Global Philanthropic Report 2019 - SECT, VKF & Go2C

Background
Inspired by the ideals of swaraj (self-rule) envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and his associate
economist J C Kumarappa, Sh. Surendra Koulagi, started Janapada Seva Trust (JST) in 1960. Post
his experience of working and walking closely with Jayaprakash Narayanan and Vinoba Bhave, he
started the trust merely as a 25 year old who knew, “that he had to do something but had no
blueprint of the plan”.
Melkote, a temple town in Mandya district, South Karnataka became his home as he moved there
and started a kindergarten school with his wife Smt. Girija Koulagi, and registered the trust
formally. From the day of its inception, the trust worked in action and thought towards creating
a non-violent social order. They secured the workings of the trust through contributions from
friends.
When he found many children in India afflicted with Polio, he set up a shelter for physically
handicapped youngsters in Melkote, even organizing a low-floor bullock cart to take them to
school. As the years went by, he started a college, a weaving unit, and an organic farm. He also
set up a home for orphaned children (which is affiliated to the CARA network).
In the last six decades, the Trust has seen sweeping changes in society in general and Melkote in
particular. However, it has stood in thinking and action to its original objective of creating a nonviolent
social order. It has emerged as an organisation driven by ideology rather than by projects
or activities. Over the decades the Trust has responded to the needs of the community and
initiated several activities which have lasted from years to decades. This approach has ensured
that even after decades, no activity of JST has become stale, ineffective, or rigid in its approach.
Some of the activities of the trust are listed in subsequent paragraphs.
The Karunagruha, the ‘home of compassion’ was started in 1963 under JST. For the first four
decades, it worked with hundreds of rural disabled children, particularly those affected by polio.
It provided shelter, food, education, and medical rehabilitation. The design and the care poured
in by the Koulagi family into the home is notable. For instance, Smt. Girija, would herself cook for
the children, and, as someone in the current leadership of the Trust puts it, the Karunagruha
would look like a perfect blend between a hostel and a home.
By the turn of the century the number of polio cases drastically came down, thanks to India’s
polio eradication program. From 2009, Karunagruha has been functioning as an adoption
placement centre. The Child Welfare Committees of the Karnataka Government transfer
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