Katti’s of North Karnataka

Umesh Katti (Seven time MLA from Hukkeri assembly segment, is the elder brother of Ramesh Katti, Lok Sabha MP, Chikkodi. The duo are the sons of Late Vishwanath Katti, a charismatic selfless leader par excellence, connected to the grass roots and is remembered even today.

The Chikodi Lok Sabha constituency held by Ramesh Vishwanath Katti, a first-time Member of Parliament, from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Chikodi in North West Karnataka has been a hotly contested seat, and has had a great history. It was once represented by Late Shri B. Shankaranand, a Congress loyalist and a Union Minister who held it for more than seven terms. But the Congress party has lost its hold since recent times, and it has become a BJP bastion. And now it is being represented by Ramesh Katti, who trounced his Congress rival Prakash Hukkeri, by a margin of more than 54000 votes in the General elections of 2009, proves his popularity in the constituency. Ramesh Katti, a worthy son of Late Shri Vishwanath Katti, who was a charismatic leader par excellence, connected to the grass roots and till date, enjoys great popularity in the region. He held the post of President of the KLE Society, a mammoth organization of the Lingayath community with educational institutions spread in the region of Karnataka and Maharshtra and now spreading wings abroad. He also served as an MLC for a term, and was elected as a MLA from the Janata Party but passed away in the Vidhan Sabha during session only 15 days after his victory in 1985. And then the baton was passed to his sons. Umesh Katti who got elected as a MLA from the Hukkeri seat represented by his Late Father at a young age. The Katti-duo of Umesh (a seven time MLA) and Ramesh were initiated in politics at ages when people are still in their formative years. The burden of responsibility was huge on their young shoulders but taking it as a challenge, they proved themselves in the field of politics, and transformed themselves as king makers by strengthening and building institutions in the region holding diverse interests like sugar factories, and cooperative banks their supremacy and hold remains unchallenged.
Ramesh Katti, all of 21-years-old when he had his brush with the Cooperative Movement in 1985-86, and took over as the Director of Bellad Bagewadi Urban Cooperative Bank, in 1986-87 became a Director of The Belgaum District Central Cooperative Bank Limited, and got immersed in the Cooperative movement. Then was to come the big moment in the elections of 1995-96, when he took over the reins of Shri Hiranyakeshi Sahakari Sakkare Karkhane Niyamit, Sankeshwar (Dist Belgaum). The sugar factory was in a messy state of affairs, and its revival was a Herculean task. The task at hand was to increase the crushing capacity of cane which had decreased to less than 5000 tonnes per day, and was inconveniencing the farmers and causing them great hardships and distress. Ramesh opines “that cane has to be crushed within 12 hours from the time the trucks enter the factory site which was not being followed by the old management, for more the waiting time for cane it looses its utility, and the cost per ton of increase in miscellaneous expense has to be borne by the farmer”. To achieve this there had to be an out-of-the-box solution, for he set up parameters for monitoring the factory took the workers into confidence, boosted the morale of both the farmers and the management and evolved best practices to bail the factory out of loss and increase its profits. The factory today has a crushing capacity of 6800 tons per day.

The government at the centre does not want quality politicians to come into politics, the leaders coming from Co-operative movement are from rural areas, connected to the grass-roots with a no-nonsensical approach, some of them being stalwarts like Vasantdada Patil, and Rajshekharan, MP, to name a few. Ramesh Katti’s final remarks are that “within 6-8 years a beautiful plan is being made for the closing ceremony of Cooperative movement by the Centre”.

