History of General Zorawar Singh Rifle Club

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.