M. S. Ramaiah

Dr
M S Ramaiah
Personal details
Born April 20, 1922
Madhugiri, Karnataka
Died December 25, 1997 (aged 75)
Bangalore
Nationality Indian
Spouse(s) Venkatamma
Laxmigowramma
Parents Sampangappa Ramaiah
Narasamma
Profession Engineering Contractor
Agriculturist
Journalist
Educationist
Industrialist
Philanthropist
Religion Hindu

Dr M S Ramaiah (20 April 1922 - 25 December 1997) was a visionary in the field of education; a philanthropist, industrialist, and agriculturalist; and a pioneer of journalism. An architect of colossal educational institutions under the ‘Gokula Education Foundation, India’ which includes schools for engineering, medicine, law, management, research, pharmacy and hotel management in Bangalore, has his largesse also extended to spiritualism.

Early Life

Born on 20 April 1922, in Madhugiri, M S Ramaiah was the only son of Sampangappa and Narasamma. He had his early education completed in Mathikere, which was then in the outskirts of Bangalore city and moved on to agriculture due to paucity of funds. Beginning his life with meagre means, he began working for the Indian railways for a period of two years.

He later ventured into the job of a contractor and started off as a supplier of bricks for military camps in Bangalore during World War II. His success in the field of civil works was marked by the construction of some of the major projects in the State such as the canals of the Ghataprabha Project, Talakalale Dam and also the Dharma Project.

Achievements

MSR Group of Institutions: In 1962, M S Ramaiah established the Gokula Education Foundation, which marked the beginning of M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology. Imparting knowledge for more than 12 branches of engineering within the campus, MSRIT is currently a pioneering technical institute in Bangalore. In 1979, the M S Ramaiah Medical College was set up and as a requisite for medical education, the MS Ramaiah Technical Hospital was founded. With a vision of a multi-speciality centre, the M S Ramaiah Institute of Nephro - Urology, M S Ramaiah Institute of Oncology and M S Ramaiah Institute of Cardiology was set up; the founding of M S Ramaiah Medical Teaching Hospital in 1985 added on to his list of milestones. Institutions founded by M S Ramaiah:

Religion

In his heart, M S Ramaiah had always been a deeply religious man and has left an indelible mark in all his activities as the President of Karnataka’s ancient shrine ‘Kaiwara. In renovating the Ashram of Yogi Nareyana Yatindra, the space provided sanctity to a huge number of devotees along with the provision of free food everyday. In addition, he organised for the giving away of alms at religious congregations, particularly ‘Sadhu Sangama’.

Industrialisation

With M Vishweswariah as a role model, M S Ramaiah believed in industrialisation and was its pioneer too. Some of the Industries he promoted include:

Journalism

Being a multi-faceted personality with a political opinion, M S Ramaiah developed a deep interest in Journalism. In 1956, he acquired the ‘Thainadu’ daily, the then oldest Kannada daily in Mysore State and not only led for it to thrive, but he also started ‘Gokula’ a Kannada weekly and ‘Kailasa’ a monthly. These became a herald of a neo-tri-colour nationalist era & are considered as model publications even today.

Humanitarian and Philanthropic Initiatives

The setting up of M S Ramaiah Charities Trust led to the assistance of impecunious and meritorious students to pursue a bright career. This trust provides a scholarship of around 25 lakhs to exemplary and backward class students annually. It also supports scholarships for candidates appearing for civil service exams such as the IAS and IPS.

Realising the importance of development in any society, he was responsible for the construction of housing facilities for poor and middle-class families to live at reasonable and affordable prices. Earlier a suburb, the locality has now turned into a modern downtown of a quarter million population.

Being the Chairman of the Reception Committee, he organised the Kannada Sahithya Sammelana at Kaiwara in the year 1990. This hosted the perfect suburban setting for the neoteric and literary minds of Kannada literature to convene and was considered one of the best meets held in the recent past.

Honours and Awards

External links