History

 

National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) was founded in 1951 with a view to promote and popularize the shooting sports in India. The first speaker of Lok Sabha,Sh. G.V.Mavlankar was the founder and the first president of NRAI followed by Sh.Govind Vallabh Pant, Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sh. Y. B. Chauhan, Sh.G.S. Dhillon, Sh. Joginder Singh, and so on and so forth. Presently the president of NRAI is Shri. Raninder Singh, a very keen and skilled shooter from Patiala Royal Family.  

Shooting (Hunting) in medieval times originated as a means of survival, as it was practiced to hunt animals and birds to supplement food requirement.  As a result of Industrial Revolution and increased agricultural output, hunting for food became less necessary.  However, affluent people continued to hunt as part of recreation.  To preserve Wild Life and put an end to indiscriminate poaching, the Government has almost banned hunting.  Some of these people took to target shooting as a sport. 

Shooting has a varied history in Indian Sport and Society, ranging it from being a sport for Royalty in the past; it is now a major competitive sport among the masses.

This sport is extremely popular all over the World. 

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) was formed on 17th April 1951 with the aim of development of Shooting Sport in India and to impart training to civilian for self –defense.

Shri G.V. Mavlankar was its founder President who was also the first Speaker of Lok Sabha.  He was a great visionary and with his untiring efforts and matchless zeal the Association grew from strength to strength.  Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru called him “Father of the Lok Sabha” so he was also the Father of Shooting Sport in India.  The NRAI has the honor of having Shri Govind Ballabh Pant, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, former Primer Minister, Shri Y.B.Chauhan, Home Minister, Shri G.S. Dhillon, Speaker Lok Sabha, Shri Joginder Singh, former Governor of Rajasthan its Presidents, Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi and Kumar Surendra Singh.

The Lok Sabha in 1953 passed a resolution and entrusted NRAI to impart training through its rifle association all over India.

ROLL OF PRESIDENTS

ROLL OF PRESIDENTS

SNO

NAME

FROM

TO

1.

Sh. G.V. Mavlankar

17.04.51

11.03.56

2.

Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant

21.05.56

06.03.60

3.

Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastri

08.05.61

10.01.66

4.

Sh. Y.B. Chavan

15.05.67

18.08.70

5.

Sh. M.K. Kaul

18.08.70

29.12.71

6.

Dr. G.S. Dhillon

30.12.71

02.09.74

7.

Dr. Jogendra Singh

06.12.74

16.02.79

8.

Shri Sajjan Singh Sethi

16.02.79

01.06.85

9.

Kumar Surendra Singh

02.06.85

12.01.99

10.

Sh. Digvijay Singh

18.03.99

24.6.2010

11.

Sh.  Raninder  Singh

29.12.2010

ROLL OF SECRETARY GENERALS

ROLL OF SECRETARY GENERALS

S NO

NAME

FROM

TO

1

Sh. K.G.  Prabhu

17.04.1951

08.09.1959

2

Sh. Jogendra Singh

09.09.1959

08.09.1971

3

Sh. Sajjan Singh Sethi

30.12.1971

17.08.1972

4

Tikka Jagjit Singh Bedi

18.08.1972

29.08.1973

5

Sh. Hardev Singh Kandhari

29.08.1973

21.12.1979

6

Sh. Avtar Singh Sethi

22.12.1979

01.06.1985

7

Sh. Baljit Singh Sethi

02.06.1985

09.01.2010

8

SH. DV Seetharama Rao

06.04.2013

18.09.2021

9

K Sultan Singh

18.09.2021


ROLL OF SECRETARIES

ROLL OF SECRETARIES 

S NO

NAME

FROM

TO

1.

Capt. S.J. Dighe

01.02.1959

31.05.1967

2.

Maj. J.S. Randhawa

01.06.1967

15.10.1974

3.

Sh. M. Banerjee

16.10.1974

31.08.1975

4.

