Ganiga people mainly live in different parts of Karnataka. In South Karnataka Ganiga people mainly speak Kannada Language. Ganiga people are living the following districts of Karnataka, India - Bijapur, Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bangalore, Mangalore, Bhadravati, Chikamagalur, Kurboor,Chintamani, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, KGF, Kolar, Mulbagal, Mandya, Mysore, Shimoga, Tumkur, Tiptur Udupi, Uttara Kannada,Punganur punganur. also live in AP (all dists) and Tamil Nadu (dharmapuri,krisnagiri,salem)
Besides Karnataka, Ganiga community settled in some parts of Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad and many other cities in India.
In overseas countries members of Ganiga Community have settled in the USA, Canada, Japan and UAE.
A majority of Ganiga community continue to remain backward economically due to mechanisation of oil crushing which slowly took away their livelihood in the 1950s. Deprived of this age old profession continued for generations, Ganiga community found their way in business such as setting up of shops, hotels etc. Enterprising Ganiga entrepreneurs set up many Udupi Hotels in Bangalore and other prominent cities in Karnataka. Others took up odd jobs to meet both the ends. Having been remained economically backward even after 60 years of independence due representations were made from time to time to the successive Governments.
The ganiga community people can marry any subcastes of chettiars.
Govt.of Karnataka, Social Welfare Department, on 30 March 2002 issued Order No. SWD 225 BCA 2000 dated notifying Ganiga community as an Economically Backward Class under Category - II (A) Sl. No. 78. Castes listed under this category are (a) Ganiga, (b) Teli.
In Maharashtra Ganiga community has been granted OBC (Other Backward Caste) Certification by the Govt. of Maharashtra in 2005.
In the different states of India, they are called in different names -
In Andhra, Ganigas are known as Gandla, and in which they are called devagandla or Sajjanagandla.
In Kerala, Ganigas are known as Chekkala nair and Vaniya Chettiar
In Tamil Nadu, They are known as Vaniya Chettiar. There is no relation between Reddy gandla and ganiga, as reddy gndla is a sub caste of reddy group
In Gujarat, They are known as Gaanchi. Mr Narendra Modi CM of Gujrath is member of this community.
Ganiga Associations at other locations in Karnataka, India
South Kanara District (Udupi) Somakshathriya Samaj, Moodukeri,Barkur President: K. Gopal * Hassan Ganiga Sangha - President: H.L.RangaShetty. Owner of SreeGopalKrishna Oil Mill, President of ShivaJyothi(Ganiga) Kalyana Mantapa, AdLee-maney, Hassan * Somakshathriya Ganiga Samaj, Kundapur - President: Ramesh Ganiga Kollur * Shimoga District Ganiga Sangha, Shimoga - President: H. Subbiah * Ganiga Samaj, Bhadravati - President: U. Govind * Dr. T.A. Prasanna ,Phd.Economics, Prof. Kuvempu University, Shimoga-Bhadravati.India * Gopalakrishna Yuvaka Sangha Bhadravati (Youth Wing) * Somakshathriya Yuvaka Sangha,(Youth Wing) Gangoli (Udupi Dist.) * Utttara Kannada District Ganiga Seva Sangha, Sirsi - President: S.P. Shetty (Previously headed by Mr. Madhav Narayan Shetty, Honnavar for more than a decade). * karnataka ganigara sangha bangalorekolar,tumkur,chittur(Ap)president:Amarnath * sln students union bangalore * D B Kalashetty, State Bank of Hyderabad, Secretary, SBH staff Association, Gulbarga
Somakshathriya Vaishnava Samaja, Bangalore-India
