THE STORY SO FAR
The Kowshika Sankethi Sangha, KSS in short, was established in 1944 by a small group of like minded Sankethis led by Sri. B.K. Narayana Rao to help poor sankethi students in pursuing their education. It started with Scholarships of Rs. 5 per year to 5 students.The maiden venture was the construction of our own Boys Hostel at Mysore in 1952 of area of about 5000 sq ft in a 20000 sft site. Today it houses 60 boys studying Engineering, Medical , Science and other degrees.
Come the seventies, the KSS took a bold step in 1973 to set up its second facility, - a boys hostel at Hassan. Funds were raised from the members of the community to buy the site and build the hostel for 30 students . Once the community support became evident, the KSS started to expand its activities gradually.
The third Facility - a hostel for Girls at Hassan became a reality in 1977 when Smt. Nagarathnamma donated a site free of cost to the Sangha . It today houses 25 girls studying various disciplines.
The fourth facility of the KSS – A second hostel for girls at Hassan was established in 1989 again with the help of a free donation of a site by Smt. Ammayakka that houses 25 girls to-day.
The fifth facility of the KSS – a Boys Hostel at Shimoga for boys was built in the year 2000. It houses 15 students to-day .
The sixth facility – was the setting up of a modern girls hostel at Mysore at a cost of about 35 lakhs in 2003 that houses about 50 girls. This is built in a modern way that has a library, computer room, attached bath for every room etc. The students here persue different courses like engineering, Diploma, BSc, BA.MA etc. It is the most in- demand Hostel of the Sangha and is filled to its capacity.
The seventh facility was a Girls Hostel at Shimoga in 2000 in a rented house. It has 10 girls at present.The construction plans of a permanent building of our own is underway. The site for this has already been purchased.
There is a mistaken belief in some people that - KSS IS HELPING ONLY KOWSHIKA SANKETHIS. The truth is - a large number of the inmates in the Hostels - about 45 % - are NON – KOWSHIKA SANKETHIS – 90 out of the total 200 students belong to Bettadapura, smartha, and other groups . This is only a part of the KSS service story.
In addtion to running 7 Hostels, thanks to the Endowments and donations by generous sankethi donors for dedicated causes, the KSS distributes Student Scholarships to 175 Students – the amounts range from Rs 1500 for a puc student to Rs 5000 for a medical student per year.
Slowly but surely a much bigger social problem was becoming evident .- the problem of the old. The KSS in 1998 turned to address the needs of the old men and women of the community. To address this, KSS set up old age pension fund in 1999 and started distributing Rs.1800 per year to 5 persons. By 2007 this had risen to 60 persons each of whom is given Rs 2400 per year.
Then in 1999 KSS took its most difficult and the biggest decision - to start an old age home in Bangalore. It started in a rented home with 3 old women. Then came a divine blessing in 2001 when late Dr.K.S. Rajanna donated his entire house and site free of cost to the KSS to be run as an old age home in the name of his mother .
Thus “Subbamma memorial old age home” was started in 2001. Mr Rajanna lived with others at the Home till he breathed his last in 2002. KSS even performed his last rites as he had no family. He used to say “ helping a cause like the KSS is the rent that we have to pay to GOD for having been born a human being “. As we expected, the demand gradually started to increase.
The old age home was expanded in the year 2003 with the construction of the first floor. With a capacity of 20, It now houses 15 women in the age group of 65 to 95 years who are provided with all the comforts of a middle class family. A full time cook looks after the need of the home
The KSS in 2006 faced another problem with the inmates of the old age home –finding money for their medical treatment.As they aged, so was the need to help them for their medical treatment. A full time nurse is presently deployed at the home to attend to one inmate who is bedridden for 2 months.To address this problem, a fund named - Medical Support fund for old age home inmates-was stared in Jan 2007. In just 7 months, about 20 donors have contributed to a total of 5 Lacs.
The history of the Sangha is full of gestures of great magnanimity of the Sankethis – Donation of sites for the Hostels by Ammiyakka, Nagaratnamma ,Donation of house for the old age home by Rajanna, Donations by a group of 6-7 Mahaposhakas like Mr.Phaneesh Murthy, Mano Murthy, V.N.Nagaraj, Mala murthy and a few others.
A group of generous Sankethis in the US led by Mr. B.K.S. Swamy set up a Emergency relief fund in 2004 to provide emergent medical treatment This Fund has been disbursed to about 35 seriously ill patients needing emergent medical help of.over Rs.3 lakhs to date. A second fund named – Disabilities Relief Fund was started by the same group in 2006 to help physically disabled people to pursue their vocation and thus make them earn their livelihood.
Dr. B.K. Narayana Rao, Founder and first president of KSS
Dr.H.Krishna Murthy - The Father Figure & President for 17 years
(Growth of KSS in chronological order)
1944 Scholarships to students started with Rs. 5 per year for 5 students.
1952 Boys’ Hostel at Mysore started in own Building for 60 Students.
1973 Boys’ Hostel at Hassan started in own Building for 30 Students .
1973 Girls’ Hostel at Hassan started in a rented building.
1977 First Girls’ Hostel at Hassan started in own Building for 25 Students
(Site donated by Smt. Nagarathnamma)
1987 Second Girls’ Hostel at Hassan started for 5 students.
(House donated by Smt.Ammaiyakka )
1989 Second Girls’ Hostel at Hassan started in own Building for 25 students
at the above site .
1996 Girls’ Hostel at Mysore started in a rented House for 4 students.
1999 The Old Age Pension Scheme started for 6 women @ Rs 1800 per year.
1999 Old Age Home at Bangalore started in a rented house for 4 women.
2000 Boys’ Hostel at Shimoga started in own Building for 15 Students.
2000 Girls’ hostel at Shimoga started in a rented building for 10 students.
2001 Old Age Home at Bangalore started in own premises at Vijayanagar.
(House Donated by Late. Dr. K.S. Rajanna - Subbamma Smaraka
Vrudhashrma)
2003 Girls Hostel at Mysore started in own Building for 35 Students.
2003 Old Age Home First floor constructed to accommodate 20 inmates.
2006 A 80’x100’ site purchased at Shimoga, for a Girl’s Hostel.
2007 Computer Labs set up at Hassan , Mysore and Shimoga.
2007 Medical Support to the inmates of the Old Age Home started.