Mangaluru Town Hall to be named after social reformer Kudmul Ranga Rao

[email protected] (CD Network )
July 30, 2016

Mangaluru, Jul 30: The Mangaluru City Corporation has resolved to name the Town Hall after social reformer late Kudmul Ranga Rao, who fought for the rights of depressed classes and strived for their welfare.

kudmol

The decision comes about six months after the renovation of the five decade old Town Hall of Mangaluru, which hosted thousands of political, social and cultural events in the past 50 years.

Who is KRR?

Kudmul Ranga Rao (29 June 1859 – 30 January 1928) was a social reformer from Kudmul, a village in the erstwhile Madras Presidency, (in the present-day Dakshina Kannada district) who established "Depressed Classes Mission" in 1897 in Mangaluru for providing education, better housing, drinking water and empowering the backward classes socially by guarding them against exploitation by upper classes.

He was born into a middle-class Goud Saraswat Brahmin community. His father, Devappayya, worked as a clerk under a landlord and his mother, Gauri, a housewife. Rangarao completed his primary education in Kasaragod, before losing his father when he was 16.

Moving to Mangaluru in search of a job, he began working as a teacher for a monthly salary of R 8. Completing his matriculation amid financial difficulties through a correspondence course, he cleared the pleadership examination, that certified him argue for a client in courts. Following this, he began his career as a lawyer in Mangaluru.

Rangarao as an advocate in profession was better known as 'the poor man's lawyer'. 'Education is the source of progress' was his tenet. At a time when the depressed classes had no schools, when they were treated with scorn, Rangarao stepped forward as a crusader for the cause. Albeit facing grave opposition, Kudmul Rangarao continued to combat the orthodox beliefs of the then superstitious Indian society.

Rangarao set up schools in Kankanadi, Bannanje, Mulki, Beloor, Udupi, Nejaru, Atthavara, Baabuguddde, Dhaddal forests for the downtrodden. He called them 'Panchama schools'. To persuade the kids to attend schools, he arranged for mid day meals and 2 paise per day to the parents to develop an interest and motivate the families to get their progeny to schools. It is said that he bathed the young kids, sat with them for lunch, slept in their huts to win over their hearts. He freed many servants and slaves from the clutches of demanding and barbarous masters. Despite being threatened myriad times, his grit and gusto could not be dampened.

By marrying off his own daughter, RadhaBai to Dr. Subrayan of Madras, he set an example of inter-caste marriage in India. Following his inspiration, M K Gandhi's son entered wedlock with Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari's daughter. Mahatma Gandhi had once said, "I discerned social loyalty from Mr. Rangarao. He is an inspiration and a guide for me. He is my teacher when it comes to the upliftment of the untouchables".

Comments

LEON F VIEGAS
 - 
Thursday, 8 Dec 2016

There are other citizens who have done lots for the mangalore city. what about them ? town hall is good name please dont change it.

LEON F VIEGAS
 - 
Thursday, 8 Dec 2016

i feel town hall is the good name.

Raghuraj.
 - 
Sunday, 7 Aug 2016

Thank u city corporation.

Raghuraj.
 - 
Sunday, 7 Aug 2016

Good work done by mangalore city corporation .i personally apriciating you all.thank u im also one of the devotee of shri kudmul ranga rao.

Sameer
 - 
Sunday, 31 Jul 2016

If thy decide to name is has Late APJ Abdul Kalam, then we could have seen the frustation here!

Mehul Kamdar
 - 
Saturday, 30 Jul 2016

Great people who worked for their fellow human beings deserve to be honored. Kudos to Mangaluru for renaming it's Town Hall in the memory of this great gentleman.

True commentator
 - 
Saturday, 30 Jul 2016

Why not. It can be named as KRR Town Hall.
Let us start discovering our old ancestors who fought for us.

Let this be a good beginning.
But we should name all those regardless from what community.

