Born on 25-07-1937 in a Village called Dudihalli, near Hirekerur of the then Dharwar District of Bombay Presidency to Sri. Thimmappa Badukappa Gundagatti, a civil contractor, quarry owner and a landlord.
He was the first person to pass SSLC in his family and also a Graduate;
He had flair for sanskrit language and a Master in English and Kannada;
He was a big debater of his school days and college time, a poet and contributed articles to news papers and magazines as student;
Milestones:
- He was the first and only scholar in sanskrit from Bhovi community and rendered commentories on Bhagavadgeetha and Upanishads and believer of Aroodha parampara of Siddharoodha of Hubli and follower of Sri.Guru Muppinaryar of Airani Holematt, Ranebennur, Haveri Dist;
- He was the first non brahmin to secure first rank in sanskrit language in SSLC exam of Bombay SSC Board Exam in the year 1955 and topper to Hirekerur Taluka;
- He was the Second Graduate from Mumbai Karnataka region from our Community, next to Sri.K.S.Bilgi, Ex-Minister of Govt. of Karnataka;
- He is the perhaps the first Kannada Writer, Poet of modern times from our Bhovi Community;
- Though he secured 8th Rank in Mysore PSC Exams, but was deprived from Class I post, despite the fact that Sri. V.Hanumanthappa, IAS.,( a member of PSC belonged to bhovi community) was in the board of selection.{ Sri. V.Hanumanthappa expressed his regrets that if he had given good marks in the interview he would have been alleged of favouritism- now seeing the Scams in KPSC, you can understand the values of those time people at apex)
-Subsequently, he secured Second Rank in Mysore PSC Exams and became the Block Development Officer in the year 1972, before which he was Social Education Organiser and was among the only 6 candidates selected to this posts by the Govt. of India from Karnataka in the Year 1961;
-Though he got promotion on merit superseding First Rank holder Sri.Kenchappa and got promotion to the rank of Asst.Development Commissioner in the Year 1979, and supposed to elevated to the cadre of IAS in the year 1988, which he never got. But soon after his retirement ( year 1995) his juniors Sri.Kenchappa and Sri.Dasharath ( who were promoted to the cadre of Asst.DC in the Year 1983 or 84) were conferred with the IAS cadre remains as a shameful / black remark in the history of his department RDPR;
-He studied B.A in the year 1959 and was awarded with cash prize of Rs.400 from the University ( worth of 20 grams gold or Rs.50,000/- today),B.Com in the year 1960, and M.A(Philosophy -1961)from Karnataka University, and associated with Jnanapeeth Awardees Sri.Girish Karnad and Sri.Chandrashekar Kambar and Kannada Bandaya Icon Sri. Chandrashekar Patil are contemporary alumni of Karnataka University. Shri. SharanaBasappa Appagal of Gulbarga was his classmate while studying M.A.Philosophy. He has also studied B.Ed in the University of Mysore at National College of Education, Shimoga in the year 1967, during which he married to Smt. Jayarathnamma daughter of Sri.Sathali Hanumabhovi, landlord of Vaddara Ramenahalli of Channagiri, the then Shimoga District.
-He was associated with Sri.B.D.Jatti, President / Vice President of India, Sri.V.K.Gokak,another Jnanapeeth Awardee, Sri. H.L.Nagegowda of Janapadaloka, Patila Puttappa of Prapancha, Simpilinganna of Chadachan, Madhurachanna , Mahadeva Banakar, Basavaraja Kattimani and many other writers, novelists of Kannada. Sri.S.L.Bhyrappa, Novelist was his tutor while studying M.A.Philosophy;
-He was very sincere officer and a bold officer free from any kind of fear and he was very open minded and also in his attitude and expressions and had left his own impressions in the history of Karnataka Public Service as many of his senior I.A.S Officers and the subordinates worked under him use to remember him after his retirement from the services of Govt of Karnataka in the year 1995.
-Sri. Devaraj Urs, Chief Minister of Karnataka had special commendations to him for his achievements as Block Development Officer.
-After coming to the core of Sri.V.Hanumanthappa, he persuaded Sri.V.Hanumanthappa to organise our community and he became the mentor and convenor of Karnataka Bhovi Welfare Association in the year 1970. Sri.V.Hanumanthappa was very much reserved in his views to organise himself on the lines of caste, instead he wanted to enfold with the activities of Basava Samithi, headed by Sri.B.D.Jatti. However, Sri.T.T.Gundagatti organised Vaddar Welfare Committee from Ranebennur and motivated Sri.Govinda Vodeyaraj, MLA from Kamalapura, Gulbarga, Sri.Gurappa Sudi from Wadi-Shahabad, Sri.V.Nagappa, MLA from Bellary, and with the help of these icons of Bhovi community he requested Sri.K.S.Bilgi, Advocate( first ever from bhovi Community) to head the committe and this committee persuaded Sri.Munichinnappa, MLA from Bangalore, Sri.Peeranna MLA from Heggadadevana Kote,Mysore, and Sri.Manjari Hanumanthappa Leader from Chitradurga to organise Vaddars of North Karnataka and Bhovis of South Karnataka under one banner. Only after persuasions and a okay from Sri.B.D.Jatti Sri.V.Hanumanthappa agreed to head Karnataka Bhovi Wadder Association from Bangalore. Later Sri.G.Y.Krishnan and Sri.G.Basavanyappa joined the hands in this effort. Sri.D.K.Naiker helped this committee to get a land for the activities of Karnataka Bhovi Waddar Association. Sri.Devaraja Urs, the then Chief Minister advised to change the name of association as Karnataka Bhovi Welfare association and also awarded land near Millers tank bund.
-After organising the vadders and bhovis under one banner later he took the task of bringing the vadders to the fold of Scheduled Castes as Vadders were grouped Backward Tribes in the part of North Karnataka.This was a laborious and hilarious task, as then a Minister Sri.Basavalingappa, was against to include Bhovis in Scheduled caste, forget wadders. In this regard he camped in Delhi for three months (year 1978) to give evidence and required documents and he also had personal meetings with the then Prime Minister Sri.Morarji Desai . Having regard to the importance of the issue and at the behest of Sri. D.K.Naikar, Sri.Ebrahim Sanadhi and Sri.H.K.Patil, later Sri.G.Y.Krishnan and Sri.V.Hanumanthappa took the baton and finally they succeeded in their effort. In this regard Sri.L.G.Havanur influenced his good offices also. It is unfortunate to record here that after laying a solid foundation to the organisation KBWA intelligently brushed him aside.
-Though a public servant he had keen interest in Politics and Associated with Sri. Morarji Desai,Sri.Devaraja Urs, Ramakrishna Hegde, J.H.Patel and others. He was associated with all most all leading politicians , MLAs of North Karnataka and he has been instrumental in identification of suitable new and deserving candidates to Assembly and parliamentary constituencies. Sri. Ebrahim Sanadi, MP from Dharwar was his classmate. Sri.D.K.Naikar, Sri.Dinakara Desai, Sri.H.K.Patil, Sri.G.Y.Krishnan were in this think tank association. Therefore, he was an instrumental in formation of Janatha Kranthi Ranga Govt in the Year 1983, and Sri.G.Basavanyappa First time from Bhovi Community became a Cabinet Minister, thus later many MLAs from our community could become ministers and the community came to limelight in the Politics of Karnataka. He believed without proper and adequate representation in the arena of Politics and Public Administration no community can come up and exhibit its identity.
-It is a real loss to humanity and particularly to Bhovi Community"
No comments:
Post a Comment