M. R. Seetharam is an Indian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

educationist Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

from the state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. He was nominated as a member of

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in 2012. He was the Minister for Planning, Statistics, Science and Technology in the Congress state Government. He is also the

Vice-Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of Gokula Education Foundation and Director of

M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology Ramaiah Institute of Technology (RIT), formerly known as M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), is a private engineering college located in Bengaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka. Established in 1962, the college is affiliated to Vi ...

, M.S. Ramaiah Polytechnic and M.S. Ramaiah Hostels. M.R. Seetharam has worked towards preserving the parks and lung spaces in his constituency. He has also implemented the Government's Self Employment Schemes like Antyodaya, Akshara Dasoha and Yeshaswini Co-operate Health Schemes.

Early life and family

M. R. Seetharam was born on 4 April 1956,

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, Karnataka. He is the son of late Dr. M. S. Ramaiah, one of the pioneers in

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

Healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

who founded the Gokula Education Foundation (GEF). He received his primary education from St. Joseph's School. He holds a graduate degree in Science from St. Joseph's College. He is married to Shruthy Seetharam who is a homemaker and is actively involved in social activities involving the poor and needy. He has two children, the elder son Raksha Ramaiah is a member of

Indian Youth Congress The Indian Youth Congress is the youth wing of the Indian National Congress party. The Indian Youth Congress was a department of the Indian National Congress from the period just after the Partition of India in 1947 until the late 1960s. Whil ...

holding the post of Vice President, Bangalore Urban District. His younger son Sundar Ram is also an office bearer in IYC holding the post of

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Malleswaram Malleshwaram is a northwest neighbourhood and one of the zones of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in Bengaluru, India. It was planned in 1889 after the great plague of 1898, developed as a suburb in 1892 and handed over to the city munic ...

Assembly constituency.

Political life

M.R. Seetharam started his political journey as the president of the Students Governing Council in St. Joseph's College. He entered mainstream politics by joining the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and started off by serving as an executive member of Karnataka Pradesh Congress (I) Sevadal in 1986. He was appointed the Treasurer of Karnataka Pradesh Congress (I) from the year 1989 – 1992 and KPCC Sevadal from 1992 – 1996. He was elected as a member of KPCC in the year 1997. M.R. Seetharam fought his first election in the year 1999. He won the Malleshwaram Constituency defeating his JD(U) rival Raghupathy M with a margin of 20,000 votes. This was the first time Congress won a seat from Malleshwaram Assembly Constituency after Independence. He won the next assembly election from Malleswaram in the year 2004 defeating his BJP rival Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan with a margin of 11,000 votes. In 2008, he lost the Malleshwaram constituency elections to his nearest rival. From 1997 – 2000, he was the In-charge to run the party offices and also the In-charge for Bengaluru division of

Bengaluru Urban Bengaluru Urban district is the most densely populated of the thirty-one List of districts of Karnataka, districts that comprise the Indian state of Karnataka. It is surrounded by the Bengaluru Rural district on the east and north, the Ramanag ...

, Rural,

Kolar Kolar may refer to: Places India * Kolar, Karnataka, a city in India **Kolar Assembly constituency *Kolar district, in Karnataka, India *Kolar Gold Fields, former gold mines in Karnataka, India **KGF (disambiguation) **Kolar Gold Field Assembly co ...

Tumkur Tumkur, officially Tumakuru, is a city and headquarters of Tumakuru district in the Karnataka state of India. Tumkur is known for Siddaganga Matha. Tumkur hosts India's first mega food park, a project of the ministry of food processing. The Ind ...

Shimoga Shimoga, officially Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the Karnataka state of India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of the Western Ghats, the city ...

Davanagere Dāvanagere is a city in the centre of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the seventh largest city in the state, and the administrative headquarters of eponymous Davangere district. Hitherto being a cotton hub and hence popularly kno ...

Chitradurga Chitradurga is a city and the headquarters of Chitradurga district, which is located on the valley of the Vedavati river in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Chitradurga is a place with historical significance and a major tou ...

