By Vatya Raina

 

“The so-called civilized society has a lot to learn from the tribals.”   ~ Dr. Sudarshan

Quoted by the famous Indian social entrepreneur also the tribal rights activist Dr. Hanumappa Sudarshan also well know as Dr. Sudarshan.
Dr. Sudarshan was born in the year 1950 on 30 December. Hailing from Yemalur a village in the outskirts of Bangalore. He is well known for the upliftment of the tribals and someone who has been a mediator for the tribal rights since time until now. He is an adjunct professor in IGNOU.

Early life and Education :

 

As aforementioned but again just to recall about his birth in the year 1950 on 30 December his early life passed in an outskirt village of Bangalore,

yemalur where he had his basic primary education. Until his twenties, he pursued his higher secondary education later moved on to Bangalore. Well, there's an interesting turn about why he moved to the city to pursue his further education which not only in intriguing but also gives a very good shine about why he also took about the concerns over tribals in the areas of Karnataka. when he was twelve years old being learned about the fact that the medical conditions and arrangements are very underdeveloped in India and maybe that would be an ignition that he pressed on to the fact about being a doctor, the whole of the reason lies as his father was ceased from existence due to the very fact that there was the lack of medical facilities in his village hospital. The deliberation then so happened that he left for Bangalore to educate himself for a becoming doctor and in the year 1973, he pursued a degree in medical science from the famous "Bangalore medical college" and earned him a doctorate.

After his graduations, he moved on to work with the socio-religious organization in India known as Ramakrishna Mission, having influenced by the works of the religious cult Swami Vivekanand he decides to work with the charitable health institution and also the math(a name given to refer the organization). He later travels to Belur Math(headquarters situated in Belur, West Bengal) where he worked with the math in the tribal areas, later such travels includes in parts of Uttar Pradesh, in the Himalayas, in the parts of Karnataka. So basically Ramkrishna Mission provided him the platform to flourish his interest and nurture his concerns regarding the public health. All these various travels made him more inclined to fight for the rights of tribals all over moreover the biography of Dr. Albert Schweitzer an activist who worked in Africa left him even more influenced and motivated for his continuation. Later he dropped his options to continue with his works in the cities and joined with Dr. Narsimha who was then a well-known activist working with the dwelling tribes of the Nilgiris. In the year he started a trust due to the increasing leprosy cases arising in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. Hence due to the integrated development of the tribals there, he started the trust naming under the Swami Vivekananda's name because of the previous inspiration he already had with Vivekananda; Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra (VGKK) which proficiently dealt with the excellence of the tribals in the particular disease regarding leprosy and tuberculosis. After this again in the year 1986, he started Karuna trust keeping the same motive for the tribal health access and development which is currently in near about more than 70 districts and is fully functional. Karuna trust today runs 72 basic primary health care units not only in Karnataka but also in Arunachal Pradesh. This trust remains opens for the endorsement of the private sector and nonprofit NGO's to share the work to get the access, even more, better and integrated in the terms of concerns. Sudarshan has promoted his works to open faculties of concern in very individual wherever it has reached, in his career he has not only held the privately interested areas of his particular achievement and his desires but has also held the position in the state governmental post. He has served as a chairman on the Task Force on Health and Family Welfare organized by Government of Karnataka, organized by the Institute of health management and research, Bangalore Karnataka.he was also the vigilance director of the Karnataka Lokayukta .he was also the core member of the  Planning Commission on the Empowerment of Scheduled Tribes in India’s 11th Five Year Plan which was the drafted for the year 2007 to 2012 regarding the tribal rights of the scheduled tribes conducted of ministry of social justice and empowerment. He was also associated as a member of Working Group 6 on Macroeconomics & Health organized by the World Health Organization (WHO). During his tenure as the vigilant director, he organized various raids which help in the unlearning of the health departments coming under the government-funded vicinity which earned him more respect. He later came to be termed as a revolutionist for the tribals due to his efforts concerning them.

Works and awards :
As pinned every time about Dr. Sudarshan being a tribal revolutionist his most celebrated institutions the VGKK(Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra) and Karuna trust dealt with almost every health regarding problems, he started first in small primitive clinics later on which integrated to hospitals he made sure of the presence of every updated medical tools and machine,he created a low cost electrophoresis machine for the treatment. His trust's run health hygiene related programmes to educate the tribals, there was a campaign regarding the consciousness of health like regarding concern to educate about sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. Dr. Sudarshan mainly treated and emphasized on tuberculosis and sickle cell anemia, those primary health care developed dental health care units and for cancer. There were surgeries of cataracts and hazy visions or lens replacements. The primary healthcare units gave quality treatments to the tribal developments slowly these trust became successful which lead the VGKK(Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra) to become a comprehensive development programme.

it won't be a surprise that we can't anticipate how many awards his works has earned him. His contributions cannot be measured by his awards because it's a matter of larger interest(regarding the question of tribals ) that our nation has to overlook ever since but where Dr. Sudarshan has left his print upon.
 his awards include :
Right Livelihood Award (1994), for his social service and 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 Shri Award (2000)
* Rajyotsava State Award for social service (1984) – Government of Karnataka
* Ashoka Fellow
* Mother Teresa Award for Social Justice (2014)

In the contemporary Indian subcontext there is a voice of oppression which is merely heard or seen as a threat for the political magic wand apart from all these there are various dissents surviving in every part  be in in the tribal areas of Arunachal or

bastar

or in Mangalore or be it in Andaman and Nicobar islands one such is Dr. Sudarshan who out of personal benefits has influenced in regarding the concern of Indian subalterns where he is considered a significant influence to make the conscience alive amongst the unconcerned.

* source

wikipedia

.