Karnataka Lingayat Education Society members and employees felicitated Prabhakar Kore for completing 40 years as chairman of the society.
Members of various organisations also joined the event to felicitate the former Rajya Sabha member at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Belagavi on Saturday.
Society secretary B.G. Desai said that Dr Kore assumed office as chairman of the society on May 16, 1984. The society, which administered 38 schools and colleges then, now runs over 310 institutions of education and healthcare, he said.
Receiving felicitations, Dr Kore said that KLE Society meant everything to him. He recalled his early days in the small village of Ankali near Chikkodi and how he completed his education in schools and colleges of the society.
“The society gave me education, built my personality and gave me an identity as an educationist,” he said.
“As I stand here, I am reminded of the Saptarshis, the seven founders of the society. We can never forget their contribution,” he said.
He thanked the founders and early academics who built the institution. He also thanked teachers, staff, students, parents, patients and philanthropists who supported the society.
He said that he had tried pay back to the society by serving it over the years. He said that he had the dream of making it one of the best education societies in the world and had tried to implement the best practices that he saw during his tours abroad.
“As long as I have energy I will work for the organization and society,” he said.
He said that he did not deserve all the credit for the success of the institution. “KLE Society is an institution that was founded and built by teachers. Seven teachers founded it and innumerable teachers have built it with their hard work. Nothing can be done by one person alone. I succeeded because of the positive attitude of my management board members who gave me complete cooperation for 40 years. I was elected unopposed several times. Anyway, these four decades have not been a bed of flowers. Sometimes it felt like a bed of thorns. Opposition is natural in a democracy and we have to work with that. But then, I have maintained good relations with the leaders of all political parties in the State and elsewhere,” he said.
“Our organization has grown from the generous contribution of donors. I am happy that we are running 16 hospitals in Karnataka and Maharashtra. They use Allopathic-Ayurvedic-Homoeopathic treatment methods,” he said.
He thanked his family members for their support.
The former MLA and president of Basaveshwara Veerashaiva Vidyavardhak Sangh Veeranna Charantimath said that KLE Society has grown into the largest Indian educational institution in Asia today.
He said that Dr Kore’s visionary activism and social concern is a model for Veerashaiva-Lingayat educational institutions of North Karnataka.
President of Bellary Veerashaiva Vidyavardhak Sangh Allam Gurubasavaraja said that Dr Kore has shown how to develop Lingayat organizations.
President of Karnataka Educational Institutions Shasheel Namoshi said that the former Chief Minister S. Nijalingappa issued permits to establish medical colleges to the Hyderabad Educational Institution, KLE Society and Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s society in Davangere at the same time. “But KLE Society has grown a lot while we are lagging,” he said.
He sought Dr Kore’s help and cooperation to grow in the same manner.
KLE Society directors and members Sankaranna Munavalli, Mahantesh Kavatagimath, H.B. Rajasekhara, BVB Vice-Chancellor Ashok Shettar and others, including V.S. Sadhunavar, Jayananda Munavalli, Y.S. Patil, Anil Patteda, Babanna Metagood, Praveen Bagewadi, Amit Kore and M.C. Kolli, were present.
Along with Dr Kore, his wife Asha Kore was also felicitated. A book Ratnaraja that carries details of his 40-year journey was launched.
President of KLE Society Mahantesh Kaujalgi welcomed the gathering. Mahesh Gurangowdar anchored the programme.
