Gangadharaiah Parameshwara (born 6 August 1951) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the seventh Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, as well as the Revenue Minister of Karnataka. He is the longest-serving President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, having served for two consecutive terms.
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Early life and education
Parameshwara was born on 6 August 1951, at Gollahalli (now known as Siddartha Nagar) in Tumkur. He was born to Gangamalamma Chikkanna and former MLC H. M. Gangadharaiah. Gangadharaiah hailed from Hebbalalu village in Kothagere hobli of Kunigal taluk, now in Magadi taluk of Ramanagara district, before shifting to Gangamalamma's village Gollahalli in Tumakuru rural, Parameshwara is the third sibling after older brother Dr. G. Shivaprasad.
He studied primary education at Government School in Gollahalli (Siddartha Nagara) and Heggere, Tumkur. He went to Sri Siddhartha High School at Siddartha Nagar, which was established by his father in 1959. He joined Government Pre-University College in Tumkur and after Pre-University College went on to study for a B.Sc. in agriculture in the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, followed by an M.Sc. in agriculture at the same college. After Post-Graduating, Parameshwara had briefly worked as Research Assistant in Department of Plant Physiology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Later, Parameshwara went overseas and obtained a PhD from Waite Agricultural Research Centre, the University of Adelaide in Plant Physiology.
He joined the National Cadet Corps (India) at an early age. He was an athlete, has a record 10.9 seconds of 100 metres race in University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. He represented Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra College in Inter-College/University and Karnataka state in Indian level.
He stood 4th in the world inter university athletic championship in Belgrade and got selected to train for the Olympics. By then he received national overseas scholarships and decided to pursue academics. Even today Dr. G Parameshwara holds the highest regard for Krishna Hebbar, PhD in physical education from Moscow who trained and encouraged him in his initial days as an athlete.
Career
Parameshwara was an administrative officer in Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology (SSIT Tumkur) when he came back from Australia. Before this, he briefly worked as a research assistant in the Department of Plant Physiology at UAS, Bangalore.
In mid-1988, he helped his father to establish Sri Siddhartha Medical College, Hospital & Research Centre, which was earlier rejected by Medical Council of India & Ramakrishna Hegde's Government, but Bangalore University had approved and later Supreme Court of India gave permission to sanction the college.
In 1989, for the inauguration of the Sri Siddhartha Medical College, Parameshwara, along with Education Minister S. M. Yahya, and Mallikarjun Kharge who was then president of the Sri Siddhartha Education Society, invited Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. When Parameshwara went for the third time with Yahya to meet Gandhi, Gandhi told Parameshwara to enter politics. Eventually S. M. Yahya took Parameshwara to then AICC general secretary Mohsina Kidwai and made him joint secretary of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
Political career
In 1989 Parameshwara won against his nearest rival C. Rajavardhan of Janata Dal in Madhugiri Constituency.
In 1993, Parameshwara served as Minister of State for Sericulture during Veerappa Moily cabinet.
In 1999, Parameshwara set a record in the 1999 election to the Assembly from Madhugiri by winning the seat by a margin of 55,802 votes. It was the biggest victory margin in the elections that year. He polled 71,895 votes and his runner up Gangahanumaiah of Janata Dal (Secular) secured only 16,093 votes. Parameshwara's poll was the highest in the state during 1999 election.
From 1999 to 2004, he has served as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Higher Education and Science & Technology portfolios also as Tumkur district incharge Minister in S. M. Krishna Cabinet.
On 18 August 2001, he was inducted as Minister of State for Medical Education (attached to health minister) exchanging Science & Technology for Medical Education with Nafees Fazal.
On 27 June 2002, Parameshwara was promoted to cabinet rank by then Chief Minister S. M. Krishna citing that they needed younger face in politics.
On 13 December 2003, he was inducted as Minister of Information & Publicity succeeding Prof. B.K. Chandrashekar.
In 2004, Parameshwara won against his nearest rival Kenchamaraiah H. of Janata Dal (Secular) in Madhugiri.
