B S Shivanna: The Socialist Leader Who Donated 510 Laptops to Empower Underprivileged Students

By Hemavathy M N

In an age where charity often ends with a photograph, B.S. Shivanna treads a different path, a path that builds futures instead of headlines. Realtor by profession, a socialist by philosophy, and Chairman of the Lohia Thinkers Forum by conviction, Shivanna has built a reputation that blends socialism, grassroots philanthropy, and national advocacy.

Since 2019, he has quietly placed 510 laptops into the hands of underprivileged yet meritorious students; young men and women stepping into the demanding worlds of engineering, medicine, MBA, and doctoral research. In the year 2020–21 alone, he reached out to 42 deaf and dumb students, all of them were pursuing technical education: 20 in Mysore and 22 in Bangalore.

He recalls the day he handed a laptop to an exceptionally bright student who secured a seat in Engineering. She was the daughter of blind parents. What struck him was not just her determination, but the quiet strength of the parents who stood as her pillars.

Like her, every recipient of his initiative had already fought immense odds to earn a place in demanding courses. Shivanna’s support steps in precisely at that fragile point; to ensure that a lack of resources never cuts short the journey of talent.
In his own words, “This is not charity, every laptop is an investment in a dream and every dream shapes the nation’s future. This is an attempt to ensure that talent is never wasted for want of resources”.

His socialism is not limited to education, his call for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s portrait to be displayed across temples, mosques, churches, and gurdwaras is a reminder that equality must be worshipped alongside divinity. His latest demand for Ambedkar’s image on Indian currency has stirred national debate and won support from Rahul Gandhi.

Shivanna as a leader strikes us not just by the scale of his philanthropy, but the clarity of his vision. For him, true socialism means working on two fronts: “Changing lives here and now, and changing the way a nation remembers itself”.