Mysuru Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

Haveri Haveri or Hāvēri is a city and headquarters of Haveri district of Karnataka State in India. Haveri is famous for its cardamom garlands, Byadagi red chillies and Hukkeri Math. Around 25 km away, there is a place called Bada, which is the b ...

districts for the Zilla Parishad elections 2000. M.R. Seetharam was elected

AICC The Akaike information criterion (AIC) is an estimator of prediction error and thereby relative quality of statistical models for a given set of data. Given a collection of models for the data, AIC estimates the quality of each model, relative to e ...

member in the year 2001. While serving as an MLA of Malleswaram, INC won five out of seven wards of

assembly in the

BBMP Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was the administrative body responsible for civic amenities and some infrastructural assets of the Greater Bengaluru metropolitan area. It was the fourth largest Municipal Corporation in India and ...

elections held on 11 November 2001. M.R. Seetharam has worked as Member of the KPCC Campaign Committee 2013 for the Congress party candidates in the districts of

, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru City for the Assembly elections. In the year 2016 he was sworn in as Cabinet Minister for Planning, Statistics, Science and Technology and also Incharge Minister for Kodagu District Govt of Karnataka .

Contributions and Initiatives

1999 – 2003 * Provided permanent houses to more than 300 Sikh immigrants * Distributed hundreds of auto rickshaws under self-employment scheme to the youth * Renovated and developed Parsi Garden Slum * Distributed hundreds of sewing machines to trained women and granted stipend to women trained in embroidery * Development and rejuvenation of Sankey Tank Garden along with a joggers pathway through his own contribution 2004 – 2008 * During his second term as MLA, he got 70 crore sanctioned from BBMP for the following developments: **Mattikere – Gokula Railway Overbridge **Malleshwaram Overbridge **Yeshwanthpur Overbridge which was opened to public from 1 May 2008 * He helped set up the BBMP computer training centre in Yeshwanthpur which provides free training to people. 75 percent of the trainees are women (homemakers) and girls. More than 800 people have been trained so far through this initiative. The salaries of instructors and for the maintenance is borne by M.R. Seetharam * He contributed towards setting up Computer Labs in two P.U. Girls Colleges to impart technical education * Opened Govt. Model School from MLA fund for underprivileged children * Distributed free notebooks to 6 lakh students studying in government, aided and private schools in the assembly * Distribution of Artificial Limbs and other necessary equipment for the handicapped * Under the Valmiki Ambedkar Planning Project, Sunnadagoodu slum residents got pakka houses * Supported blood donation and health camps across the state through M.S. Ramaiah Medical Institutions * Provided thousands of scholarships to students from backward communities belonging to rural parts of the state

Achievements as the Planning Minister of Karnataka

* M.R Seetharam helped the evicted families to settle in Bayadagotta and Beserahalli of Somawarpet taluk and Kedanallur of Virajpet taluk. New layout was formed to locate them along with creation of Basic facilities such as housing, electrification, road, and drinking water facilities to rehabilitate them after they were forcefully evacuated by the Forest Department from Diddahalli village and Hoddur-palyamadu burial ground. * Completed various projects like Bapuji center in Gudda Hosur, Public Park at Harangi Dam, "St.Annamma Church" at Virajpet, Post-metric Ladies Hostel at Chennagiri Basavanahalli and Morarji Desai-Residential School Buildings. * Completed 48 War Soldiers Memorial-at Virajpet, which was built with the support of Kodava Samaja. * Laid foundation for local bus stand and Zilla Panchayath Office at Madikeri. * Laid foundation for the Science Centre in Kodagu.

Mobile Planetarium

M.R. Seetharam flagged the mobile Planetarium initiative called "Taare Zameen Par" in 2017. A total of 5 mobile vans will travel across the state to impart and educate students from the rural parts of the state on Astronomy. This is a first of its kind initiative in the country. There are a total of 7 planetariums in the country which are inaccessible by students in the semi-urban and rural parts of the country. This initiative of mobile planetarium will give access to more and more students to such facilities and help them learn about the universe in an entertaining way.

Positions and Representations

* Minister for Planning, Statistics, Science and Technology Government of Karnataka 2016–2018 * In-charge Minister for Kodagu District, Government of Karnataka * Member of Legislative Council(MLC) 2012, Government of Karnataka * Elected as MLA from Malleshwaram Constituency in 1999 and 2004 * Treasurer of Congress Legislature Party 1999, 2008-2009 * Member of the Subject Committee of Karnataka Legislature for the Housing & Urban Development * Member of the Subject Committee of Karnataka Legislature for the Health & Family Welfare Department * Member of Karnataka Postal Circle from Karnataka Legislature * Member of Public Undertaking Committee in the Karnataka Legislature 1997 – 2007 * Nominated to Academic Council Member to Bengaluru University in 2004 * Elected as AICC Member in 2001 and 2007 * General Secretary KPCC 1997 – 2002

References

External links

MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seetharam, M. R. Living people 1956 births Karnataka MLAs 1999–2004 Karnataka MLAs 2004–2007 Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Members of the Karnataka Legislative Council