Our Chairman

1. Brief write up on the work done by the Dr. Shamanur Shivashankarappa

Dr. Shamanur Shivashankarappa is fondly called as Education Lover, Social Servant, Social Reformer, Great Philanthropist, Ideal politician and many more titles to his credit. The Nonagenarian is responsible for the complete transformation of Davangere as education hub in the state of Karnataka and stand out as a place of higher learning in India. Once Davangere was called the Manchester of Karnataka with the location of maximum number of cotton mills. Subsequent labor unrest and recession forced many mills to shut the shops. This led to widespread job losses, economic distress and loss of livelihood for many people. When Dr Shivashankarappa took over the mantle of Bapuji Educational Association there were only 5 colleges present in the Trust. Under his able leadership, by the end of 2021, the Bapuji Educational Association has grown leaps and bounds as educational behemoth with 54 colleges coming under its umbrella.

Dr Shivashankarappa understood the importance of education on overall development of society and people and started many institutions catering to wide array of educational needs like primary, high school, intermediate, degree, engineering, medical and post graduate institutions. Through Bapuji Educational Association he is uplifting people and society towards knowledge in various field of education. To provide quality education, he has provided well equipped laboratories, all the amenities like sports ground, gymnasium,, a world class auditorium. He has established hostels for students coming from far off places seeking education. BEA help construct about 200 houses in Vidyanagar , Davangere for its employees with financial assistance. The doyen of education not only limited his educational activities to the contours of Davangere city but spread across the district to serve the rural poor. He has set up institutions in Kunibelakere, Harihar, Tholahunise, Channagiri to cater to the educational and health needs of the people. By establishing AVK Women’s college, he is responsible for the educational upliftment of girl students and about 3400 girl students graduate from this college every year. By establishing girl’s hostel, he is providing accommodation to more than 2000 girl students studying engineering, medical, degree and post graduate degree courses.

He has instituted gold medal and cash prize for rank holders and toppers studying in BEA institutions. Not only students of BEA, he has established Dr Shamanur Shivashankarappa Janakalyna Trust by depositing Rs 5 crores. Rs 1 crore is deposited for meritorious children of journalists of Davangere District. Interest from these deposits is paid as scholarship to students irrespective of their caste, creed.

For the establishment of Davangere district, he parted with land and provided financial assistance for the construction of buildings. By helping establish the university, he is responsible for rural poor students of the region getting post graduate education. Being shrewd businessman, he forethought the need of banks for the development and established Bapuji Cooperative Bank. The is giving yeoman service to employees loans for house construction, site purchase, education loan for children, business loans.

Dr Shivashankarappa is a great philanthropist in Davangere. He generously donate for societal causes. He has built dining halls in temples in Davangere and other parts of the state and neighboring states. He built a marriage hall named Shiva Parvati Kalyana Mantapa in Davangere specially to cater to the needs of children of economically backward people

He is responsible for the construction of Glass House in Davangere. It has become the recreation hub for the children and public of Davangere. To alleviate the scarcity of drinking water to the people of Davangere. He undertook the restoration of Kunduvada Lake .The lake is situated in the outskirts and become useless and sink for sewage water. The lake with a perimeter of 4.5 Km was restored and water from Bhadra canal and Tungabhadra River stored to cater to the drinking water needs of people. The lake is an ideal place for people to take morning and evening walk .Restoration of lake mitigated the drinking water problem and also enhanced ground water recharge.

During covid 19 second wave during the month of June 21 there was scarcity of vaccines in Davangere. Dr Shivashankarappa himself purchased 60000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines by paying 6 crores for the poor people & got vaccinated them to get protection from covid 19 disease.

Dr hivashankarappa is not only educationist to the core but also is self-made industrialist . Davangere district is irrigated by Bhadra canal and rice and sugar cane were the main crops grown. There was necessity of sugar factory for farmers to sell their produce sugar cane . There was one sugar factory called Davangere Sugar Mills in Kukkuvada and was not managed properly. He took over the factory, modernized it and is running it efficiently. He also started one more sugar factory at Duggavati which lies in the arid district of Bellary in Karnataka. This created an ecosystem for formers to sell their sugar cane produce and employment potential for rural people.

More than six decades of his service in education sector and society has bought him many laurels and prizes. Suvarna Karnataka Best Industialist , Dharma Chudamani from Sirigere Mutt, Shikshana Sudharaka from Chitradurga Mutt, Shatamanada Srestaru from Adinatha Pratistana. Other rewards are Shiromani Vikasa, Indira Priyadarshini,, SamajaShri, Bharath Gourav, Nitya Seva Yajnadhari, International Business Acumen etc. In 2008, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta awarded him honorary Doctorate degree considering his yeomen service in the field of education.

2. Area /Field/sector/Domain of work done

Mainly education sector including primary, high school, intermediate, degree courses in law, commerce, arts, science, pharmacy, nursing and professional courses in engineering and medicine. Hospitals, banking, sugar industry, Drinking water projects and Social service.

3. No of years working in the field

60 years

4. Impact outcome contribution of the work done

Dr Shivashankarappa Established educational institutions in the field of arts, science, commerce, law management, engineering and medicine disciplines. Every year thousands of students graduate out of these institutions and are working in various fields in both India and abroad. Establishment of these institutions created employment potential for people of Davangere district. Since thousands of students take admissions in these institutions, there is better chance for small business activities to thrive. Establishment of Bapuji cooperative bank led to development of housing and small business activities. Hospitals associated with medical colleges taken care of patients from Davangere and nearby villages. Establishment of two medical colleges led to availability of specialist doctors for the public as Davangere is dotted with network of specialty hospitals and availability of health care at affordable prices for the public. Due to location of health infrastructure, there is good growth in pharma sales and dental and medical implements. Establishment of sugar factory led to industrial development and employment potential. Establish of distilleries in sugar factories reduced the dependence of fossil fuel. Kunduvada lake restoration alleviated drinking water scarcity and recharge of underground water

5. Details of the awards or Honors received by the nominee.

6. Any other relevant Information

Dr. Shivashankarappa motivated people and involved large number of them in the process of selection for having Smart City Status. Because of his continuous efforts, Davangere was selected for Smart City Cluster in the first attempt itself. Due to his efforts almost all roads in Davangere were converted in to concrete roads. He was responsible for restoring around 50 parks in Davangere town. Due to his efforts 24/7 water supply scheme is in force. He is responsible for construction of private full-fledged bus stand in Davangere