GUWAHATI, Jan 27 - The Lions Clubs of the NE region are going to make the celebration of the centenary year of the Lions International a special one by extending special services to the region�s people. For the purpose, it will launch special reach-out programmes to hone up the latent talents of the youths of the region. The special services in the NE region will start from January 28 with a function at the Pragjyoti ITA Centre for Performing Arts at Machkhowa here.
Talking to this newspaper, senior Lions Club members Pradip Baruah, Amar Baruah and Roman Bordoloi said that though the Lions International was set up with an international approach, its service programmes are oriented on the basis of the local needs. The main thrust of the Lions members is on development of their own country and people.
The Lions Clubs of the region have so far adopted over 20 villages and of them over five are located in and around Guwahati city. Each of these villages is supported by the Lions Clubs in matters of accelerating their all round development.
Elaborating, they said recently Lions Club of Narangi adopted Burha Mayong, which has 158 households. The people of this village have been supported by the Lions Club in matters of becoming aware on the legal issues. Each of the households has been provided with model sanitary latrines. Besides, its high school and women community centre have also been provided with such facilities.
The village is proposed to be provided with a potable water scheme by April of the current year, said the Lions members.
The Lions Clubs of this strife-torn region have been trying to involve the region�s youths in all sorts of community activities so as to develop them as responsible citizens. They are sought to be involved in the activities like disaster management, cleanliness drive, environment conservation etc.
Efforts are also being made to involve the youths in the activities like educating the needy children too, they said, adding, in the peace poster contest organised globally by the Lions International every year for the teens in the age group of 11 years to 13 years, teens from Manipur under Lions District 322 D won the best prizes in the Lionistic Years of 2010-2011 and 2012 -2013. A Lionistic Year starts in July every year and ends in June the next year.
Lions International completed its 100 years of existence this year. As part of its centenary celebration, a three-year period was earmarked, beginning from July, 2015. In the NE region, there are 104 Lions Clubs with a total membership strength of 4,290. Globally, the Lions International has 46,000 clubs with around 14 lakh members spread over 210 countries.
