No time would have been more apt to bring out a book on the life and achievements of one of the architects of the erstwhile South Canara district — Vaman Srinivas (V.S.) Kudva (1899-1967) — than this year, when the Canara Public Conveyance (CPC) which he rebuilt, is celebrating its centenary.
Kudva was a contemporary of the architect of Manipal — Tonse Madhav Ananth (T.M.A.) Pai and parliamentarian Ullal Srinivas (U.S.) Mallya. The trio are considered the architects of the undivided South Canara — Kudva as a multifaceted entrepreneur, Pai as a banker and educationist and Mallya as the leader of the masses.
Many interesting aspects of Kudva’s life that may not be well known, have been compiled in “V.S. Kudva, Life and Achievements” written by M.V. Mallya and brought out by Canara Foundation, the erstwhile Canara Foreign Student Loan Scholarship founded by Kudva.
Releasing the Kannada and English versions of these works here on Thursday, entrepreneur and educationist Nitte Vinay Hegde said the book should be made available in all educational institutions in order to inspire thousands of students. “I owe my present status to Kudva, with whom I was associated from 1960 till his death and not a single day of mine passes off without remembering Kudva,” he said on the occasion.
Kudva completely rebuilt the public transport industry in the district which was on a shaky ground in the 1930-40’s. He introduced the combined ticket booking system to eliminate unhealthy competition among operators. He was an educationist too and donated family land in Mulki to establish Vijaya College. He was one of the three founding directors of Syndicate Bank along with T.M.A. Pai and T. Upendra Pai, Mr. Hegde said.
Perhaps Kudva was the first one to visualise the future and create a roadmap for the development of the district and constantly gave the feedback to U.S. Mallya, who was at the forefront taking the issues forward. They include New Mangalore Port, Mangalore Airport, highways and bridges, and the Mangalore-Hassan railway line, Mr. Hegde said.
K.T. Rai, Field General Manager, Syndicate Bank, announced that the bank would distribute the book among its branches as well as educational institutions at its cost as a tribute to the founder.