Col. Jaswant Singh

01.09.1975

21.06.1983

5.

Sh. Sangat Singh

22.06.1983

31.12.1986

6.

Sh. Rajiv Bhatia

01.01.1987

1st Indian Shooting

1.  1st Presidentof National Rifle Association of India – Shri G V Mavlankar

2.  1
st Secretary General of National Rifle Association of India – Shri K G Prabhu

3.  1
st National Shooting Championship Competitions – At Delhi in 1952

4.  1
st All India G V Mavlankar Shooting Championship – At Ahmedabad during 1991.

5.  1
st Inter School Shooting Championship – At  Haridwar in 1997

6.  1
st Team was sent abroad during the year 1951 to Bisley, England

7.  1
st Participation in Olympic Games – in XV Olympics 1952 at Helsinki (Finland) by Dr. Harihar Banerjee in Free Rifle 3 position and Prone position events. 

8.  1
st Participation in World Championship – 1952 at Oslo

9.  1
st Participation in Asian Games  - in 1962 Jakarta, Indonesia

10. 1
st Participationin Commonwealth Games  - in 1978 at Edmonton 

11. 1
st Participationin SAF Games – 1991 Colombo, Sri Lanka

12. 1
st Participationin World Cup – 1995 Nicosia, Cyprus

13. 1
st Medalin World Championship – In 1962 by H H Dr. Karni Singhji at Cairo, Egypt

14. 1
st Medalin Asian Games – In  1974 Silver medal by H.H. Maharaja Dr. Karni Singhjiat VII Asian Games, Tehran (Iran) in Trap event

15. 1
st Medalin Commonwealth Games – in 1982 team Silver and Bronze medal in Centre Fire Pistol (Ashok Pandit & Mohinder Lal) and Rapid Fire Pistol (Sharad Chauhan& R K Vij) event 

16. 1
st Medalin World Cup- in 1997 - Bronze Medal by Mansher Singh in Trap event at NewDelhi.

17. 1
st GoldMedal in Junior Men Category in World Championship – 1994 by Jaspal Rana at Milan in Standard Pistol event.

18. 1
st Medalin Junior Women in World Championship – A Bronze in 2002 by Raj Kumari in Sport Rifle Prone 

19. 1
st Gold Medal in Senior Category during World Championship – Abhinav Bindra in AirRifle Men during 2006 at Zagreb

20. 1
st Medal in Olympic Games – in 2004 Silver medal by Major R V S Rathore at Athens Olympic Games in Double Trap event

21. 1
st Gold Medal in Asian Games – in 1978 by Mr. Randhir Singh at Bangkok in Trap event

22. 1
st Gold Medal in Commonwealth Games - in 1990 by Ashok Pandit at Auckland, New Zealandin Centre Fire Pistol event.

23. 1
st Gold Medal in World Cup – in 2003 Anjali Bhagwat at World Cup, Atlanta in Air Rifle Women

24. 1
st Olympic Finalist – Anjali Bhagwat 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Air Rifle 

25. 1
st Champion of Champions – 2003 Milan Anjali Bhagwat Air Rifle Women

26. 1
st Arjuna Awardee – H H Maharaja Dr. Karni Singh ji in 1961

27. 1
st Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee -  Mr. Abhinav Bindra in 2001

28. 1
st Padmshree– Shri Jaspal Rana in 2001

29. 1
st Dronacharya Awardee – Prof. Sunny Thomas in 2001

30. 1
st shooter ranked as number 1 in World – Anjali Bhagwat in Air Rifle in the year 2002.

31. 1
st shooter to get earns “Quota Place” for Olympic Games – Mansher Singh during Asian Shooting Championship at Jakarta in 1995 for Atlanta Olympic Games 1996.
32. 1st Gold Medal in Olympic Games Abhinav Bindra in 2008 at Beijing Olympic Games.
33. 1st  Olympic Games Jury-2020 Tokyo Olympic Games-Shri Pawan Singh