Location: Moolgaonkar Auditorium, Ground Floor MCCIA Complex, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune, India
Background
Saving Lives and Building Communities: RLSS (I) in partnership with Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture is holding the “First Ever” seminar on lifesaving in India. That we need extensive discussion on the subject across the country is of no doubt. Most accidents involve the young and are avoidable through greater safety consciousness. It is difficult to understand the public resistance to taking simple safety precautions like wearing a helmet while riding a two wheeler, putting on safety belt in a car, wearing lifejackets when in a boat or simply looking before leaping! It is not so much about first aid or lifesaving in water but more about public attitude to personal safety considerations. This needs to undergo a radical change that can be achieved only through education and public debate.

Acquiring skills to help a person in distress is thus the key to increased safety of people and reducing untimely deaths in avoidable accidents. Accidental deaths on land are visible through gore and blood but those in water are silent, invisible and less understood. In fact, drowning poses a great threat to public health as India accounts for approx 23% of the global drowning (1 million people). This number is higher than lives lost to malaria, cholera or dengue.

It is good to take a cue from the West, where a structured process supports lifesaving activities and reduces human attrition. Organisations such as UNICEF, Royal Life Saving Society Australia and TASC (The Alliance for Safe Children) have helped reduce the numbers of deaths due to drowning in Bangladesh by implementing SwimSafe program which teaches children to swim and survive an accidental fall in deep water. Speedo International and Australian Government are working with the Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India) to implement Swim N Survive programme and lifeguard training in South India.

About the Seminar
Rashtriya Life Saving Society, Mahratta Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and, the Indian Maritime Foundation shall jointly present the seminar, ‘Saving Lives and Building Communities’ on the 4th shall be attended by eminent International and Indian speakers and delegates from the sector, corporate and government. of June 2014 from 9 am 2 pm at the MCCIA Auditorium. The conference

The seminar will revolve around 4 major themes of discussion:

Creating and Omnipresent Force – to bring about a change in the mind set of the public to add value to life with an omnipresent force alert and vigilant to save lives.
Global Efforts towards Drowning Prevention – to provide the audience with an insight into global effort to reduce incidents of drowning. Globally, drowning is the third largest cause of unintentional death amongst children.
CSR Role in Saving Lives – to allow corporate bodies to address the audience elucidating the role of the corporate support to save lives in India and their plans for the future.
Policy and Standards for Saving Lives – to engage the audience and apprise it of the efforts being taken by the Government towards reducing accidents and resultant deaths on land and in water.

Objectives of the Seminar
Creating a structured process in support of lifesaving activity on land and in water to inculcate safety consciousness among the masses.
To discuss global methods to reduce deaths due to drowning with a view to adopt them or innovate fresh procedures to apply in the field to reduce drowning accidents. As per the Planning Commission, India loses Rs. 65,000 Crores every year on account of young lives lost in accidents.
To elicit corporate views on possible CSR Role in Saving Lives and impact of the effort in the past, at present and expected in the future.
Recommend Policy and Standards to be set by the Government to add value to life in country.

There are many organisations working to reduce accidents on land but hardly any that addresses drowning. RLSS (I) has evolved a structured process to deal with the epidemic of drowning and has plans and projects to:

Train the youth as lifesavers, lifeguards and lifesaving sports persons to provide them with employment avenues and facilitate new career pathways along with enhanced safety in their vicinity.
Train children from schools, especially those from lower income families in the Swim N Survive program. The program empowers children with skills to survive a fall in deep water. It also provides them with an opportunity to engage in sport to live healthier and more meaningful lives.
Develop standards for safety at aquatic venues both manmade and natural, conduct audits of these venues and provide up to date information for safer swimming and safer operations at these locations.

Schedule of the Seminar

0900 – 0930 – Arrival and Registration.
0935 – 0945 — Welcome Address by the Director General of MCCIA.
0950 – 1000 – Seminar Introduction by Cmde Rajan Vir, Founder President, IMF.
1005 – 1015 – Relevance of the Seminar to MCCIA by Mr. Surendra K Jain, President, MCCIA.
1020 – 1030 — Keynote address by Rear Admiral P D Sharma, Founder President, RLSS (I).
1035 – 1045 – Reading of Letter from Prince Michael of Kent, President Royal Life Saving Society (Common Wealth) followed by “Lifesaver of the Year” award presentation by Mr. John Long, Patron RLSS (I) and Past Secretary General, RLSS (CW) – Guest of Honour.
1045 — Address by the Chief Guest – Prof. Dr S. B. Mujumdar, Padma Bhushan, Founder President & Chancellor, Symbiosis International University.

Second Session 1100 – 1200 — Theme: Global Efforts towards Drowning Prevention Mentor: Mr John Long, Patron RLSS (I) and Past Secretary General, Royal Life Saving Society (Common Wealth)

1100 – 1110 — Presentation: “Global Drowning Prevention Effort and its Impact on communities”
By Dianne Montalto, President, Royal Life Saving Association (Australia)

Tea Break
Second Session Continued — Theme: Global Efforts towards Drowning Prevention.

1130 – 1140 — Drowning prevention in India by Ankit Wagh.
1145 – 1155 — Pool Safety Policy in Pune – Pune Municipal Corporation
Panel Discussion – 10 mins 1200 – 1210

Third Session — 1215 – 1315 — Theme: CSR Role in Saving Lives.
Mentor: MR Gurvinder Singh Trustee and CEO RLSS (I).
1215 – 1225 — Mr Sathish Magar – safety considerations in the Building Sector. The role of “Builders” in building modern and safe housing complexes in Pune and elsewhere in the country
1230 – 1240 — Swimming Program for Life Saving & Health (SPLASH) by Dominic Vijay of Speedo India
1245 – 1255 – “Innovating Interventions to Create a Change” by Dasra
1300 – 1310 – Spare for volunteer speaker from audience.

Panel Discussion – 10 mins 1315 – 1325
1330 — Vote of Thanks by Director General, MCCIA/ Sponsor.
Lunch and End of Programme

About the Partners

About Rashtriya Life Saving Society India: Pune’s water body’s primarily swimming pools have been death traps and have had many deaths/incidents due to drowning over the years. Rashtriya Life Saving Society, a PAN Indian NGO headquartered from Pune has been instrumental in reducing the number of deaths due to drowning in the city by training lifeguards and undertaking swimming pool audits. In 2010, this number was brought down to zero. The effort now needs a sustained and structured method to continue to maintain the safety record.

About the Mahratta Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture: MCCIA has been playing a significant role in accelerating the industrial and economic development of Pune region for more than seven decades now. It is one of the most active chambers of Commerce in India and has been instrumental in promoting number of institutions in Pune. MCCIA has continuously driven to make Pune a global business destination and has been catalyst for economic development of the region.

Through its large and varied membership, infrastructure and a strong will to help, MCCAI has been serving the industry and the community well through arranging meetings, talks, lectures, seminars, industrial and entrepreneur exhibitions.

About the Indian Maritime Foundation: was established in December 1993 by a group of sea farers to rekindle maritime interest among people in India particularly children and the youth. Once a great maritime nation, India has lost much by turning its back to the Ocean. IMF is dedicated to our country regaining its maritime heritage through a variety of activities like research in India’s maritime heritage, co-ordinate Coastal Cleanup, increase awareness about the Oceans, underwater technology and bring out the quarterly journal the “Sea Gull”. The Indian Maritime Foundation is a ‘not for profit’ organization, registered in Pune as a charitable trust. It has branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

For more details contact: Ankit..8888855919 Or Dipali..7304638357