Hanumappa Sudarshan

Hanumappa Sudarshan
Dr. Sudarshan, a well-known social worker and tribal activist recognised for his work with theSoligasinBR Hills
Born	(1950-12-30)30 December 1950 Yemalur,Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Dr. Sudarshan
Occupation	Doctor
Organization(s)	Sudarshan Army,Karuna Trust (India)
Known for	Public Health,Tribal rights, Activism,Gandhism
Awards	Right Livelihood Award

Dr. Hanumappa Sudarshan(born 30 December 1950) is an Indian social worker and tribal rights activist. He is known for his contributions to the upliftment of the forest dwelling tribes (mainlySoligas) in theChamarajanagar districtof Karnataka. He is also a recipient of theRight Livelihood Awardand thePadma Shri.

Early life and education

Sudarshan was born inYemaluron the outskirts ofBangalore.He graduated fromBangalore Medical Collegeand became a medical doctor in the year 1973. He is also anadjunct professoratIGNOU.

Career

After graduation, he joined the health institutions ofRamakrishna Missionwhich took him to theHimalayasofUttar Pradesh,Belur Mathin West Bengal andPonnampetin Karnataka as part of the job.Instead of pursuing a medical practice in the cities, he decided to work with tribal communities and in 1980, he started the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra for the integrated development of the tribals in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka.He is also the founder and Honorary Secretary of theKaruna Trust,which is dedicated to rural development in the states of Karnataka andArunachal Pradesh.He claims inspiration from the man-making and nation-building ideals ofSwami Vivekananda.He advocatesGandhianideals for rural development.

Sudarshan Army

Indian poet Shaunak Chakraborty got impressed by his ideology and work towards society so he decided to establish a non profit organization namedSudarshan Armyon 30 July 2019 which got its name from him.

Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra (VGKK)

VGKK is an organisation with a mission ofSustainable development of tribal people through rights-based approaches to health, education, livelihood security and biodiversity conservation.Founded in October 1981 by Dr. Sudarshan, VGKK has worked with tribals in the Chamarijanagar district andMysore districtof Karnataka and also with tribals in the states ofTamil Nadu,Arunachal Pradesh and theAndaman and Nicobar Islandsand has interacted with about 20,000 people. The organisation has always had a tribal youth as its President. Jadeya Gowda, one of the first few children who was taught by Dr. Sudarshan, is the President. He did a graduation and post-graduation in agriculture and has completed his PhD from the [University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore], Presently working as Associate Professor at College of Forestry, Ponnampet.

VGKK runs a 450 pupil school for the tribes ofB R Hillswhere the students are provided education equivalent to that provided in the urban areas. Subjects related to the tribal welfare such as environmental issues, tribal values and culture are also a part of the curriculum. VGKK also has a vocational training institute where 16 crafts are taught. As a result of the efforts of VGKK, about 60% of the Soliga tribe now get a minimum of 300 days of employment per year from the Forest Department of Karnataka and other agencies.

Karuna Trust

Started in the year 1986 by Dr. Sudarshan,Karuna Trust (India)is an organisation involved with integrated rural development and is affiliated to VGKK.The prevalence ofleprosyinYelandurTaluk of Chamarajanagar district was the motivation to start this trust. Another focus area for this trust is education and livelihood improvement. Karuna Trust runs 72 Primary Health Care (PHC) Centres in all the districts of the state of Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh.

Positions held

Dr. Sudarshan has held many positions in his career such as the chairmanship of theTask Force on Health and Family Welfareorganised byGovernment of Karnataka,theTask Force on Public Private Partnershiporganised by National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) ofGovernment of Indiaand Institute of Health management & Research (IHMR), Bangalore.He was also associated as a member ofWorking Group 6 on Macro-economics & Healthorganised by theWorld Health Organizationand was also a Steering Group member of the Planning Commission on the Empowerment ofScheduled Tribesin India's 11thFive Year Plan.He has also been the Vigilance Director for the Karnataka Lokayukta, anombudsmanorganisation. During his tenure, he adopted a method of regular visits and raids to several Government departments and earned critical acclaim for this.

Awards

• Right Livelihood Award(1994),for showing how tribal culture can contribute to a process that secures the basic rights and fundamental needs of indigenous people and conserves their environment.
• Padma ShriAward (2000)
• RajyotsavaState Award for social work (1984) – Government of Karnataka.
• Ashoka Fellow.
• Mother Teresa Awardsfor Social Justice in 2014.

See also

• Right Livelihood Award
• Albert Schweitzer
• Prakash Amte

External links

• Website of the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana KendraArchived18 April 2019 at theWayback Machine
• Website of Karuna TrustArchived8 May 2021 at theWayback Machine