Panduranga Setty leaves behind a rich legacy in education

"My Dear Rotarians, Each dialysis machine costs Rs 7 lakh. You could contribute in multiples of Rs 7 lakhs or even half of that amount. May I request that you please message me your willingness to support our club through this project? Thank you so much in advance," wrote Dr M K Panduranga Setty, a Rotarian, in his appeal on December 6, 2022. He left for his heavenly abode on January 21, 2023. Till his last breath, Dr Setty was trying to raise money for a noble cause, notwithstanding his own advanced age and related health challenges. A philanthropist at heart, he strove all his life for the noble causes taken up by Rotary International.

He was responding to an appeal from the District Health Officer, Mandya, about the lack of such machines in Taluk General Hospitals for needy patients. The DHO pointed out that each patient required a minimum of three cycles of dialysis per week, and the waiting period for patients had been increasing due to a shortage of machines.

Dr Panduranga Setty not only gave Rotary a significant contribution from his personal funds but also guided its efforts as its director between 1991-93. He was an epitome of Rotary’s ideals and spirit; Rotary brought out a special book, Service Above Self: The Biography of Dr M K Panduranga Setty. It was released on July 4, 2021 in a virtual event at which I was invited to speak. Before the event started, I saw the warmth with which Rotary members from across the world connected with him; he was fondly addressed variously as Pandu uncle, Pandu Sir and Dr Pandu. I could at once gauge the depth of his contribution to the Rotary movement and social service.

Bengaluru is home to prestigious public institutions like the IISc, IIM and Institute of Social and Economic Change. Dr Setty was associated with them in their formative stages as a representative of the industry. He steered the Rashtreeya Sikshana Samithi Trust for nearly five decades and helped establish 22 top-quality academic institutions in Bengaluru, in which over 20,000 students are currently enrolled.

The RV Educational Institutions have graduated over 400,000 students who are now working across the globe. The RV College of Engineering, an autonomous college, is among the most preferred institutions; the RV College of Architecture is at No. 4 in Outlook rankings. SSMRV Degree College for Men is among the top five colleges in India for best value for money in the India Today rankings. Each of the 22 institutions has many achievements to its credit made possible by the excellent infrastructure, financial resources, and other resources provided by the RSST.

Much before the Government of India established a nodal ministry for skill development, Dr Setty established RV Skills. It is India's first centre of its kind for skill development and training in emerging technologies. In its 12 years of existence, three million man-hours of skills training have been delivered.

His efforts have developed over 4,500 skilled engineers. RV-SKILLS has successfully completed corporate training programmes in low-power VLSI design for Qualcomm and Synopsys in India, San Diego, and South Korea. It also completed and delivered self-learning content in seven emerging technologies to the Karnataka Skill Development Corporation. As the Chancellor of RV University, he guided its efforts with great care. He also nurtured other RV educational institutions with passion. He was secretary for Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges and provided leadership. He was closely associated with COMEDK.

He collaborated with the former President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr Abdul Kalam, and co-created an incubation centre for bamboo composites in partnership with the Technology Information, Forecasting, and Assessment Council under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (RV-TIFAC).

He was conferred the Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award in 2016 by the FKCCI; he was a recipient of Karnataka Rajyothsava Award among several other awards. Dr M K Panduranga Setty is an institution-builder, industrialist, educationist and philanthropist par excellence. In his death, we have lost a great human being.

(The writer is Founding Vice Chancellor, RV University, Bengaluru.)