DREAMS WITHOUT an EXPIRY DATE DREAMS WITHOUT an EXPIRY DATE Musings of a People’S Science Activist
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DREAMS WITHOUT AN EXPIRY DATE DREAMS WITHOUT AN EXPIRY DATE Musings of a People’s Science Activist OUR GLOBAL U 83 Fui Sha Wai Yuen Long, Hong Kong Email: [email protected] Website: www.our-global-u.org First published by OUR GLOBAL U 2016 MP Parameswaran Copyright © MP Parameswaran All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN-13: 978-988-77616-0-0 The initiative of OUR GLOBAL U supports the proliferation of autonomous and self-managing local bodies and their interdependent networking for ecological and socio-economic sustainability. Our Global U constitutes itself as an experimental forum for alternative practices in the production, dissemination and use of knowledge, making possible different modes of relating to one another and to nature other than what is confined by prevailing dominating institutions and practices. Our Global U seeks to transcend the commodification of knowledge driven by capitalist mechanisms that shape possessive individualistic selves, and hopes to bring together old and new generations of committed people working for ecological justice and socio-economic justice to articulate knowledge produced by experiences in the field, common reflections, and in particular, the wisdoms of elders, women, and communities that defend their commons and rights. Our Global U hopes to help cross-fertilize initiatives practiced by organizations and networks to foster further inter-connections, experiment with creative and equitable forms of interacting, networking, and managing the commons. Our Global U envisions a new sustainable humanity on earth. Contents • vii 6. Back to the Barc 106 7. Good Bye, Bombay 111 Chintha Publishers 111 Contents Why I Became a Communist 115 Emergency Is Declared 123 Nature, Science and Society 127 Peechi Camp 130 Abbreviations vii 8. The KSSP Panorama 146 Foreword xiii Engagement with Education 146 Introduction xix Science and Culture Jatha 148 1. Early Days 1 Humans and the Environment 153 Turning the Clock Back 1 First Conference of People’s Science Movements 155 School Days 13 Party Congress Delegate 160 From Spinning Wheel to Tricolour Flag 18 May Day Academy 161 Chorus 164 2. High School and College 22 Silent Valley Polemics 167 The Joy of Tinkering 24 Research and Development 177 Special Number Six 28 Integrated Rural Technology Centre 181 Engineering Student 30 People’s Plan Campaign 183 I Am an Engineer 33 9. Ideas on Development 188 3. Bombay 35 Environment for Development 188 The Atomic Energy Establishment 35 Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha 190 Sans Romance 37 A Strange Phone Call 195 In Pursuit of Happiness 39 Ernakulam Total Literacy Campaign 200 4. Moscow 45 10. Hectic Years in Delhi 204 In Moscow At Last 45 Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha 204 A Memorable New Year’s Eve 64 We Move to Thrissur 211 Culinary Excursions 72 BGVS Continued 213 Proletarian Culture 75 Vinod Raina 219 Development of Political Ideas 77 11. In Search of an Ideology 222 5. Back in India 81 Fourth World 222 A Long List 81 CPI(M) Expels Me 228 SSP(M), Bombay and FILSA 84 Stranger Than Fiction 247 A SILK-en Net 93 I Join the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 96 12. In Defence of an Ideology for a New Society 249 Indian School of Social Sciences 98 Elements of a Worldview 254 The Jatha Bug 100 viii • Dreams Without an Expiry Date 13. A Dream Village 269 The Objectives of the Village 270 Energy 273 Food Security 275 Industrial Products 280 Health 282 14. Dreams: The Elixir 284 Appendix I 287 Appendix II 301 Abbreviations • xi DSF: Delhi Science Forum DST: Department of Science and Technology Abbreviations DYFI: Democratic Youth Federation of India ERU: Educational Resource Unit ESI: Employees’ State Insurance FILSA: Federation of Indian Languages Science AIDWA: All India Democratic Women’s Association Associations AIKS: All India Kisan Sabha GATT: General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs AIPSN: All India People’s Science Network GHGs: Greenhouse Gases AIR: All India Radio GONGO: Government Non-Governmental ARENA: Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives Organization BARC: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre GOs: Governmental Organisations BARCOA: BARC Officers’ Association GUM: Gosudarstvennie Universalnnie Magazine BGVJ: Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha HSTP: Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme BGVS: Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti IAS: Indian Administrative Services BHEL: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd ICSU: International Council of Scientific Unions BJGVJ: Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha IISc.: Indian Institute of Science BJP: Bhartiya Janata Party IIT: Indian Institute of Technology BJVJ: Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha INCOSPAR: Indian National Commission for