A boy in bondage
Somanna’s life begins with the very injustice he later worked against. According to his official Padma citation, he was born on 1 June 1957 and belongs to the Jenu Kuruba community, classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
After his father’s death he had to leave school after Class IV. To support the family he was pushed into bonded labour, where he stayed until he was about 18. After 1978, free of it, he turned to the Dalit movement and to building tribal organisations.
Organising the forest
In 1981 he began organising tribal communities in the H.D. Kote, Saraguru and Mysuru areas with the Budakattu Krushikara Sangha (BKS). He took part in movements and legal processes on forest rights, displacement, PESA and the Forest Rights Act.
In the context of a 2009 High Court order, his citation records the rehabilitation of 3,418 families, community forest rights for 19 haadis (hamlets), and individual rights for about 300 families.
Citizenship, not charity
His work did not stop at land. Under the BKS, displaced families were helped to get farmland, housing, roads, drinking water, schools, pensions, ration cards and voter IDs.
Somanna’s story shows that social work is sometimes not charity at all, but a long process of winning legal citizenship and collective rights.
Sources
- Padma Awards 2024: official citation
- MyGov: profile
- New India Samachar: Padma feature
- padmaawards.gov.in/Document/pdf/CitationsForTickets/2024/2024117.pdf
- secure.mygov.in/padma-shri/?field_year_value=All&page=33
- newindiasamachar.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/Magazine/2024/Feb/M202402161.pdf