This is the new mission station of the Sacred Heart Brothers. It was initiated in 2015 and is situated at Mydanahalli, a small village or hamlet in Madhugiri Taluk in Tumkur District of Karnataka State, India. The Brothers are working with agricultural labourers and daily wage labourers engaged in menial work. On seeing their plight, the Brothers studied the root causes of their problems and identified that it was a lack of education and technical training. It was officially inaugurated on March 19, 2022, at the initiative of Rev. Br. N.S. Jesudoss, SHJ. Mydanahalli is an arid region with scarce water resources. Failure of the annual monsoon rain is frequent, leading to scarcity of even drinking water at times. The main occupation is rain-fed agriculture, often resulting in poor harvests.
Due to the frequent droughts, many families migrated seasonally to work in the sugar factories and other menial jobs in the cities and river basins within the state. Migration is the major reason children drop out of school. It has also paved the way for child labour and bonded labour practices. To prevent sexual abuse in the workplace, parents prefer to give their daughters marriage at the age of 17 to 20. Thus, early marriage takes place considerably, and it is the cause of increased infant and maternal mortality in this rural area. As the people are struggling for survival, they are mostly apolitical and do not affiliate themselves with any party. Most of the elected representatives are elite groups with money and muscle power, often from the upper castes. The adult population in the target areas is mostly nonliterate. The literacy rate in rural areas is around 60%. More than 70% of the people in these rural areas depend on Agriculture and allied activities. Of them, 75% are small and marginal farmers, while 20% are medium farmers. 5% of the rich farmers own more than 70% of the land resources. There is a vast disparity between the rich and the poor.
