A.S.P. College of Commerce - Bijapur Liberal District Education Association (BLDEA), Sholapur Road, Bijapur-586 103, Karnataka

A nearly 100 years (established in 1910) old Organization, Bijapur Liberal District Education Association, affectionately referred to as BLDEA, like many a large organizations had a humble beginning. But it had a great visionary like PG Halakatti as its founding father and a great statesman like BM Patil as custodian. Moreover it always had the spiritual and moral blessings of seers like Shri Shantveer Swamijee of Babaleshwar and Poojya Shri Banthanal Mahaswamijee. One could say that the Organization itself is lucky to have such people behind it.

It was the 23rd of October, 1910. Shri PG halakatti called a meeting of some of the well wishers and leaders of the society in the shop of Shri Jamma. The meeting was presided over by Shri S.V.Sarnaik of Halagali. Shri G.A. Hiremath, Dty. Collector, Shri S.S.Ghali, Mamaledar, Shri R.B.Kittur, Mamaledar, Shri Sangappa Saradesai(Rakkasagi), Shri Gangappa Desai(Sonn), Shri Shankarao Desai(Jambagi), Shri S.J.Deshmukh(Almel), Shri Mudigoudappa Patil(Babalad), Shri Dundappa Saniknawar, Shri Gurulingayya Lonarmath, Shri Dundappa Jogur, Shri Chanabasappa Shirahatti, Shri Veerabasappa Shreshthi, Shri Shivamurthiswami Kanabargimath were some of the leaders of the society that attended the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to create some form of an infrastructure to provide educational facilities to the poorer and socially backward populace of the district. In 1917 the first child of the Association, Shri Siddheshwar High School was started. It started by the taking over of Basel Mission English School, which was on the verge of closure. There were just 83 students and 8 teachers to begin with. In 1919 the School got permission to start pre-matriculation and matriculation classes. The founding fathers took great pains in collecting funds for the starting of the School and the construction of the School building. Funds were collected by keeping Donation Boxes (Hundi) in small and big shops wherein the donors would put their contributions.

Those were the days where higher education was a thing of dreams only for the poorer sections of the society. There were no collegiate education facilities nearby and the aspirants were to go to places like Poona, Bombay, Kolhapur or Dharwad. It was not an easy task to start a College in Bijapur given the financial status of the Association. But the zeal and the tenacity of the founding fathers did not dry up. Poojya Shri Banthanal Mahaswamijee as its President (for an unbroken period of 26 years, from 1943 to 1969) took upon himself to collect funds and facilitate the starting of a College. He moved from house to house collecting alms for the cause of education. It was equally difficult to get permission from Bombay University to start the College.

It is the efforts of Shri Khadya, the then Dean of Bombay University and Shri S.T. Sasnur that finally got a permission. Thus in 1945 it was possible to start ?Vijaya College? which now is called as Sangana Basava College in gratitude to Swamijee?s contributions. Started with just 75 students the strength of the College reached to 351 in just four years. It was Shri T.K. Patil an M.A. from London, who served the College from 1946 to 1957 as Principal that put solid foundations to the College.

As the College grew and the old premises became insufficient to accommodate Poojya Shri Banthanal Mahaswamijee was successful in getting in donation a land as large as 54 acres from Shrimati Bangaremma Sajjan. It is unbelievable to know that giants like Shri Puroshottamdas Tandan, the then President of All India Congress Committee, Shri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the King of Mysore State and Shri C.V. Raman, Nobel Laureate in Physics were the dignitaries at the Inaugural Function of the College.

It was in 1960 that Shri BM Patil took over as its General Secretary. A period of 30 years till his sad demise in 1990 was a period of continued and phenomenal growth for the Association. A man of vision, statesmanship and perseverance Shri BM Patil is the man behind such a growth. Institutions after institution were added continuously and now it stands as a mammoth of an organization with as many as 75 institutions flourishing and 24,512 students getting educated under its fold.

The Association has been fortunate in having such men of zeal, enthusiasm and sacrifice. The present Management is steering up with the same steam. The Governing Body under the leadership of Shri MB Patil as President is in an expansion spree.

Program Established

(a) B.Com
(b) PGDM / IRPM
(c) B.B.A
(d) M.B.A/ EDPCM
(e) B.C.A
(f) M.Com
(g) PGDM - MSM