started functioning under the dynamic, committed and able leadership of the following :
CHARTER DISTRICT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Charter District Chairman : Mrs. Purabi Roy (IWC Asansol)
Charter Vice Chairman : Mrs. Subinita Dey (IWC Tinsukia)
Charter Secretary : Mrs. Sipra Basu (IWC Durgapur)
Charter Treasurer : Mrs. Nandita Roy (IWC Durgapur)
Charter Editor : Mrs. Bharti Bagchi (IWC Asansol)
Charter ESO : Dr. Sunanda Ghosh (IWC Jorhat)
Charter ISO : Mrs. Cecelia Edwards (IWC Darjeeling)
Since its formation, the club expanded with new clubs being formed and presently there are 31 Inner Wheel Clubs with a total of 850 members.
The District 324 is the epitome of unity in diversity as it has members belonging from a myriad range of traditions, cultures, creeds, and languages yet all working unitedly towards the aim of service to humanity. The geographical expanse of the District covers the beautiful North-Eastern region including the hills of West Bengal.
North-East India is well known for its natural beauty and serenity. The undulated hills and valleys, the virgin forests, the cascading waterfalls, the crystal clear rivers, the lush green tea gardens, the mystic nature, the myths and legends, the wildlife, varied flora and fauna, the people – their culture, traditions, heritage, food habits and celebrations of life make Northeast India a treasure to explore. Furthermore, it has some of the highest peaks like the Kanchenjunga, the alluring alpine meadows, and varieties of wildflowers. The region is also known for its exquisite Buddhist monasteries along with the famous extensive tea gardens.
Darjeeling, known as the Queen of Hills is a district of West Bengal that is a part of the District 324. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations that was the summer resort for the British Elites during colonial times. Popular for its tea and forests in the Dooars region, Darjeeling is an exotic place to be visited.
The people of North-east India are known for their simplicity and culture that makes their members a delight to work with. The District 324 traverses through the difficult yet beautiful terrain of the Northeast, thus making its history and functioning all the more exciting.
An Exclusive Chat With Amita Mundra :
Hello Womeniya : Please share your first reaction and feeling on being the District Chairman of District 324.
Amita Mundra : Its indeed a wonderful feeling to lead the District from the front. Yes, with it comes a lot of responsibility but I have prepared myself for that. Right now, it just feels that my dreams and my aspirations are coming true. My motto in life is to “Live your Dreams” and in a true sense I am doing that..just Living my Dreams…
Hello Womeniya : What will be your priority in the growth of District 324?
Amita Mundra : District 324 covers the entire North Eastern states, Sikkim and parts of Bengal. But when we look at the map of Inner Wheel District 324, we do not have any clubs in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram & Manipur. My priority would be to have atleast one club in each of these states.
Also it is felt that, we do a lot of work but we do not get recognized according to the work we have done. Focus this year would be to have more impactful branding of Inner Wheel so that our District becomes more visible.
Hello Womeniya : What are the current challenges your District is facing?
Amita Mundra : One of the major challenges our District is facing is that we are losing lots of existing members because of various reasons. Priority would be to identify the reasons of this leakage and try to plug the gaps so that we not only bring in new members but also retain the existing ones.
My personal view, even though we are part of Rotary family, to maintain a separate identity from them is a major challenge now specially with Rotary focussing on inducting women members and all women Rotary clubs being prioritised. I think we as Inner Wheel members have somewhere missed out on finding ways to retain our members.
Hello Womeniya : What is your future agenda to solve these problems ?
Amita Mundra : My approach would to have a one to one conversation with the clubs, find out their problems, keep them motivated. This would help us to retain our members, invite new ones and aid us to take up projects of importance. Along with this, I would like to make an online presence of my district and Inner Wheel, like by launching a website. Internet holds a lot of power and when used in the right way, it will help us to brand and expand our district.
Hello Womeniya : Share your Inner wheel journey with us.