Space CC: Central Committee Research CDS: Centre for Development Studies IPTA: Indian People’s Theatre Association CESS: Centre for Earth Science Studies IRTC: Integrated Rural Technology Centre CFTRI: Central Food Technology Research Institute ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation CITU: Centre of Indian Trade Unions ISSS: Indian School of Social Sciences CPI(M): Communist Party of India Marxist JNU: Jawaharlal Nehru University CPSU-B: Communist Party of the Soviet Union– JoL: Joy of Learning Bolsheviks KANFED: Kerala Association for Non-Formal Education CSIR: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Development DAE: Directorate of Adult Education KFRI: Kerala Forest Research Institute DENGO: Developmental Non-Governmental KPAC: Kerala People’s Arts Club Organization KSEB: Kerala State Electricity Board DPI: Director of Public Instruction KSSP: Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad MANAR: Mass Action for National Regeneration xii • Dreams Without an Expiry Date Abbreviations • xiii MEI: Muskovskii Energi Theecheskii Institut SVHP: Silent Valley Hydroelectric Project (Moscow Power Institute) TIBA: This is the best alternative MIDS: Madras Institute of Development Studies TIFR: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research NAEP: National Adult Education Programme TINA: There is no alternative NBMS: Nodal-Big-Medium-Small TLC: Total Literacy Campaign NCERT: National Council of Educational Research TNSF: Tamil Nadu Science Forum and Training UDCT: University Department of Chemical NCSTC: National Council for Science and Technology Technology Communication UDF: United Democratic Front NEP: New Education Policy UGC: University Grants Commission NGO: Non-Governmental Organization VHP: Vishwa Hindu Parishad NLM: National Literacy Mission VSSC: Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre PB: Polit Bureau ZSS: Zilla Saksharata Samitis PBVM: Paschim Banga Vignan Manch PDF: People’s Democratic Front People PDR: Panchayat Development Report PHCs: Primary Health Centres AKG: A.K. Gopalan PPC: People’s Plan Campaign Aniyan: E.M. Sreedharan PQL: Physical Quality of Life Annan: R. Radhakrishnan PRM: Panchayat Resource Mapping BTR: B.T. Ranadive PSM: People’s Science Movement CG: C.G. Santhakumar R&D: Research and Development CN: C.N. Narayanan RSF: Rural Science Forum CP: C.P. Narayanan RSS: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh EKN: E.K. Narayanan SAC: Satellite Application Centre EMS: E.M. Sankaran Namboodiripad SFI: Students’ Federation of India KK: K.K. Krishnakumar SILK: State Institute of Languages, Kerala MNS: M.N. Subramanian SSLC: Secondary school leaving certificate NV: N.V. Krishna Warrier SSPM: Sasthra Sahithya Parishad Malayalam Pendamom: P.N. Damodaran Pillai SSS: Saraswathi Sahaya Samghom PG: P. Govinda Pillai START: School for Technicians and Artisans PKR: P.K.R. Warrier STEPS: Scientific Technical and Educational PS: P. Sundarayya Cooperative Publishing Society xiv • Dreams Without an Expiry Date PTB: P.T. Bhaskara Panicker SPN: S. Prabhakaran Nair SRP: S. Ramachandran Pillai VKD: V.K. Damodaran VKS: V.K. Sasidharan Foreword • xvii struggles against someone for whom I am scapegoat,” he told me then. Foreword MP, for sure, never craves positions of power or lucrative returns. The charges sound absurd, but are not unfamiliar in the histories of communist parties. For example, the charge of By Lau Kin Chi “colluding with foreigners”. That could, I suppose, refer to the IADEA workshop in 1996, co-organized by the Asian Regional MP: Dreamer with a Childlike Innocence Exchange for Alternatives (ARENA), the Japan Committee for Negros Campaign (JCNC), the Kerala People’s Science Movement (KSSP), and the People’s Plan for the 21st Century “My name is MP, but I am not a Member of Parliament.” - Rural Urban Alternatives (PP21 RUA); scholars and farmers Then a shake of the head, Kerala style, and dimples smiling from ten countries in Asia gathered in Kerala to exchange with radiance. knowledge and wisdom. That could, I suppose, refer to joint That was my first meeting with MP Parameswaran, in publications that MP wrote with non-Indian nationals. That 1996. This image of him, with his forever-radiant smile and could also, I suppose, refer to MP’s visits to Chinese villages the head-shake, has stayed with me for the last 20 years. MP and exchanges with the Rural Reconstruction movements commands respect, not with his authority, but with his modesty in China… It is a contradiction that the CPI(M), claiming and generosity. Marxism to be its source, within which internationalism is a Kind, hopeful, innovative, MP always stresses the three core concept, would cling to a myopic nationalism in attacking Hs—the heart, the head, the hands—in one’s commitment to communists regarded as deviants. In 2004, MP was expelled social change. A pragmatic idealist, I would call him. A people’s by the CPI(M). Ironically, after his expulsion, MP was invited scientist practically improving and managing the daily needs of to play the role of