 In the year 1946-47, B. G. Kher nominated Gaonkar as a Deputy Minister in his cabinet of the composite state of Bombay, India.It was Gaonkar, in the year 1936, who helped to organize the Kannada Sahitya Academy Sammelana in Gokarna.SAPA was the paternal grandfather of Dilip Gaonkar a professor at Northwestern University.