Round Table India

The Round Table is internationally a friendship organisation, founded in Norwich, England in 1927. The Round Table is a club for young men aged between 18 and 40 (45 in the United Kingdom, Ireland) and United Arab Emirates that provides a selection of social and community service related opportunities for its members. Its aim is to promote service, fellowship and goodwill in national and international affairs. The Round Table movement came to India in 1957 with the formation of Madras Round Table No. 1 on November 14 1962 with a membership of 100. Over the last 4 decades it has grown to become a 2500 member strong association.

Round Table India believes in Community Service through the Fellowship of its members. Members come from all parts of the community and from differing professions.

History

The name "Round Table" is drawn from a speech made to the British Industries Fair in 1927 by the then Prince of Wales — 'The young business and professional men of this country must get together round the table, "adopt" methods that have proved so sound in the past, "adapt" them to the changing needs of the times and wherever possible, "improve" them'. The phrase "adopt, adapt, improve" is a key facet of the organisation, and is often seen on Round Table literature and regalia. The design of the Round Table emblem is an adaptation of the table which hangs in the Great Hall in Winchester. Although this is claimed to be the Round Table of the mythical court of King Arthur, it is in fact a representation which was made in the 13th century. The Arthurian concept that all members are equal around the Round Table is one of the guiding principles in this organisation.

The founder, Louis Marchesi, was a young member of Norwich Rotary Club who felt a need existed for a club where the young business men of the town could gather on a regular basis. At their meetings they could exchange ideas, learn from the experiences of their colleagues and play a collective part in the civic life of Norwich. Within a year of inception the membership of this Round Table had grown to 85 and interest was being shown in establishing Round Tables elsewhere. A second Round Table was established in Portsmouth and subsequent growth was rapid, with 125 Tables and a membership of 4,600 by 1939 . Round Table proved it had international appeal with the first overseas Table formed in Copenhagen in 1936.

After 1945 the pattern of growth was rapidly re-established with Tables being 'chartered' all over the UK. Today there are about 900 Tables with a membership of around 10,000. Round Table now flourishes in the majority of European countries, throughout Africa, the Middle East, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand and America. Over the recent few years it has expanded in Asia with new clubs being formed in Colombo, Nepal, Russia, Bangladesh and Singapore. From a very early stage it was agreed that Round Table would be a non-political, non-religious, and non-sectarian club and this has continued to the current day.

The focal point of Round Table is its regular meetings. Normally, most Tables meet twice a month, usually in the evening and often with a meal and sometimes with family. The regular meeting is the forum for speakers and many other forms of activity and entertainment. Visitors and potential members are always made particularly welcome as Round Table provides an ideal opportunity to establish new friendships. Another opportunity of the Round Table, rarely acknowledged by its members, is that it allows its members to socialize and form lasting friendships.

There are more than 180 Tables (clubs of Round Table India) located in 72 cities and towns, comprising of businessmen, entrepreneurs, technocrats and professionals. Men who can rise above personal concerns to seek and serve the larger needs of the community. On the administration front, Round Table India has a 25 member National Board, which guides the affairs of the association. Round Table India is divided into 10 Areas, which have their own Area Board to administer them.

The National Secretariat, the hub of all activities of Round Table India, is located at Chennai. The "Round Table India Foundation" provides financial support every year for projects done by Tables. The Corpus of the Foundation is close to Rs.20 Million now. The wives of Tablers have their own National Association called "Ladies Circle India". Ladies Circle India is assisting every activity of Round Table India, apart from having their own service projects. Ladies Circle India is also a part of Ladies Circle International, an International consortium of Clubs similar to Round Table. The Past Tablers of Round Table India have formed the "41 Clubs of India". This National Association of Past Tablers provides a lot of support to our service activity. Round Table India is a member of "Round Table International" and also of the World Council of Service Clubs "(WOCO)".

Community Service Projects

Round Table is frequently associated with its charitable fund raising activities and community service projects. Service Through Fellowship is the lifeline of Round Table India. It is through the fellowship of young men that this organisation has served the community for the last 40 years.

Round Table India started its efforts in helping the community with small projects directed towards service. Over the years, we have grown from strength to strength and today we are building big projects and have moved over from community service to community development. The concept of National Project for Round Table India was introduced in 1992.

Blood Typing, the National Project for the year 1992 enlisted over 30000 Blood Donors across the country. Operation Thirst in 1993 was the first Community Development Project to provide drinking water source to village people by sinking over 500 borewells at a cost of over Rs.10 Million. AIDS being the killer disease, its awareness was promoted by Round Table India in the year 1994. Project SMILE, providing dental hygiene for rural children by conducting several dental camps benefiting about 300,000 children in the year 1995. In 1996, "Right to Learn" the National Project to provide school infrastructure was very successful and over 140 school buildings were constructed at a cost of over Rs.70 Million, benefiting 200,000 rural children across the country. In 1997, Round Table India launched "Project Touch" and we adopted 2000 orphan children in association with SOS Children's village at a cost of Rs.1.5 Million.

Keeping the millions of underprivileged children in India in mind, Round Table India declared the Long Term National Project as "Freedom through Education". We believe that true freedom for an individual comes only through education. Several initiatives under this National Project "Freedom through Education" like Building Programme for Primary Schools, providing infrastructure, provision of educational accessories, Health Care, Vocational and Individual Child Related Programmes in schools adopted by Tables across the country have been undertaken.

In the last 5 years, Round Tables in India have really put in a lot of effort to provide infrastructure in schools. Over 505 projects at a cost of over Rs.420 Million have been completed during this period.

During the Earthquake in Latur in 1993, Tablers of Round Table India moved Relief Material within 24 hours to the earthquake hit villages, with construction of a Community Welfare Centre in Latur as a relief measure. Round Table India also worked very hard in Orissa during the Cyclone Relief Work in 1999-2000. "Operation Sadhbhavana" saw the construction of 4 Schools at a cost of Rs.2 Million directly by the Tables in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Round Table India also tied up with NOVIB of Netherlands and Centre for Youth Social Development to construct 15 schools at a cost of Rs.13 Million all over Orissa.

The recent Gujarat Earthquake was another moment, when Round Table India was present in full strength to support the victims of the earthquake. Materials were moved to Gujarat from all over India to help with immediate relief. Over Rs.24 Million was spent towards construction of 20 school buildings in Kutch and Surendarnagar Districts of Gujarat.

Round Table India released Braille Dictionaries in Tamil and Marathi languages and distributed the same to several blind institutions.

The Tsunami disaster that struck the coasts of India saw members of Round Table India step in with immediate rehabilitation for the fisherpeople, as well as reconstruction efforts.

ee also

*Round Table (club)

External links

* [http://www.roundtableindia.org Round Table India]
* [http://roundtableindia.wordpress.com Round Table India Blog]
* [http://www.freedomthrougheducation.org Freedom Through Education of Round Table India]
* [http://www.roundtable.name Round Table International]
* [http://www.woco.info World Council of Service Clubs]
* [http://www.ladiescircleindia.org Ladies Circle India]
* [http://www.roundtable.co.uk Round Tables of Britain & Ireland]