Kannada Balaga UK is a socio-cultural organization and a registered charity setup around 15 years ago by the people originating from Karnataka and now living in the United Kingdom.

The Balaga's aims are, to bring together the people who share the language and culture of Karnataka, to introduce our rich culture and heritage among kannadiga's born and brought up in the UK and help develop thier cultural identity, to Bridge the gap between the east and the west by sponsoring cultural, educational, charitable and literary activities.

There are approximately 500(maybe more) Kannadiga families in the UK with a current membership of nearly 300 families. The office is democratically elected every 3 years and the most recent election was held in 2001.

We organise two major events per year, Ugadi and Diwali. We also organise events to commemorate works of great scholars and dignitaries. We encourage artists from Karnataka to perform in the UK. For 5 years Kannada Balaga has been funding a higher education programme with universities in Karnataka to assist in buying books etc. It can be said with some justification that our community is most succesful in personal achievments and our members have significant contribution to the community we live in.

Kannada Balaga UK conducted a succesful "Vishwa Kannadigara Sammelana" (World Kannadiga's Conference) in Manchester 1988. The event was supported by the Karnataka Government and was attended by delegates from all over the world. The event created not only a special bond among the delegates but it also provided an insight into our diverse culture and heritage for our younger members and the western community. This also attracted tourism to India from the west.

We have a great ambition to mark the new Millenium with memorable festivities for which plans are under way.

We need the support of all concerned to make Kannada Balaga UK a great success in the new millenium.