A towering personality in Idiga community. Born on October 19, 1925 at Rajanukunte, Doddaballapur Taluk, Bangalore Rural district, had a graduation from Maharaja College Mysore. Returned to native place after the graduation to look after the family tradition of agriculture. His outspoken nature and bold manner brought him to the co operative field to represent farming community. He was elected as a director and became chairman of State Apex Bank. His organisational skills was recognised by Devaraj Arasu, former chief minister of Karnakata and he made him as the member of Karnataka Legislative Council.
Soon after entering political field, Mr Jalappa become a force to recon with. The first ever non congress government headed by Mr Ramakrishna Hegde included Mr Jalappa in to the State ministry as a cabinet minister to look after Co operation Department. Mr. Jalappa, who was a farmer, knew the plight of rural working section waived off the interest of the farm loan. This measure of loan waiver to the farming community was the first of its kind in the entire country. Even the Union Government headed by Mr V.P.Singh followed this measure to help the farmers by waiving off their outstanding loans to some extent.
Mr. Jalappa held various ministries in Karnataka government where he made his mark very loud and clear. His political career extended to Delhi as a MP from Chikkaballapur in 1996 where he became central cabinet minister in H D Deve Gowda Government. Being a dynamic textiles minister he helped crores of weaving artisans by introducing several measures. Mr Jalappa is an educationalist also. He started Sri Devaraja Arasu educational trust for backwards classes during eighties and several educational institutions, including medical and engineering colleges are functioning under this trust.
Being a philanthropist, Mr Jalappa is distributing Scholarships to poor and meritorious Idiga boys and girls to pursue their education since 2006. Thousands of poor boys and girls studying in various grades are getting scholarships from Smt Vijayalakshmi R L Jalappa Educational Foundation. Mr Jalappa helped the Karnataka Pradesha Arya Idigara Sangha in getting 14 acres of revenue land at Soluru to develop an educational campus to conduct extension activities for the community. The Sprawling campus has been developed by community leaders with donations and Government grants.
When Idiga Noukarara Kshemabhivruddi Sangha was contemplating to train community graduates to prepare themselves to appear for competitive examinations, Mr Jalappa summoned the leaders of the sangha and offered financial help. Mr J P Narayana Swamy, then the president of Karnakata Arya Idigara Sangha and Sri Sudha Co operative Bank, prevailed upon Mr Jalappa to associate with the venture that the Noukarara Sangha is contemplating.
This process culminated with the establishment of `R L Jalappa Academy' at Soluru. The Academy started with financial support of Sri Devaraja Arasu Educational Trust for Backward Classes headed by Jalappa. He is the founder and Mentor of 'R L Jalappa Academy'. Mr J P Narayana Swamy and Mr M Thimme Gowda are also appointed as trustees to the Academy. Other members of the Academy are: Mr H L Shivananda, Mr. Lakshmana Kodase, Mr. G H Nagaraju, Mr K G Hanumantharaju, Mr Rakesh, Mr T Narasimha Swamy, Mr. N Udaya, and Prof. Shivaraju.
R L Jalappa Aacdemy is a registered Trust and has the following office bearers: H L Shivananda (President), Lakshmana Kodase (Secretary), K G Hanumantharaju (Treasurer) and all Trustees are members of the Academy.
