Mr Rajesh R Shah from the Jain community was appointed as the new President at the IRO Annual General Meeting held on 29 August 2021.
Mr Rajesh has been a life member of the IRO since 2006 when the Jain faith joined IRO as the the 10th constituent religion. He was nominated as an IRO Council Member in 2017 and served in various capacities on the Council, namely Asst Treasurer 2018-19, Asst Secretary 2019-20, and Vice President 2020-21. He has also been involved in the Digital Initiative sub-committee since 2019 and has been part of the organising committee for IRO’s 70th Anniversary Celebrations in 2019.
Mr Rajesh has been involved in Interfaith work since young. His journey started as a Youth Member of the Singapore Jain Religious Society (SJRS) in the 1980s and as a Management Committee Member from 1992 to the present. He held various posts and was President of SJRS for two terms, 2015-16 and 2016-17. In 2015, under his stewardship, SJRS celebrated SG50 with its Chinese and Muslim neighbours.
As the President for IRO for the office term 2021-2022, Mr Rajesh plans to continue the momentum of past initiatives and programs set in motion by previous Presidents while putting into action new initiatives that will carry IRO forward for the next many years.