History of our RI District 3030 starts with the formation of Rotary Club of Nagpur, which was chartered on 13th December 1944. RCN was sponsored by Rotary Club of Jubbulpore (Jabalpur). That time there were only 6 Rotary Districts in India, and we were part of RI District 92. Mumbai, Pune, Northern Maharashtra , CP & Berar and Eastern part of Madhya Pradesh were part of this District. By 1950, 4 new clubs Akola, Nashik, Jalgaon, and Malegaon were added. From 1951 to 1980, as many as 15 new clubs viz. Achalpur, Akot, Amalner, Amravati, Amravati MidTown, Bhusawal, Chalisgaon, Chandrapur, Chopda, Deolali, Khamgaon, Manmad, Nagpur East, Nagpur South and Satana were chartered.

​​We were part of District 92 and gave 3 District Governors viz. P.S. Rau, C.B. Parakh and Edul C. Eduljee to RI District 92 . Later, we were made part of RID 314 and this continued till 1970. In that year RC of Nagpur and Nagpur East opted to be part of RID 315 which included Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha,and part of MP. VR (Bobby) Srinivas of Rotary Club of Nagpur was District Governor of this District in 1971-72. However, all other clubs in existence that time from our present District 3030 opted to continue as part of 314. In this period Late Shri Narayandas Bhatia, Dr Madhav Choudhari, and late Shri Purushottam Adawatkar, all from RC of Akola became District Governor 314 in 1970-71 and 73-74 and 80-81 respectively. Pride of our District late Edul C. Eduljee served as RI Director from 1973-75 and RI Treasurer in 74-75.

In 1981, all then existing clubs in today’s 3030 rejoined RID 314, of which clubs in Mumbai, Pune, Western Maharashtra, and Western MP were already part of. This continued till 1990 when this RID 314 was bifurcated and a new district 303 was born. Just after one year, i.e. in 1991-92, RI renamed all districts in the world adding 0, and thus 303 became 3030, 314 became 3140. Late Dr K.G. Paradkar was DG of 303 in 90-91, late Shri Nilu Choudhary was first Governor of RID 3030 in 91-92.

When our new District was carved out in 1990, we had just 30 clubs and a membership of less than 1800. Since then, the district added many clubs, lost a few and today we have 97 clubs and are ascending to the magic figure of 100 clubs with a membership of more than 5,100.

Since inception, our Rotary District covers 13 revenue Districts in Vidarbha and Northern Maharashtra. Nashik and Jalgaon districts stand out for club extension in those cities as well as in smaller towns. Unfortunately, as on date, we do not have a single Rotary Club in 3 revenue districts viz. Bhandara, Gondia, and Washim.

District Conference is an important feature of a Rotary year. While most of the 3030 District Conferences were held within the District, we also had 6 conferences organized outside boundaries of 3030, at Mahabaleshwar (2003), Goa (2008), Aurangabad (2010), Hyderabad (2013), Mumbai (2016), Indore (2019) and Shirdi (2020).

Ever since formation of 3030, we have been actively participating in programs under International Service such as International Youth Exchange, Rotary Friendship Exchange and Group Study Exchange till RI discontinued GSE program w.e.f. 2011-12. We have all along been in the forefront in Polio Eradication drives, be it in organizing summits year after year, undertaking Polio Rath Yatra in Centennial year, special camps in Malegaon which had maximum polio cases, besides all clubs sending teams of volunteers on NIDs to monitor vaccinations. This year, in Covid pandemic too, most of the clubs in the district are in the forefront to help treatment of patients and in implementing vaccination drives. Our clubs are also front runners in activities under TRF’s Seven areas of Focus.

Our District 3030 has contributed handsomely to The Rotary Foundation and our total givings since 1990 run into several Crore Rupees. We have One Arch Klumph Society member, Six named Endowment Funds of USD 25,000/each, 93 Level 1 Major Donors, 16 of Level 2 , 4 of Level 3 and 7 of Level 4 Major Donors to TRF in 3030. Our clubs have also successfully completed many many Matching and Global Grant projects worth Crores of Rupees so far. Activities under other avenues of service viz. Community, Vocational, Youth and Club are also enthusiastically taken up by our clubs over the years.

Our District is a nice mix of urban and semi urban/rural clubs.The 3 language formula of conducting club transactions in Marathi, Hindi and English is popular and prevalent in 3030. Our clubs by and large present a picture of ‘Unity in diversity’, with members showcasing talent and highlights of their culture and traditions. Till the year 2000, the average age of membership in 3030 was around 50. Thereafter, we have been successful in bringing in young members and the average membership age has gone down. Another happy feature is that we now have around 750 lady members i.e 15% of our membership. RID 3030 also has 130 Rotaract Clubs, 224 Interact Clubs and 359 RCCs. Nagpur happens to be the city to house practically 25% of Rotarians of 3030. Nashik city has 18 clubs , the maximum in 3030.

RID 3030 has 35 ‘Service Above Self Award’ recipients. We also have 9 ‘Distinguished Service Award’ winners. Both these are highly competitive awards and selections are made by RI & TRF.

Contributed by
PDG Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee
Centennial Governor, RID 3030