Splendid 75: ‘Sahakara Ratna’, ‘Savanoorina Shilpi’ K Seetharama Rai Savanoor celebrates platinum jubilee

Team Udayavani, Jun 9, 2022, 7:00 AM IST

Completing 75 years of life is a milestone in itself. But it is even more special when the person is a well-known, celebrated personality. Today marks such a momentous occasion indeed. Today, multifaceted personality Rtn. K. Seetharama Rai Savanoor is celebrating his 75th birth anniversary.

Rotarian K. Seetharama Rai Savanoor has made his mark in the fields of education, cooperative sector, agriculture, and religion. On the occasion of his diamond jubilee celebrations, here’s a look at the life and achievements of this great personality from the Karnataka coast.

Seetharam Rai Savanooru was on June 8, 1948, the third among the 7 children of the late Sheentoor Narayana Rai and the late Yamuna couple. His father S Narayana Rai was a soldier, farmer, and teacher was the role model for the young Seetharam Rai who followed in his footsteps and borrowed the same work and life ethics as his father.

Seetharam Rai felt the lack of a modern and top-quality educational institute in the rural areas. To this end, he began the Vidyarashmi group of Institutions in 2001 at the peak of Vidyagangothri on the Puttur-Kukke Subrahmanya state highway. Today the institutions nurture young minds right from Kindergarten to College level at its campus.

Through his charitable donations and scholarships, underprivileged kids from rural backgrounds are pursuing their education, dreaming of making it big on the global arena.

His philanthropic mindset and zeal for social work attracted Seetharam Rai to the Rotary Club. As a Rotarian, Seetharama Rai Savanoor has worked for the betterment of society at large. For his leadership qualities, Rai has been elected as the president of Rotary Charitable Trust, Sullia for three terms.

Seetharam Rai was instrumental in the development of Dr. Shivarama Karantha Balavana at Puttur of Dakshina Kannada district, especially the state-of-the-art swimming pool. The swimming pool is now producing swimmers who are making a splash at the state and national levels.

Seetharam Rai has worked to uplift the rural populace through popularising the cooperatives movement. His journey in the cooperative sector began as a trainee at Madikeri Cooperative Training Center. He worked as the SCDCC Bank supervisor for 18 years. After resigning from SCDCC, he began Adarsha Vividhoddesha Sahakara Sangha head quartered at Puttur in the year 2002.

Moreover, he has also rendered service as the director, and vice-president of several cooperatives, including  D.K. Milk Federation,  South Canara district cooperative bank, District Mass Cooperative Society D.K., and Ramakrishna Credit Cooperative Society to name a few.

For his exceptional service in the cooperative sector, Rai has been facilitated with the Sahakara Ratna award by the Government of Karnataka.

As a community leader, Seetharama Rai has been at the forefront of several developmental initiatives. As a Savanoor gram panchayat member, he worked to improve the infrastructure of the village – including the construction of all-weather roads, electrification of every household, construction of toilets for general cleanliness, and so on.

Furthermore, K Seetharama Rai Savanoor is also a progressive farmer. Rai found success in growing pepper, areca nut, coconut, rubber, paddy, and other crops all the while employing the Israeli technology of drip irrigation. He is also a successful dairy farmer.

For his contributions to the overall development of Savanoor, K Seetharama Rai Savanoor is popularly known as ‘Savanoorina Shilpi’ (The architect of modern Savanoor).

On the family front, K Seetharama Rai Savanoor built a contented married life with Kasturikala Rai. They have three children — Eldest son Mahesh Rai is a computer engineer and is settled in the USA with his wife Pallavi Rai. Nest is Dr. Rajesh Rai who is a professor at AJ Medical College and is married to Ashwini Rajesh Rai. Rai’s only daughter Rashmi Ashwin Shetty and her husband Ashwin Shetty are administrators of Vidyarashmi Group of Institutions.