Amita Mundra : I joined Inner Wheel in the year 2009-10. Initially I just tried to hang around and keep up pace with the seniors. I was scared about public speaking. I always prayed that I should not be asked to come up and talk to the audience whether by way of presentation or anything else. But thanks to this wonderful organisation which I believe gives every one a chance to follow their dreams. Thanks to my seniors who then started dragging me by giving me small responsibilities and also showing the way on how to go about it. And believe me in the coming days, I literally started getting addicted to Inner Wheel. This was the sole entity that changed my life. From a person who was quite reluctant to come up and speak, from a person who shied away from responsibilities to someone who could somewhat speak to an audience, to an individual who can’t wait for the next challenge, that’s what this organisation does to you. I started taking responsibilities at Club level and later in the District. I started understanding this organisation a little more each time and now Inner Wheel has now become my passion.
Hello Womeniya : Could you please share your lockdown experience and how your District performed during this difficult time?
Answer : Initially, it was tough but the previous year has taught us to adapt to the changes. For instance, with everything getting digitalized, our members very gracefully adapted to the online mode of connecting and moving forward. Recently, we had our training sessions for district and club members virtually, where we had the advantage of having stalwarts of International Inner Wheel as speakers for the sessions. The district as a whole is working and giving their best. The members ensure not to give up any opportunity as they are holding webinars, helping those in need and trying to serve the community in every possible way. We infact did a lot of work in this lockdown when compared to normal years.
Hello Womeniya : What is your appeal and message to Inner wheel people ?
Amita Mundra : The main objective of Inner Wheel is Friendship and Service. Inner Wheel members all around the globe are doing a great job with this objective in mind. I won’t say appeal but my message to all my Inner Wheel friends is that we all are working for the betterment of our community. Let’s keep doing our good work. At the end of the day, before we close our eyes, lets be content with where we’ve been and proud of who we are. This is where ultimate satisfaction lies.
Hello Womeniya : Do you agree this pandemic brought a lot of changes in our personal and professional life ?
Amita Mundra : Yes, definitely. It has changed almost everything, especially our perspective of looking at our life. We have come closer to our families which was missing somewhere but this pandemic has kept us together hence fostering a strong bonding. Further, the pandemic definitely made us more technologically advanced and equipped. Never would have I thought to attend meetings and conventions virtually. These tough times have shown us how humanity is still alive, with the public coming together to help each other in whatever way possible. So, the pandemic has surely altered our personal and professional life with the new normal being the way to survive.
Hello womeniya : Can you highlights some important service projects you did during this pandemic ?
Amita Mundra : The outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus infection heavily impacted almost one and all. With the entire world on lockdown it was very difficult for us as an organisation to serve the community the way we had being doing all these years. The rise in Covid cases has taken a toll but tough times call for stronger solutions, just like the never-give-up spirit of Inner Wheel. We were home-bound but that did not dampen the motivation and commitment of our organization and its members. The society needed us the most at this time of crises. In our District we were all motivated to serve in every possible way. Few important service projects which our District did during this pandemic, though most of them were done last year as our Inner Wheel year starts from 1st July to 30th June and my term has just begun.
Masks and sanitizers were distributed throughout by all clubs.
Sanitization of villages and areas was conducted.
Ration and necessary items were continuously being distributed by the clubs.
Health care workers and Covid warriors were felicitated.
A food van was donated for distributing food.
Many clubs supported the education of the underprivileged children by gifting them smart phones for their online classes.
Clubs also sponsored cataract surgeries.
To sustain the livelihood of the poor fruit and vegetable carts were also donated.
An ambulance was donated by one of the club.
Tree plantation was taken up by all the clubs. Inner Wheel Forest was also an important area where our district has worked on.
A child who had no vision from birth was operated and now she can see the world for the first time. A beautiful work done by one of our club.
Our District has been promoting No Plastic and in this regard clubs have distributed cloth bags in shops and market places and also conducted webinars to bring about awareness.
Hello Womeniya : Our last question to you what will be the main theme of this year of Inner wheel ?
Amita Mundra : The theme we have been given this year is PINK FIRST. So, all our focus would be on WOMAN FIRST. Be it empowering women, providing opportunities, education, adult literacy, bring about awareness on health and hygiene including menstrual hygiene and also working towards having a gender equal society where both men and women are given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities at all levels as equal partners. There is no job a woman can’t do. There have been some positive changes to celebrate but even where there is progress, our best hasn’t been good enough. A lot needs to be done to bridge this gap of gender inequality. As Inner Wheel members we can give our valuable contribution in achieving a more just and equal society.