President: B.N. Narasinhamurthy In Bangalore Ganigas are also known as 'Somakshatriyas' and are very actively performing tasks of developing the community, the 'Samparka' challenge cup has recently celebrateed the decennial celebrations and Prathiba Sambhrama is organised in November and December where the children from the Ganiga community of Udupi district and those who have settled in Bangalore actively participated in the sports and cultural events. * Leaders in Community Development Initiatives at Bangalore:. * Mr.Rajashekhar Birthi * Vyasa Rao (Kamat Group of Hotels) * B.A. Narasimha Moorthy (Abhinaya Group of Hotels) * Shankar N. Rao (President: Shree Venugopalakrishna Co-op. Credit Society) * Neelavar Sanjeev Rao (Hotel Hallimane) * Janardhana Rao (SeaRock Hotel) * U. Sundar Rao* * Janardhana Rao (Roti Ghar) * G. Ananda Rao * T.K. Ramakrishna
Ganiga Samaj, Mumbai-India
In Mumbai Ganiga Samaj was formed in 1996 to bring together Ganiga community living in and around Mumbai under the leadership of N.S. Balimane (Founder President). The Ganiga Samaj Mumbai has completed 10 years in September 2006. Office Bearers of Ganiga Samaj Mumbai: Past Presidents - Ganiga Samaj
N.S. Balimane * Krishna Ganiga
current Office Bearers * Jagannath Ganiga - President * M. Bhaskar Ganiga - Vice President * B. Vasudeva Rao - Vice President * Shankar H - Secretary * Madhav Ganiga - Jt. Secretary * Chandrashekhar Ganiga - Treasurer
Members, Managing Committee: * K. Ramachandra * Smt. Tara Bhatkal * Vijayendra Ganiga * Anant N. Ganiga * Sanjeev R. Ganiga * P.N. Ganiga * Balakrishna Ganiga Tonse * Vasudeva U.B. * Harish Tonse * Sadanand Kallianpur * Chandrashekar R.Ganiga (Panvel) * Narasimha Ganiga (Kalamboli) * Gangadhar N. Ganiga * Sitaram M.R. * Mohan N. Rao
Office address: Ganiga Samaja Mumbai 34/668 Adarsh Nagar Prahadevi Worli Mumbai 400 030
KALABURGI ZILLA GANIGA SAMAJ, GULBARGA
SRI. Apparao M Patil, HON'LE PRESIDENT SRI.Sursh Sajjan, PRESIDENT SRI.R B Malipatil, GENERAL SECRETARY SRI.D B Kalashetty, SECRETARY SRI.Siddaanna Sajjan, TREASURER SRI Shivayogeappakalashetty, ASST.TRESURER SRI MANGAL JYOTI SHARAN GANADA KANNAPPA USTAV SAMITI, GULBARGA
PRESIDENT - Sri.Suresh Sajjan VICE PRESIDENT - Rajeshekhar Yankanchi SECRETARY - Sri.D B Kalahetty ASST.SECRETARY - Sri. Mallanna Manga TREASURER - Siddanna Sajjan Well known Ganigas
Yakshagana Actors:
Mr. Haradi Rama Ganiga * Mr. Haradi Krishna Ganiga, * Mr. Haradi Narayana Ganiga * Mr. K. Ananda Ganiga from Udupi region. * Mr. Birthi Balakrishna * Mr. Gopala Ganiga, Heranjal * Mr. Vishwanatha Ganiga, Kodi-Kundapura * Mr. Sarva Ganiga, Haradi
Leading Maddale player Late Suragikatte Basava Ganiga.
Engineers/IT Professionals:
Mr. Raghavendra Gangia , Solution Architect, HCL Technologies. * Mr. Ananth Prasad Gangia , Consultant , Singapore * Mr. Prakash Gangia , Consultant , Bangalore * Mr. Raghavendra U Gangia , Software Engineer , Capgemini Consulting India Pvt Ltd, Bangalore * Mr. Naveen Gangia , Software Engineer , Bangalore * Mr. Venkngouda. A.Patil.Software Engineer , Bluestar HP Ltd, Bangalore * Mr. Ravi C Hangargi, Senior Software Engineer , SRA India Pvt Ltd, Bangalore. * Mr. Y J Patil Senior Verification Engineer, Genesisi Microchip, Canada * Mr. Ravichandra.A.Patil Software Engineer , SASKEN Technologies, Bangalore * Mr. Satish Yearva. Software Engineer , SASKEN Technologies, Bangalore
Mr.Sanjay D.Hortikar-Project Analyst,TATA CMC Limited,bangalore belongs to Umadi,Tal-Jath,District Sangli[Maharashtra], * Mr. Kallappa.M. Kadimani Horti (Tq-Indi Dist-Bijapur), Software Engineer, IBM India Pvt Ltd, * Mr. Prasad Gandla Thogarcheedu, (Kurnool Dist-AP), Software Engineer, IBM, Bangalore India Pvt Ltd, * Mr. Jagadish Bomma Vempenta, (Kurnool Dist-AP), Software Consultant, Daimler AG, Stuttgart, Germany * Mr. Sateesh.M. Pasodi Shirashyad, Who belongs to the Ganiga, * Mr. Praveen Adavesh Ghaniger, Software Engineer
Politicians:
* Mr.V.R. Sudarshan, a three-time MLC, belongs to an OBC (Ganiga). He is currently Chairman of the Legislative Council, Karnataka Govt, hailing from Vemgal, KOLAR Dist. * Mr. N.S. Vishwanath, Karnataka State