History of our Club RC Manipal
Club ID – 157601
Club Charter:
It was Past R.I. Director and PDG of our club Late Rtn. T Ramesh U. Pai who was instrumental in starting our club on 26-08-1958. We were sponsored by R.C. Mangalore with the patronage of Rtn. V.S. Kudva (of CPC Transports). There were no Rotary clubs around here. Our club was known as RC Udupi then (As Manipal was little known then in 1958. It was just a barren hill). The growth of our club was entwined with the growth of Manipal.
Charter President:
Padmashree Awardee PDG Rtn. Dr.T.M.A.Pai was our charter President with 28 members, mostly from Udupi. PDG Rtn.T Ramesh U Pai was the secretary, Rtn. K.R.K.Bhat the 2nd President of our club was a Rotarian at Madras (Chennai) while working in LIC, So he was there to guide our club in the Initial stages. Our charter member Dr. A. Krishna Rao Ex-Dean of KMC was the longest living member. He passed away in 2020 at 96. PDG Rtn Dr H Shantharam joined our club in 1963 and is with us at the age of 94 guiding us.
Change of Names of our Club:
As Manipal grew there were many members from Manipal with meetings being held alternatively in Manipal and Udupi and so we changed our name to RC Udupi Manipal in 1980 and in 2020 we changed our name to RC Manipal.
| Year |
Name |
RI District |
| 1958 |
RC Udupi |
315 |
| 1982 |
RC Udupi Manipal |
318 |
| 2020 |
RC Manipal |
3182 |
Change of Districts we belong to:
| Year |
RI District |
Comprising parts of |
| 1958 |
315 |
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka |
| 1959 |
317 |
Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka |
| 1970 |
318 |
Karnataka |
| 1991 |
3180 |
8 Revenue Districts of Karnataka (Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu,Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Udupi) |
| 2016 |
3182 |
4 Revenue Districts (Udupi, Shimoga, Hassan, Chikmagalur) |
Change of Venue for meeting:
To begin with in the early 1960 our club met at La Shangrila Gardens
1.La Shangrila Gardens: It is the place where the Union Bank now stands at Manipal. Rtn R.S.Kini ran the hotel La Shangrila and supplied food at Rs. 0.50paise per plate. Meetings were also held at homes. Later meetings were held alternatively in Udupi at MICE building next to building Kalpana theater and at La Shangrila Gardens.
2.Valley View International Hotel : When the Hotel was built in the 1967 we shifted our meetings there. As everything in Manipal was under control of our members PDG DR.T.M.A PAI and PDG T Ramesh U. Pai, we had no worry over our locations for our meetings.
3. Later between 2008 to 2013 we had a hall in Valley View called TMA Pai Rotary Hall by donating 5 lakhs to Valley view to hold our meetings which was stopped after 2013.
4. In 2008 on our Golden jubilee year we built a building in the land of co-operative society Manipal at the cost of 30 lakhs and have been holding meetings there since 2013. It is given to us free of cost once a week for use.
Of course now with covid it seems like we don’t need a place to meet !!!
Clubs Sponsored:
We have sponsored 6 Rotary clubs.
| Sl. No. |
Club |
Charter Date |
President during the year of sponsoring |
| 1 |
RC Coondapur |
30-04-1960 |
Rtn. K.R.K. Bhat |
| 2 |
RC Karkala |
09-03-1964 |
PRID PDG T. Ramesh U Pai |
| 3 |
RC Shirva |
16-03-1971 |
Rtn P.S. Acharya |
| 4 |
RC Udupi
(Was RC Udupi Westto start with, but changed names in 1994 to RC Udupi)
|
07-10-1978 |
Rtn Dr.K.S.Bhat |
| 5 |
RC Nitte |
12-01-1988 |
Rtn C.V. Venkatachalam |
| 6 |
RC Manipal Hills |
19-03-1996 |
Rtn K.S.N Rao |
Rotary District Governors from our club:
We have given 5 Rotary District Governors and 1 more on the way.
Dr. H. J Gowri will be the First Lady Governor in 2022-23 for RI District 3182.
| Sl. No. |
Name |
Year |
RI District |
| 1 |
Padmashree Awardee PDG Dr.T.M.A.Pai |
1964-65 |
317 |
| 2 |
PRID, PDG T.Ramesh U Pai |
1970-71 |
318 |
| 3 |
PDG Prof V. Chandrashekar |
1978-79 |
318 |
| 4 |
PDG.DR.H.Shantharam |
1984-85 |
318 |
| 5 |
PDG.Prof.I Narayan |
2002-03 |
3180 |
| 6 |
DGE Dr H J Gowri |
2022-23 |
3182 |
Rotary International Director:
We are proud PDG T Ramesh U Pai was elected RI Director in 1992-94. Usually RI directors were selected from areas like Bangalore, but for the first time Rotarian PRID, PDG T Ramesh U Pai was elected as RI director from a remote club like Manipal. Dr H Shantharam did a lot of canvasing for him. The Rotary Institute was conducted in Manipal in 1992.
