SDM (Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara) institutions run extensive community outreach and social transformation programs, driven by the core values of the SDM Educational Society and the Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala shrine. These initiatives focus on a wide range of areas including healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, and societal upliftment.
SDM SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY-THEMES
• Water Conservation
• Energy Conservation
• Civic Sense
• Anti Drug Abuse
• No Food Wastage
SKDRDP
Rural Development and Women Empowerment
SKDRDP In 1982, Dr. Heggade established the Shree Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP), a comprehensive initiative to lift rural families out of poverty through education, credit, and collective action
The Self-Help Groups (SHGs) Revolution
SKDRDP began organising women from vulnerable sections of society in 1993. The philosophy behind women self-help groups centered on empowering woman member of family by providing her with access to adequate credit. This enables the woman to handle money, resulting in her becoming selfconfident. As her access to funds improves, she becomes a key participant in the household’s decision-making process.
Furthermore, the group dynamics, specific practices and social empowerment training would collectively empower the group member, permanently elevating her status within her family and society. As a result of this movement, women were able to improve their livelihoods, engage in income-generating activities, and contribute to their family income.
The success of SKDRDP also encouraged the rural farmers, weaker section of people to form men’s self-help groups. At present, 6.3 lakh self-help groups operate consisting 53 lakh members managed by SKDRDP and linked to scheduled bank for credit facility at very affordable cost.
Jnanavikasa The School of Life
Jnanavikasa is a forum for rural women to develop their skills, express their talents and empower themselves in the company of the rural community. For this purpose a separate programme has
been developed by SKDRDP.
Ably guided by Smt. Hemavathi Heggade, Trustee of SKDRDP, this programme has reached out to more than 6,670 villages bringing in 3,37,709 women. They undertake capacity building program, awareness programs once in a month for about two hours at a common center. This program mainly concentrates on 6 subjects like- health and hygiene, family harmony, nutrition, importance of education, utilization of government facilities and self-employment. 6,670 Jnanavikasa centers are functioning across the state. These centers have a total of 3,37,709 members.
JanaMangala Support to handicapped and differently abled
SKDRDP supports with equipment like wheel chair, water bed, walking stick etc., to the unfortunate victims of disease and accidents who lose their vital parts like the leg, arm etc. Needy persons approach the field offices of SKDRDP and the required equipments will be provided at the door step. So far more than 33,693 such equipment’s have been provided to right beneficiaries
Common Service Center Schemes
The Common Service Centers is one of the mission mode projects under the Digital India Programme initiated by CSC e-Governance Services India Limited promoted by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt. of India. CSCs are internet enabled access points for delivery of various Digital Services to the citizens.
CSC Enables transparent and timely delivery of government and other e services for rural people at their village level. Speedy delivery of various Govt. Schemes and programmes to right beneficiaries without illegitimate inducements is one of the vital outputs of the programme. Its role as last mile distribution units for various governments direct benefits to deserved and right beneficiaries.
Vathsalya Programme (Houses for helpless people)
Smt. Hemavathi V Heggade has conceptualized and initiated one of the unique programmes called ‘Vathsalya’ in the year 2020 for taking care of helpless people who are basically neglected from their family and leaving alone with pathetic condition. She initiated a comprehensive survey through Jnanavikasa Taluk Coordinators to know their living condition in detail. The survey brought many facts of their life condition such as lack of availability of minimum basic needs like cloth, basic cooking containers, bed, No shelter, plastic roof shelter without walls, No toilet/ bathroom, lack of water facility etc.
Sujnananidhi Scholarship Programme
Dr. Heggade’s Sujnananidhi scholarship programme aims to support students from poor families pursuing professional courses. Launched in 2007, the programme provides monthly scholarships ranging from ₹400 to ₹1,000, depending on the course. In 2025-26, ₹2,128.70 lakh was distributed to 52,634 students, taking the total to ₹15,274.42 lakh for 1,25,010 students since inception.
Jnana Deepa Education Programme
SKDRDP’s Jnana Deepa Programme provides quality education to students. To address teacher shortages, SKDRDP offers volunteer teachers to schools as a grant, ensuring uninterrupted learning.
SKDRDP collaborates with the Department of Education, School Development Committees, and Village Panchayats to implement these initiatives. Grants are provided for various school infrastructure development projects, including: Construction and repair of school building, toilets and sanitation facilities, compound walls and playgrounds, drinking water units and teaching aids, sports materials and school electricity
De-Addiction Programme
Jana Jagruthi Forum promoted by Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade is working jointly with SKDRDP in prevention of alcoholic and drug abuse among the public. Realising the need to wean away poor people from alcoholic abuse, the Forum is conducting de-addiction camps and mass awareness programs. It is also conducting awareness campaigns in schools by organizing camps, rallies, street plays etc. To date, over 1,995 de-addiction camps have been organized across Karnataka, resulting in the successful treatment of more than 1,34,257 individuals struggling with addiction.
Yantrashri
Recognizing that traditional paddy farming has become increasingly unviable due to labor shortages and rising costs, Dr. Heggade’s team launched Yantrashri, a mechanized paddy cultivation program. Instead of hiring laborers who demand high wages, farmers are provided access to modern machinery for planting and harvesting.
In its first phase, mechanized cultivation covered 1,00,254 acres belonging to 44,119 farmers. For the duration of 2025-26, the program is expanding to 25,000 acres across 89 taluks. A farmer who was about to abandon agriculture can now continue farming profitably, preserving livelihoods and agricultural land
Sampoorna Suraksha and Arogya Raksha Health Insurance Programme
SKDRDP works as an aggregator insurance partner for providing health insurance to its member and families for meeting the hospitalization expenses. Started in the year 2003 the health insurance programme of SKDRDP was one of the earliest in the country to provide health insurance. Currently 30 lakhs members are enrolled into Sampoorna Suraksha and Arogya Raksha Schemes.
Shudda Ganga Project
This is a unique project where the drinking water in remote rural villages are purified by removing the toxic fluoride content and hardness. For this, heavy duty reverse osmosis plants have been installed in 520 villages of the state 1,35,803 families are taking around 27.16 lakh liters of pure water from these plants every day
Social Forestry – Planting 1 million fruit bearing trees across the forest area
Poojya Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade is providing special importance to forestation in various districts of the Karnataka during last three decades by organizing “planting tree rows”, “Devara Kaadu”, “Shaala Vana” and “Pragathi Vana” through SKDRDP. He is also providing importance to forestation by planting forest trees on the banks of lakes developed through “Nammuru-Namma Kere” programme. Till now 40,28,000 plants are planted in 11,121 hectares land by organizing 8,497 environment awareness programmes across the state. Poojya Heggade implemented a unique concept of making available of food to wild animals at forest itself by planting fruit bearing trees across the forest area.
Tank Rejuvenation Projects
Lakes restoration has emerged as a signature initiative of the Shree Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP). Recognizing that traditional village lakes and tanks are critical lifelines for agriculture, SKDRDP launched an extensive program aimed at reviving and rehabilitating these crucial water bodies across Karnataka. Through community-driven efforts and scientific desilting practices, hundreds of lakes have been restored, transforming barren beds back into thriving reservoirs. SKDRDP’s focused approach also involves empowering local villagers with training in lake maintenance, ensuring sustainable upkeep long after restoration. By safeguarding these traditional water bodies, SKDRDP not only preserves the ecological fabric of rural Karnataka but also reinforces livelihoods.