From 2007 to 2009, Dr. G. Parameshwara served as Congress Working Committee Member.
In 2008, he represented Koratagere as winning against runner up Chandraiah of Janata Dal (Secular).
Ministerial career
Education Minister (1999–2004)
As the Higher Education Minister, Parameshwara piloted the amendment to the Karnataka State Universities Bill 2003, which led to the establishment of a separate Women's University in Bijapur. This university will serve as an affiliating university for 12 regions in North Karnataka and will be the seventh women's university in the country, following those in Mumbai, Tirupathi, Kodaikanal, Jammu, Rajasthan, and Coimbatore. Notably, it will be the first affiliating women's university in the country.
Parameshwara was chairman on board for Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000 and then he was Higher Education minister in S. M. Krishna Cabinet who piloted a Bill (Amending Act 10 of 2004) in February 2004 for an exclusive University in Tumkur.
This act carved out half of Bangalore University to make Tumkur University at Tumkur for Tumkur, Kolar and Bangalore Rural. In the beginning, they created Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan for office purposes about 3 years as 200 acres land for the university wasn't available in Tumkur. Later vast land of Govt. Science & Arts College was used for University.
On 12 January 2007, Tumkur University was inaugurated by Governor T. N. Chaturvedi and Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy after 3 years of passing Bill. It was delayed due to lack of infrastructure and funds from the successor coalition government and then Chief Minister Dharam Singh who had announced the withdrawal of the government order which froze the setting up of Tumkur university.
Speaking at the Teachers Day celebration organised by the directorate of collegiate education, Parameshwara said the government had already commenced recruitment of college teachers. "We would like it to be 50 per cent for women. We are considering it," he said. He signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Australian Government for teachers to undertake an exchange programme for faculty improvement.
In SM Krishna tenure, Parameshwara created a new educational block for Madhugiri which comprised Madhugiri, Koratagere, Sira and Pavagada.
Home Minister (2015–2017)
Parameshwara signed MoU with Germany's Bavaria Police to improve Department of Home Affairs of Karnataka. A detailed study of the Bavarian system of policing was conducted during his visit to Germany. He said, "In Bavaria, top priority is given to the safety of women, children and senior citizens. They have successfully implemented a people-friendly policing system. Over 82% of the population in Bavaria is happy with the system. The same model will be implemented in Bengaluru". As per the MoU, police personnel from Bengaluru will be sent to Bavaria for training. Bavarian officials will also visit Bengaluru for this purpose. Awareness will be raised among schoolchildren on traffic and law and order with the help of Bavarian Police.
Sexual harassment incidents involving children occurred frequently, and despite police registering cases, conducting investigations, and submitting final reports to the courts, negligence by both staff and school management was evident in nearly all cases. To address and regulate the activities of school staff and management to ensure the safety and security of children, G. Parameshwara, the then Home Minister, made amendments to the Karnataka Police Act of 1963. The clause now reads, "Regulating, controlling, and monitoring the safety and security of children." Defending its move, the government responded in the assembly that the act would empower the police with more authority for the effective monitoring of situations in schools.
He set up a coastal police academy over 25 acres in Udupi, and also noted that the regular police currently being appointed to the coastal units were not trained for swimming in the ocean or handling other work specific to their area of operation. "So now we intend to make separate recruitments for the coastal police and train them at the academy," he said.
Introduced in 1997 during J. H. Patel term, Parameshwara upgraded it during his term as Home Minister in Siddaramaiah cabinet. Upgraded with 222 Maruti Ertiga vehicles, they were monitored and controlled from the Hoysala control room attached to the Command Centre, which works as centralised unit for monitoring complaints received at the control room and social networking sites.
Deputy chief minister (2018–2019)
Parameshwara proposed Science City for Mysore, the first in South India, In joint collaboration by the Government of India and Government of Karnataka. The land was given by Suttur Mutt. "The Science City, which will come up at a cost of Rs 200 crore, will emerge as the biggest city in south India." said by Dr. G. Parameshwara, Suttur Mutt offered 25 acres for this project.