Lady Members:
Our first Lady members, 5 of them joined in 1990, just a year after women were allowed into Rotary in 1989 , they were
1. Dr.Kuntal Rao (OBG)
2. Dr.Mitha Prasanna (Surgery)
3. Dr.Kamalamma (Dental)
4. Dr.Uma (Bio Chemistry)
5. Dr. Nalini Venugopal (Pathology)
Rtn. Indira Rao was our first lady President in 2003 – 2004. She was a teacher by profession and joined the club in 1991.
Rotaract Clubs:
We have 8 Rotaract Clubs.
| Sl. No |
Name |
Charter Date |
| 1 |
Rotaract Manipal |
03-12-1968 |
| 2 |
Rotaract Sagri |
18-02-1987 |
| 3 |
Rotaract MAHE |
19-12-2018 (Re certified from 2002) |
| 4 |
Rotaract TMA Pai Polytechnic |
18-12- 2006 |
| 5 |
Rotaract Muniyal Ayurveda college |
01-11-2017 |
| 6 |
Rotaract Nethrajyothi College of Optometry and Paramedical science Udupi |
17-11-2017 |
| 7 |
Rotaract SDM College Udyavara |
18-03-2020 |
| 8 |
Rotaract Manipal central |
14-09-2020 |
Interact Clubs:
We have 8 interact clubs as well.
| Sl. No |
Name |
Charter Date |
| 1 |
Manipal PreUniversity College School section (MPUC) |
18-03-1968 |
| 2 |
Christ School |
19-12-2013 |
| 3 |
Interact HVHS Kudi High school |
13-08-2019 |
| 4 |
Govt P U college High school (Board High school ) |
30-09-2019 |
| 5 |
Govt Girls Pre University High School Section (GGPU High school) |
13-12-2019 |
| 6 |
Govt Girls P U college College section (GGPU College) |
13-12-2019 |
| 7 |
Govt High school Malpe |
23-03-2021 |
| 8 |
Interact Club of MPUC College section |
18- 11 2021 |
Snippets of projects along the years:
1. The first Dental Chair was a Rotary Project in 1965, which saw the beginning of a Dental College at Manipal.
2. The first matching grant was a van to carry mentally challenged children to the college of education (Matching grants started in 1987).
3. Matching grants for cataract surgery and equipment’s to KMC under ‘operation eye sight universal’ giving eyesight to thousands through the hands of our member Rtn.Dr.P Srinivas Rao.
4. The club initiated a project to adopt a village ‘Pernankila’, helping build roads, Health center and Veterinary hospital. It got “significant achievement award” for this from Rotary International. We again got the prestigious award for adopting a Tribal village near Brahmavar.
5. Genexpert machine to diagnose T B at Udupi Govt. Hospital at a cost of 25Laks in 2015. Under late Rtn.H.N.S. Rao’s guidance we were able to get many global grants – Rtn. H.N.S. Rao was an encyctopedia in TRF and Global grants.
6. LN4 Camps – providing hand prosthesis to 330 beneficiaries in 2020.
7. Donated three Dialysis machine to T.M.A Pai Hospital Karkala - 2021
8. A building to conduct Programmes for entrepreneurs – 2021 PPRMCSE – Poornaprajna Rotary Manipal Centre for Social Empowerment
9. Donating more than 100 swing machine over the years.
10. Free Jaipur Foot Camp - Providing Jaipur foot to 350 beneficiaries in 2022
Interesting History:
1. PRID PDG TRamesh U PAI in 1957 saw the Rotary News at the waiting room of Rtn. V.S. Kudva at Mangalore and thats how the idea struck him to start a Rotary club in Manipal.
2. The first district conferencewas held in 1964 with DR.T.M.A Pai as governor. Manipal had no halls and whole of Manipal may have had only 20 cars. A big pandal was built in the KMC Greens and there was an unseasonal rain in 6 December 1964 and the whole Pandal was destroyed. – But overnight the Rotarians & people of Manipal set it up again in a heartwarming& hair raising spirit.
3. If you find plaques with name RC Udupi before 1982,It means our club RC Manipal, as we changed names after that.
4. Dr.Padma Rao , Mrs. Lilly M Pai, Mrs. Manorama Acharya were some of the early Annes that brought life into Rotary , coaching the annetes and Johns to perform on stage.
5. With no hotels in Manipal in early 1960’s guests of the District Conference stayed at homes of Rotarians and we annettes got new dresses and our homes were spruced up with new curtains.
Thus we have a great history, with great minds, heading our club and steering it. We shall continue keep our club alive and healthy with friendship and good vibes, paving the way for good deeds in Society.
Compiled By
Rtn Dr Girija Rao A