Sadashiva is man Friday for the villagers of Honna Kiranagi and neighbouring villages. He is looked upon as saviour by the landless farm labourers who find it difficult to get employment, as agricultural operations have come to a standstill owing to the failure of rains.
Mr. Sadashiva, who is in his twenties, has enrolled himself as ‘Kayaka Bandhu’ in Honna Kiranagi Gram Panchayat. He was instrumental in persuading the officials of the panchayat to use Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act funds to take up large-scale planting of the saplings of trees along the boundary of the 1,600-odd acres acquired for the proposed supercritical thermal power plant.
10,000 saplings
The gram panchayat has completed planting nearly 10,000 saplings with these funds. While planting along 50 per cent of the boundary was completed last year, the villagers have now taken up planting of 10,000 saplings along the remaining 50 per cent of the boundary, stretching more than 10 km.
Chief Executive Officer Anirudh Sravan said of Mr. Sadashiva, “I have rarely come across such an enthusiastic person who has taken such an initiative to help so many people who badly required employment.”
When this correspondent visited the site, more than 550 workers, a majority of them women, were digging trenches for planting saplings and for tapping rainwater. Mr. Sadashiva, who was a farm labourer, told The Hindu that he knew the difficulties faced by people to get work and that was what inspired his initiative.
He also helps those who do not have bank accounts to open savings accounts in a bank in the village by filling applications with introductions. He also helps people get Aadhaar cards and runs a night school for landless agricultural labourers in the village. Now, nearly 50 landless agricultural labourers who were unlettered can write their names and affix their signatures.
Sadashiva is looked upon as saviour by landless farm labourers of Honna Kiranagi and neighbouring villages in Kalaburagi district
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by T.V. Sivanandan /Kalaburgi – July 30th, 2015