Ramesh Katti’s larger complaint is that the Cooperative movement is not getting its due. His figures that India today has 2,52,000 Panchayats, but only has 70000 nationalized banks and branches. The Central government which runs its flagship programs like the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), which routes the payments to nationalized banks which are at an average distance of 25 km, from the villages they reside in. To claim their salaries they have to travel long distances to the Taluka, (25×2=50kms) or a village nearby with public banks, spend the whole day waiting in long lines, and spend Rs 100 of the money they are entitled to and walk back in the evening. His solution to simplify the problems is since the Co-operative Banks have a strong base in the states of Karnataka, Maharshtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat; they have branches in all villages, and also contribute to national growth by advancing loans to farmers at affordable rates. They are conspicuous by their absence in North India. The Central government does not believe the Co-operative Banks, and still believes in centralized policies. The Co-operative Banks are under the control of NABARD; the banks are run by RBI circulars and also have healthy balance-sheets. Since the share collection is done from the aam-admi, deposits taken and the same disbursed as loans to the farmers, the margins of Rs 3-4 are given as salaries, and what remains is given as dividends. They work on small profit margins, and they also provide employment to the rural qualified youth who do not want to travel far from the land they are born in. The Central Governments wants to bring these banks under their ambit, and keep asking them to file IT returns, “What is the participation of the Central Government?” quips Katti. Since the loss of the Co-operative banks is not borne by the Central Government but is the sole responsibility of the management. Nationalized banks making losses are to be borne by the Central governments; institutions can grow only when there is greater autonomy and freedom. They are free to monitor and set guidelines and strictures for the co-operatives, but steer away from its day-to-day management. The government at the centre does not want quality politicians to come into politics, the leaders coming from Co-operative movement are from rural areas, connected to the grass-roots with a no-nonsensical approach, some of them being stalwarts like Vasantdada Patil, and Rajshekharan, MP, to name a few. Ramesh Katti’s final remarks are that “within 6-8 years a beautiful plan is being made for the closing ceremony of Co-operative movement by the Centre”.
One area where the policies of the both the State/ Central governments have failed even after 60 years of independence is their refusal to understand the issue of rural sanitation. There are few projects which are undertaken like Total Sanitation Schemes, where the beneficiary lacking toilet is given Rs 3000 to build one, but is not enough. Of Rs 3000, only Rs 1000 reaches the intended beneficiary for he has to grease the palms of all concerned officials, he has to cut four levels of red tape starting from the officer above to the chairman, concerned ward representative, and the Panchayat secretary. NREGA provides a minimum of 50 human days, at Rs 125 per day. His solution is to pool this (Rs 125×50 days=Rs 6250+Rs 3000= Rs 9250), to give a lump sum of the said amount, and let them get their toilets built. But the NREGA scheme with its inherent flaws leaves this issue largely unaddressed. It on the contrary builds compound walls for public burial grounds, and schools and humorously adds “are the dead going to run away”? Our country India is honoured as Bharat Mata, but the dignity of women is still not protected. The people in the country side give their daughters in marriage only to those house-holds having toilets. For toilets are not a luxury but a basic necessity and not having access to them is violation of human rights.

MP, Ramesh Katti is following the footsteps of his late father by being accessible to all, creating awareness on eye donations in his constituency, strengthening Self Help Groups for women by giving loans at low interest rates, so that they are independent and stand on their own during distress. The interests of the farmers is dearest and closest to his heart
His stint as a parliamentarian is mixed in reactions, there is no meaningful discussion in the Lok Sabha on basic needs, and frequent stalling of the session is no good for democracy. Also serving as a member of the Rural Development Committee. Ramesh Katti, is an agriculturist and social activist by profession. He entered into social activities as president of Village Reformation Committee, has taken lots of efforts for establishment of co-operative institutions and also a founder member for establishing the Karnataka Rang Bhoomi Abhivruddhi & Uttejan Sahakari, working in the co-operative sector since 1985. He is rendering his valuable services to other Cooperative Institutions as President of the The Belgaum District Central Coop Bank Ltd, Belgaum, Chairman Shri Hiranyakeshi Sahakari Sakkare Karkhane Niyamit, Sankeshwar (Dist Belgaum), Vice President National Heavy Engineering Coop Ltd., Pune, Founder: Rahul Katti Sports & Social Club, B.Bagewadi, Director: Karnataka State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd.,Bangalore, Ex-Director: National Federation of Coop Sugar Factories Ltd., Delhi. He has also bagged many awards and honours like “Bharatiya Udyog Ratna Award-1996″, “Rashtriya Udyog Ratna Award”, “National Industrial Excellence Award”, ” S.V.Parthasarthy Award” with Gold Medal in appreciation of Water Recycling Unit and “Shrestha Sahakari” Award-2007 in the centenary celebrations for the Cooperative movement in Karnataka as a young co-operative leader and honoured at Mysore by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Also visited South Africa, Switzerland, Italy, France, Sri Lanka, U.A.E countries for studying the co-operative sector there.
Ramesh is a keen follower of cricket and is passionate about the same, and reserves one day of the week in spite of his hectic schedule and plays it with the same vigour as that of a youngster. Has traveled across the country and the globe extensively. He is blessed with twin sons who are studying abroad. He also earned praise from all quarters for successfully organizing the Second Vishwa Kannada Sammellan held from March 11-13, 2011 in Belgaum, for the sheer number of visitors who had assembled, and the logistics that was put in place with more than a million people combined sharing their breakfast, lunch and dinner over a period of two days, with not a single complaint.
(As told to Delhi Talks correspondent)