Dear Members,
As I
sit to write this last communication, my thoughts race back a year in time when
I took over the mantle as the President of this esteemed Society. In the
acceptance speech, I had defined the theme of the annual plan for the BCAS Year
2018-2019 to be that of aligning its priorities to members’ expectations, which
broadly revolved around four key sub-sets – “Re-engineer my Profession”,
“Rekindle my Passion”, “Restore my Pride” and “Rejuvenate my BCAS”.
Reflecting
back over the past year, I feel happy and satisfied that our Society has
undertaken numerous steps and initiatives to ensure that the said expectations
are reasonably met. The Annual Report has already been circulated by email and
significant changes have been made in its presentation to make it more
meaningful. I would request you to download and go through the same. I would
not like to repeat the initiatives since they are listed in it but would only
highlight some major steps taken during the year:
- Making dissemination of knowledge crisp,
relevant and participative through the format of panel discussions and expert
chats;
- Bringing in multi-domain events and
industry-specific events;
- Organising various long-duration courses to
develop skill sets of the members;
- Organising more programmes highlighting the
use of technology and its impact on the profession;
- Rejuvenating the students’ study circle with
relevant and timely topics;
- Revival
of various study circles catering to specific domains;
- Meeting various social causes like
tree-plantation, providing flood relief, blood donation camp, etc.;
- Regular interaction with government officials
and effective representation of issues faced by the profession and the
industry;
- Regular coverage of issues in the media;
- Publications being released at regular
intervals.
As my
term draws to a close, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction at having lived a
year with a purpose. It was a special year and many people made it even more
special. As a leader of the Society, I had occasion to interact with many
senior professionals and experts, government officials, members, staff,
students, etc. While the context of such interactions was varied, one thing
which was constant was the warmth and the respect during such interactions. No
phone call went unanswered and no request was turned down. The selfless
dedication of all such volunteers was truly a humbling experience. I would like
to thank all the speakers, authors, compilers, conveners, course coordinators,
chairmen and numerous well-wishers for their continued goodwill and support.
Special
mention is due to my team of office-bearers – Manish, as an able
Vice-President, provided the vital back-end support throughout the year and
also acted as a wise sounding board for any new adventures or misadventures
that came to my mind. With Suhas ably handling the Treasury, I did not have to
worry about finance and accounts. Mihir was the go-to person for all
Information Technology-related initiatives and issues, whereas Abhay was the
strong support for the events, including the Committee meetings. I just cannot
thank them enough. Together, we could divide activities based on our strengths
and generate synergies which helped us achieve what we had dreamt of. If I have
to summarise my journey in a single sentence, it has to be this – the
journey of making new friends for a life-time!
Before
I hang up my boots, I would like to acknowledge the feedback provided by all of
you. Your constructive feedback has helped in evolving my persona. My best
wishes and congratulations to the new team at the BCAS; I would like to wish
Manish all the best for an illustrious year ahead. Having interacted with him
closely, I am fully confident that he will take the Society to even greater
heights during his tenure. It will be my pleasure to interact with you and be
of any service to all of you at any point of time. Abhar – Shukriya –
Thank you.
