SENIOR CITIZEN DAY

The Rotary Club of Darjeeling felicitated 19 ex-servicemen on Sunday to mark World Senior Citizens Day.
The senior citizens aged between 70 and 85 years were presented with a token of appreciation to honour their selfless sacrifice to the nation and also to society at Hotel Sunflower.
"We want to honour the entire ex-servicemen families of the region through this event," said Samir Singhal, president, Rotary Club of Darjeeling.
Even though World Senior Citizens Day is celebrated on August 21, the club had to organise the same today due to reasons beyond its control.
Rotarian Dr Deepak Sharma talked about old age related health issues and also answered their queries.
Subedar (retd) DB Gurung while addressing the gathering said that ex-servicemen does not just mean a group a people who go to the borders and fight a war.
"Just within the Darjeeling municipality area we have 280 ex serviceman families. Our group also consists of Olympians and academicians," said Gurung.
Kishore Ratna Mani Rai, 70, who was felicitated by Rotary Darjeeling today has represented India in the Winter Olympics and Asian Games in the 1980s.
"Kishore Ratna Mani Rai represented India in skiing," said Gurung.
The ex-servicemen expressed their willingness to collaborate with Rotary Club of Darjeeling in various projects.
The RCD runs a free blood sugar and blood pressure screening camp at the Rotary Tower at Chowk Bazar, Darjeeling.
An ex-servicemen said that they too have an organisation that conducts free blood grouping among people and expressed his willingness to collaborate further with RCD.
The organisation has done blood grouping for more than 37,000 people in the region.
"Our club started this initiative to express our gratitude to senior citizens for their contribution towards society from last year," said Rtn Rajesh Chhetri, chairman of the Senior Citizen Day Programcommittee.