ROTARY IN INDIA

Calcutta is the city from where Rotary in India began. R.J.Combes, convened the first meeting on 26th September 1919. But the new club was charted on 1st January 1920. All the 20 charter members were non- Indians! The first Indian member was S.C. Rudra who was inducted in 1921. A.F.M. Abdul Ali was first Indian to become a club president.

Rotary club of Lahore (now in Pakistan) was formed in 1927. Big Jim Davidson, "Marco Polo of Rotary " arrived Indian shores and he planted Rotary in Bombay (Mumbai) as well as Madras (Chennai) in 1929. Out of 38 charter members of the club 37 were non-Indians, the only Indian was Sir Phiroz Sethna.

In 1930 two clubs were formed - Etah & Meerut.

In 1933 Rotary Club was formed in Amritsar.

In 1934, Banglore had Rotary Club.

Ahmedabad, Baroda, Jamshedpur, Poona and Sholapur had Rotary in 1936. So Rotary club of Ahmedabad holds the distinction of 1st club in our district-3050.A self formed club.

The distinction of 2nd Club in our District goes to R.C.Bhuj, which was sponsored by Baroda in 1943. 3 Clubs in our district were formed in 1947 - Jaipur, Gwalior & Palanpur.

By the time India became independent, there were 71 Rotary Clubs, out of which 14 Clubs were in Gujarat (highest in India) Growth of Rotary in India was sluggish.

Growth in the second half of eighties(1985 to 1989) was significantly high.
Today in India there are 28 districts and aprox. 70,000 Rotarians (* as on 2004).