AWRT and DKRA to Felicitate Dr Krishnappa Konchady PhD for Exceptional Achievements
Mangaluru: Krishnappa Konchady has been recently awarded a Doctorate in History from the Hampi University under the Guidance of Dr Vijay Poonacha for his dissertation on the topic Commerce and warfare in coastal Karnataka from the time of arrival of foreigners to the onset of colonialism. Well, nothing much to write home about but the one who has been awarded this degree has a bachelor of Arts from Mangalore University, two masters of arts in History and Economics, a master of science in Geography, an MBA and LLB besides a evaluators certificate from the LIC of India. To boot he has also passed the NEET for history teaching which qualifies him to be a teacher in History in any college in India and also the eligibility test for lecturers by the govt, of Karnataka. Born in 1967 in a Mugera family, who are one of the most primitive scheduled castes of this area with illiterate parents and a superstition-ridden family, he had his early education at the Sri Ramashrama school at Konchady. Passing his SSLC examination from the same school with good marks he joined the govt. polytechnic at Mangalore for a diploma. But at a very young age, he had joined the student movement and was more interested in working for that. So, he decided to take up a liberal arts course and joined the Badria PU College near old Bunder. Though he was getting a scholarship once it was over by January! As he did not have money for the bus fare and he used to walk all the way from Konchady to the college, nearly 10 kms! Following that he joined St.Aloysius Evening College, Mangalore to complete his BA as he had got employed in the meanwhile. During that, he saw an ad for filling up the backlog of vacancies for SC/STs of the Life Insurance Corporation of India and appeared for the test and got the job for a clerk. Continuing his education he completed BA. Then he went on to do his LLB, followed by two MAs in History and Economics. To add on he did an MBA and an MSc in Geography too. But, his ambition was research and he registered with the Hampi Kannada University to complete it last month.
He had also passed an exam of the LIC which is supposed to be a very difficult one. It was during the period of his study for that examination that I could gauge his talent for quick grasp of topics. Because for that examination he had to study the elements of anatomy, functions of the various organs and some basic knowledge of diseases and diagnostic tests. He could learn those things within one narration despite having no science background. Later on, he passed the examination with flying colors. Having spent all his life working for the trade union movement he refused many jobs and promotions and remains a clerk in the Life Insurance Corporation of India. But, it is his zeal for public service that drives him on. He has just finished constructing eight houses for Dalits who were displaced when the road was being widened at Nanthur. Following the process of getting the land and money sanctioned building the structures sometimes working manually too he and some friends have almost completed these houses. Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India have also helped him in this task.
Having met some of us at a young age he was drawn to rationalistic thinking and action in his life. His marriage to Sunanda was without any religious ceremony. I can recall when his mother died in an accident at the rice mill where she was working. Her hair got caught in a conveyor belt and she was thrown to the ground violently and had a severe head injury and passed away on the spot. At that time he wanted to cremate her without any religious ceremony and we took her to the electric crematorium. His children elder daughter Harshita who is now doing her post graduation in Botany at Mangalore University and son Harshawardhana who is studying MBBS at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences at Hubli have been brought up without any religion in their lives and are rationalists. Sunanda is also not far behind her husband in academic accomplishments she too has an MA and a degree in law to her credit. To ‘celebrate’ his earning a doctorate a function was held recently at the premises of his alma mater the Ramshrama School. The ‘celebration’ was actually to announce a trust in the name of his parents to which he donated Rs 5 lakhs as capital, the interest from which he said will be used to educate the poor students of the Mugera community. Recalling his student days, he says, the difficulties he had to go through made him feel that others should not suffer that way.
To recognize these achievements we have decided to hold a small meeting at the CBEU hall, near PVS Kalakunj, Mangalore on the 4th of April at 5 pm. All those who would like to attend are welcome. The organizations hosting this are Samudaya, Aid Without Religion Trust, Dakshina Kannada Rationalist Association, Dalit Sangarsha Samiti, Mat friends and his friends and admirers.
Prof Narendra Nayak
On behalf of all organizations