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
March 14,2020

Udupi, Mar 14: Amidst growing Coronavirus scare, a youth with suspected Coronavirus symptoms was admitted to Udupi District Hospital here, District Health and Family Welfare Officer Sudhir Chandrachud said.

According to him, A 37-year-old youth, a native of Shirwa, who works in a Japanese ship and was onboard a Japanese vessel that was recently blocked due to the coronavirus. However, he was left out on its way to Dubai, where he was diagnosed with coronavirus infection and he returned to his native.

However, he did not show any of the primary symptoms of coronavirus, such as cough, cold, fever, but he was suffering from diarrhea and abdominal pain with slight respiratory problems following which he has been admitted to an isolated ward in the district hospital here on Friday evening.

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News Network
March 8,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 8: The economic slowdown in the country had a cascading effect on Karnataka, as its growth rate for outgoing fiscal 2019-20 is projected to be 6.8 per cent against 7.8 per cent in the last fiscal (2018-19), a senior official said on Saturday.

"The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is estimated to be 1 per cent less at 6.8 per cent for this fiscal from 7.8 per cent in the last fiscal due to slowdown in manufacturing (industry) and services sectors," an official of the state finance department told media.

Though the agriculture sector has revived from 1.6 per dent in the drought-hit last fiscal (2018-19) to register 3.9 per cent this fiscal, growth rates of industries and services will be 4.8 per cent and 7.9 per cent for 2019-20 against 5.6 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively in 2018-19.

"The GSDP is projected to grow at 6.3 per cent in the ensuing fiscal of 2020-21 due to continued slowdown in the national economy," the official hinted.

According to the state's economic survey for 2019-20, the farm sector grew more than double to 3.9 per cent from 1.6 per cent a year ago due to increase in the production of foodgrains, dairy products and fish catch.

Foodgrain production across the state rose to 136 lakh tonnes from 128 lakh tonnes a year ago, the survey revealed.

"In line with the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate decline, Karnataka's GSDP has declined from a high of 13.3 per cent in 2016-17 to a low of 6.8 per cent in 2019-20.

"The GSDP has declined from a double-digit growth of 10.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 7.8 per cent in 2018-19 and 6.8 per cent in 2019-20," the survey pointed out.

The survey has adopted the all-India growth rate for the services sector growth in the state, which reflects the impact of slowdown in the key sector.

At current prices, the southern state's GSDP is expected to be Rs 16,99,115 crore (budget estimates) with a 10 per cent growth rate in the next fiscal (2020-21).

"Real estate, professional services and ownership of dwellings contributed 35.31 per cent to the GSDP in 2019-20, followed by manufacturing with 15.32 per cent, trade and repair services 9.51 per cent and crops 7.44 per cent," said the survey findings.

Per capital income in the state at current prices is estimated to be Rs 2,31,246 in 2019-20, an increase of 8.8 per cent from Rs 2,12,477 in 2018-19.

"The per capita income in the state is 58.4 per cent more than that of all-India rate at Rs 1,35,050 in this fiscal," the survey added.

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Media Release
May 6,2020

Mangaluru, May 6: The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to consider erstwhile undivided Dakshina Kannada (now DK & Udupi) as one unit for the purpose of movement of people. KCCI president Isaac Vas has written a letter to Karnataka chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar in this regard. 

Mr Vas said: Even though the erstwhile Dakshina Kannada district was bifurcated in 1997 for administration purposes, the two districts are actually an urban agglomeration with most of the population residing in suburbs/towns. Office Staff, technical crew and labour of many industries reside in either district and commute daily for work within an efficient transport system.

The present restriction on Inter-district movement in view of the Lockdown is hindering the kick starting of industries and commerce. Workers are deprived of their livelihood and Industry and business owners are finding it challenging to move forward. To add to this, the migrant labour is moving back to their native places further aggravating the situation. Many Industries and Commercial establishments have requested us to take up this matter with the government, he said.

“Hence, we kindly request you to consider these two districts as one geographical area for the movement of people and private vehicles,” he said adding that this would facilitate movement of people for employment and business in either districts of Dakshina Kannada & Udupi.

He pointed out that Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur and Kolar are considered as a single unit as per your order No. RD158/TNR 2020 dt 03/05/2020 (Clause 2(a)).

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