Narendra Nayak
 - 
Saturday, 30 Jul 2016

Kudmul Ranga Rao is a much sweeter name. I strongly support the belated decision of the Mangalore City Corporation authorities to the name the town hall after him. It is not a honor done to him- the honor is for the city to have a town hall named after this great man. He said the day a dalit boy becomes a DC and comes to my village in his car raising the dust, I will make a tilak of that on my forehead and consider my life's ambition as fulfilled.

Ahmed
 - 
Saturday, 30 Jul 2016

Town Hall is the sweet name please no need to change in to KRR.....

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News Network
February 24,2020

Hubli, Feb 24: Pro-Pakistan slogans were found written on the walls and doors of Higher Primary School in Budarsingi village here on Monday, said Raman Gouda Hatti, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), DCRB, Dharwad.

"The headmaster of the school noticed the slogans written on the walls and doors by chalk and he informed us. We will investigate the matter based on the complaint," said DSP Hatti.

The slogans were written in the Kannada language. Those behind the incident have not been identified so far.

The villagers staged a protest demanding action against those behind the act.

Congress leader HK Patil condemned the incident and asked for culprits to be identified and punished soon.

"Anti-social elements are involved in these acts. The government has failed to identify these people and punish them. The culprits behind this act need to be identified and punished. This incident is unfortunate and the intelligence department should work to stop these kinds of incidents," said Patil.

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News Network
May 20,2020

Mangaluru, May 20: Karnataka Government has banned fishing through mechanised and traditional boats using inboard or outboard engines of over 10 HP capacity using nets or other means, officials sources said on Wednesday.

As per the notification issued under the Karnataka Marine Fishing (Regulation) Act 1986, all fishing activities were banned from June One to July 31.

However, the ban is not applicable for fishing through traditional and country boats which use engines of less than 10 HP capacity, according to a release issued here on Wednesday.

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Media Release
March 8,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 8: The Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd., celebrated International Women’s Day with a special seminar on Financial Planning for the banks’ women customers. The programme was held on Friday, March 6, 2020 from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. at Hotel Ocean Pearl Inn, Bejai, Mangalore. Dr. Sukanya Rao, academician and financial planner, was the chief guest and resource person for the seminar. Mr. Srinivas C., Karnataka State Head, Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd., was the guest of honour.  Mrs. Vimala Anchan, Senior Manager and Branch Head of M. G. Road Branch of Saraswat Bank presided over the function.

In her chief guest’s address, Dr. Sukanya Rao defined empowerment of women as the ability of take one’s own decisions and utilize resources. Quoting global rankings, she said India enjoys a high ranking of being 9th in the world in political empowerment of women, whereas in other sectors we stand abysmally low. In social empowerment of women, India ranks at 120th, in economic empowerment at 124th and health and survival at 135th.

She suggested that the best tool for enhancing these empowerment rankings is education, which will lead to earning potential and result in enhancing social status. “Every year spent in school boosts girl’s wages by 10-20%,” she said “When a girl receives 7+ years of education, marriage gets postponed by four years and she has 2.2 less children.” She advised women to learn to take one’s own decisions. “Learn to take decisions, especially financial decisions, on your own instead of depending on significant others to do the decision making,” she said.

She followed up her talk with an interactive session on personal financial planning. She enlightened the audience on factors influencing our financial decision making and gave different perspectives on prioritizing savings, spending and investment. 

Srinivas C., Karnataka State Head, Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd., along with Deepak enlightened the women regarding financial safeguards available under Married Women's Property Act (1874).

Established in 1918, Saraswat Bank was the first co-operative bank to provide merchant banking services after it was recognized as a scheduled bank by RBI in 1988. The bank enjoys high proportion of women employees (nearly 75%) and it is a recipient of Best Cooperative Bank Award in 2016.

Fun games were conducted and prizes were distributed to the winners. Bhavanthi Street Branch Head Karthik Shetty welcomed the gathering. Prithvi Pai and Aishwarya rendered the invocation. Naina Shenoy expressed the bank’s Women’s Day greetings. Chilimbi Branch Head Kishore Shetty gave a vote of thanks. Mahesh Nayak compered the programme. Past Branch Head Mamtha Rao was present.

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