Madikeri Kodava Samaja felicitates P.M. Belliappa, Coorg Person,2011
The Madikeri Kodava Samaja on Friday felicitated Mr P.M. Belliappa, retired IAS officer of Tamil Nadu, on his being chosen as the ‘Coorg Person of the Year 2011’ at a well-attended function at Madikeri Kodava Samaj.
Mr Belliappa was selected ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ by Kodagu’s first news portal www.coorgtourisminfo.com, for his illustrious career and on his being decorated with the Most Excellent Order of the ‘Member of the British Empire (MBE) last year by the Queen of England.
In his reply to the felicitations, Mr Belliappa urged the members of the Kodava community to focus their attention on becoming “good professionals”.
He said: “This century is an era of innovation and globalization. The Kodavas will do well if they become good professionals.”
Mr Belliappa noted that education was the key to becoming a good professional. He pointed out that since Kodavas were independent by nature, they should strive for “excellence” in their chosen fields as the community was numerically small, unlike other major communities.
The retired IAS officer recalled that his late father Pemanda Monappa had a ‘modest’ beginning. “Education helped my father to excel in his career as a police officer and he headed the police force of three states, a rare record which was difficult to be broken.”
Mr Belliappa stated that he would be the “happiest” person if a Kodava was selected for the ‘Pemanda Monappa Scholarship’ in perpetuity, established by him in memory of his father at the Cambridge University, a top university in the world.
The retired IAS officer who lives in Chennai and has already extended huge donations to various projects in the native place of his father, assured that he would extend more donations for promoting educational activities in Kodagu.
Among the others who spoke on the occasion include, the President of the Madikeri Kodava Samaja Mathanda M. Chengappa, Vice President Mandepanda M. Kuttaiah, and the promoter of www.coorgtourisminfo.com, journalist and author P.T. Bopanna.
The function was attended by a large number of the members of the Pemanda clan, close relatives of Mr Belliappa, and members of the various ‘keries’ of Madikeri.