On 1 June 2019, Parameshwara signed a MoU with Netherland company SweepSmart to provide better infrastructure to BBMP's 10 existing waste facilities in the city to "Smart Waste Centres" with their smart equipment, site lay-out, processes and KPI dashboard.
Parameshwara signed a MoU with 3Wayste SAS, France to improve waste segregation in BBMP, Bangalore.
Parameshwara demanded the loss making HMT's Land to Indian Space Research Organisation when the NDA-led Union government decided to close HMT on 30 April 2016, Parameshwara appealed to hand it over to ISRO instead of private companies. Parameshwara praised S.P. Muddahanumegowda, MP, for succeeding in handing over the land to ISRO. it would later create more than 4,000 jobs in the district and will boost the economy of the district. G. Parameshwara thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for establishing ISRO and HAL units in the Tumakuru district.
Parameshwara got TenderSURE roads to Bangalore Under the CBD project, major roads, including Subedar Chatram Road: from KG Road up to Seshadri Road, Gubbi Totadappa Road: from Khoday Circle via Goods Shed Road junction up to KG Road, Dhanvantari Road: from Upparpet police station to Anand Rao Circle, WH Hanumanthappa Road, roads around Gandhinagar, Bhashyam Road (Cottonpete Main Road) have been developed. A total of 9.73 km have been upgraded under the project.
Parameshwara launched a Field Traffic Violation Report (FTVR) app in 2017, which greatly helped the cops crack down on violators in some of the major junctions and roads across Hubballi Darwad twin cities. This app became an integral part of their mechanism since August 2019.
Home minister (2023–present)
Parameshwara introduced the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which amends the Karnataka Police Act to extend the minimum tenure for police officers in operational roles from one year to two years. This amendment aims to enhance the effectiveness of policing and reduce corruption related to postings. The new rule applies to officers holding the ranks of Additional Director-General of Police on field duty, Inspector General of Police, Superintendents of Police in charge of districts, Additional Superintendents of Police on operational duties, and Circle Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors in charge of police stations. The one-year tenure had previously been a hindrance, especially for officers at the Inspector level, as frequent transfers prevented them from becoming familiar with their jurisdictions, thereby impacting the efficiency of law enforcement, crime detection, and intelligence gathering. However, some officers, particularly in Bengaluru, managed to stay in preferred postings for extended periods, which could lead to the development of vested interests. The amendment aims to strike a balance by providing stability for officers while ensuring that they gain experience in both urban and rural areas. The government is also tasked with addressing the issue of officers who have remained in specific posts for too long, despite the political influence they may wield.
Controversial statements
He faced criticism after making a controversial remark about a Bengaluru woman's harassment case, saying, 'Incidents like these tend to happen here and there in a big city like this.' However, he later apologised for his statement.
Personal life
Parameshwara married Kannika Parameshwari, his friend's sister. The two had met while Parameshwara was studying in Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra, later married in 1982 in Tumakuru as per Buddhist norms. He is an Ambedkarite, a follower of BR Ambedkar. Parameshwara believes in Buddhism and its philosophy. Parameshwara is an art collector and artefacts picked up by him on his visits to many places.
Appointments and fellowships
Parameshwara has held various appointments and fellowships. These include:
Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka
Home Minister of Karnataka
President, Karnataka Athletics Association
Member, Board of Regent, University of Agriculture Science, Bangalore
Chairman, Sri Siddhartha University (SAHE), Tumkur
Honorary Joint Secretary, Sri Siddhartha Education Society.
Chairman, Karnataka Science & Technology Board, Tumkur
Member, Karnataka Library Authority
Member, Committee on Open University
Member, Price Fixation Committee on Agriculture
Member, Australian Society of Plant Physiology
Member, Indian Society of Plant Physiology
Member, Indian Society of Agricultural Science
Fellow of the Indian Institute of Agricultural Technologists
Fellow of the Indian Society of Technical Education
Awards
Karnataka Game Changer Award 2017(U. K. Karnataka Business Chamber)
National Unity Award in 1993
Distinguished Leadership Award