Kota Shivarama Karanth (10 October 1902 – 9 December 1997) was a strong supporter of Consumers’ Forum Basrur and its activities. He participated in all the workshop conducted by the Forum and encouraged the young activists for initial 17 years of this Public Interest Movement. He was a novelist, play writer and an ecological conservationist. He was decorated with Jnanapeetha Award for his Kannada novel ‘Mukkajji Kanasugalu’
Shivarama Karanth was born on 10 October 1902, in Kota near Kundapura in the Udupi district of Karnataka to a Kannada-speaking family. The fifth child of his parents Shesha Karantha and Lakshmamma, he completed his primary education in Kundapura and Mangalore.
Shivaram Karanth was influenced by Gandhi’s principles and took part in Indian Independence movement when he was in college. His participation in the Non-cooperation movement did not allow him to complete his college education which he quit in February 1922. He canvassed for Khadi and Swadeshi in Karnataka led by Indian National Congress for five years till 1927.
Many of Karanth's novels have been translated into other Indian languages. ‘Marali Mannige’ got translated to several Indian languages and he has been conferred the State Sahitya Akademi award.
