Poolakuntahalli Raghunath Reddy, an aspirant for the Karnataka Vokkaligara Sangha director post, met Sri Mangalanandaswami of Adichunchanagiri mutt's Chikkaballapura branch to discuss community organisation and youth opportunities.
B. Virupakshappa, Sidlaghatta's first Municipal Council President, turned his home into a school for four years and donated 13 acres of land plus Rs 30,000 to build the town's first permanent high school, which later educated Prema Karanth and generations of students.
Kisan Silk Industries, the Melur silk-reeling factory inaugurated by Sir M. Visvesvaraya in 1952, gave hundreds of rural women their first regular paid employment and economic independence in Sidlaghatta taluk, Chikkaballapura district.
