In District 3080

History of R.I. DISTRICT - 3080
By PP Shaju Peter with input from PDG Dr. Som N. Dhingra

Though Rotary came to India in 1919 with the first club formed in Calcutta, our region was organized into a Rotary District only in 1931 when a provisional District ‘A’ was established including India (undivided) Burma and Ceylon

This Provisional District 'A' continued till 1935 - 36 and with effect from July 1, 1936, Rotary Clubs in Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon and India (including present Pakistan) were regularly constituted into R.I. District No. 89 with Rtn. F. E. James, OBE as the District Governor who had earlier served as the Honorary Commissioner of Provisional District 'A'.

In September 1938, District 89 was divided into two Districts i.e. 88 and 89. District 88 covered areas of Burma and that portion of India which is comprised of Baluchistan, North-West Frontier Province, Punjab, Kashmir, Sind, Rajputana, Central Indian States, U.P., Bihar, Orissa, Bengal and Jabalpur district in Central Province. District 89 comprised the remaining portion of India and Ceylon. Till 1940, only Rotary Club of Dehradun was functioning from our present District.

In 1942, the two Districts 88 and 89 were again regrouped into four Districts and our present area remained with District 88. In 1949 - 50, regrouping was done and District was numbered as R.I. District 5. By now we had clubs at Ambala and Mussoorie.

However, in 1956 as the result of further redistricting, it was renumbered as R.I. District 310, comprising of Afghanistan, West Pakistan, Jammu & Kashmir, East Punjab, Delhi and old Vindhya Pradesh, comprising districts of Rewa, Sathna and Shahdol. From 1st July 1968, West Pakistan was taken away from this District and joined with other parts of Pakistan in District 305, 325. Along with this, Afghanistan was also declared as a non-district region, thus leaving the territory of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, old Vindhya Pradesh and Union Territory of Delhi as District 310. Rotary Clubs of Jagadhari, Karnal, Chandigarh, Panipat, Saharanpur, Hardwar of our District were added till then.

From 1st July 1970 the District was bifurcated into 310 and 311 and we were left with 40 clubs within the States of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh. Delhi, Revenue districts (Government) of Dehradun, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Moradabad and Bulandshahr in U.P. Later on, two hill districts of Uttar Pradesh, namely, Tehri-Garhwal and Pauri-Garhwal, were added to District 310.

During the first year of the bifurcation of the District in 1970, 16 new clubs were added to District310 and the additions continued till the strength of the District increased to 106 with the year ending June 1977, when the District was divided into District 310. District 310 had the following area with 57 clubs :-

Haryana, excepting the districts of Hissar, Bhiwani, Mohindergardh, Rohtak and Gurgaon, Uttar Pradesh including the districts of Dehradun, Saharanpur, Muzaffernagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Moradabad and Bulandshahr, Pauri - Garhwal and Tehri Garhwal, districts of Simla, Sirmur and Solan in Himachal Pradesh, Union Territory of Delhi that portion north of Rohtak Road, New Rohtak Road, Rani Jhansi Road, Desh Bandhu Gupta Marg, Asaf Ali Road and Power Hose Road and its extension due east.

In 1984, District 309 and District 310 were regrouped and five new Districts, 1.e. 301, 307, 308, 309 and 310 were carved out. District 308 was left with 49 clubs as on 1.7.1984.

Since then Rotary has been progressing in this area, having Union Territory of Chandigarh, part of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Presently we are 72 clubs in the District.

Our District 3080 (then known as District 310) has the distribution of starting Joint Rotary Project of Cancer Foundation Hospital which was conceived during the year 1970 - 71 when Dr. Som Dhingra was the District Governor. The major part of this multi-crore project has now been completed with the start of OPD Section, Cobalt Radiation and other facilities for which Rotarians of five Districts, viz. 3010, 3070, 3080, 3090 and 3100 have contributed to more than Rs. 60 lakhs and the balance has been provided by the Government. Immunization programmes under Polio Plus , Eye Camps, tree plantation etc. are organized every year by the various clubs. Many of our Past District Governors have been honored by R.I. with citations and appointments at various R.I. levels.

From the Rotary Year 1991 - 92 zero was added to all the R.I. Districts in the world and our District became 3080 without any change in boundaries. The year brought laurel to our District when our Raja Saboo took over as President of the Rotary International. He served the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International as its chairman during Rotary Year 1996 - 97.