DREAMS WITHOUT AN EXPIRY DATE DREAMS WITHOUT AN EXPIRY DATE Musings of a People’s Science Activist MP Parameswaran 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 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 Abbreviations vii Foreword xiii Introduction xix 1. Early Days 1 Turning the Clock Back 1 School Days 13 From Spinning Wheel to Tricolour Flag 18 2. High School and College 22 The Joy of Tinkering 24 Special Number Six 28 Engineering Student 30 I Am an Engineer 33 3. Bombay 35 The Atomic Energy Establishment 35 Sans Romance 37 In Pursuit of Happiness 39 4. Moscow 45 In Moscow At Last 45 A Memorable New Year’s Eve 64 Culinary Excursions 72 Proletarian Culture 75 Development of Political Ideas 77 5. Back in India 81 A Long List 81 SSP(M), Bombay and FILSA 84 A SILK-en Net 93 I Join the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 96 Indian School of Social Sciences 98 The Jatha Bug 100 vi • Dreams Without an Expiry Date 6. Back to the Barc 106 7. Good Bye, Bombay 111 Chintha Publishers 111 Why I Became a Communist 115 Emergency Is Declared 123 Nature, Science and Society 127 Peechi Camp 130 8. The KSSP Panorama 146 Engagement with Education 146 Science and Culture Jatha 148 Humans and the Environment 153 First Conference of People’s Science Movements 155 Party Congress Delegate 160 May Day Academy 161 Chorus 164 Silent Valley Polemics 167 Research and Development 177 Integrated Rural Technology Centre 181 People’s Plan Campaign 183 9. Ideas on Development 188 Environment for Development 188 Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha 190 A Strange Phone Call 195 Ernakulam Total Literacy Campaign 200 10. Hectic Years in Delhi 204 Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha 204 We Move to Thrissur 211 BGVS Continued 213 Vinod Raina 219 11. In Search of an Ideology 222 Fourth World 222 CPI(M) Expels Me 228 Stranger Than Fiction 247 12. In Defence of an Ideology for a New Society 249 Elements of a Worldview 254 vii • 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 AIDWA: All India Democratic Women’s Association AIKS: All India Kisan Sabha AIPSN: All India People’s Science Network AIR: All India Radio ARENA: Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives BARC: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BARCOA: BARC Officers’ Association BGVJ: Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha BGVS: Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti BHEL: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd BJGVJ: Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha BJP: Bhartiya Janata Party BJVJ: Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha CC: Central Committee CDS: Centre for Development Studies CESS: Centre for Earth Science Studies CFTRI: Central Food Technology Research Institute CITU: Centre of Indian Trade Unions CPI(M): Communist Party of India Marxist CPSU-B: Communist Party of the Soviet Union– Bolsheviks CSIR: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research DAE: Directorate of Adult Education DENGO: Developmental Non-Governmental Organization DPI: Director of Public Instruction x • Dreams Without an Expiry Date DSF: Delhi Science Forum DST: Department of Science and Technology DYFI: Democratic Youth Federation of India ERU: Educational Resource Unit ESI: Employees’ State Insurance FILSA: Federation of Indian Languages Science Associations GATT: General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs GHGs: Greenhouse Gases GONGO: Government Non-Governmental Organization GOs: Governmental Organisations GUM: Gosudarstvennie Universalnnie Magazine HSTP: Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme IAS: Indian Administrative Services ICSU: International Council of Scientific Unions IISc.: Indian Institute of Science IIT: Indian Institute of Technology INCOSPAR: Indian National Commission for Space Research IPTA: Indian People’s Theatre Association IRTC: Integrated Rural Technology Centre ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation ISSS: Indian School of Social Sciences JNU: Jawaharlal Nehru University JoL: Joy of Learning KANFED: Kerala Association for Non-Formal Education and Development KFRI: Kerala Forest Research Institute KPAC: Kerala People’s Arts Club KSEB: Kerala State Electricity Board KSSP: Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad MANAR: Mass Action for National Regeneration xi • Dreams Without an Expiry Date MEI: Muskovskii Energi Theecheskii Institut (Moscow Power Institute) MIDS: Madras Institute of Development Studies NAEP: National Adult Education Programme NBMS: Nodal-Big-Medium-Small NCERT: National Council of Educational Research and Training NCSTC: National Council for Science and Technology Communication NEP: New Education Policy NGO: Non-Governmental Organization NLM: National Literacy Mission PB: Polit Bureau PBVM: Paschim Banga Vignan Manch PDF: People’s Democratic Front PDR: Panchayat Development Report PHCs: Primary Health Centres PPC: People’s Plan Campaign PQL: Physical Quality of Life PRM: Panchayat Resource Mapping PSM: People’s Science Movement R&D: Research and Development RSF: Rural Science Forum RSS: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh SAC: Satellite Application Centre SFI: Students’ Federation of India SILK: State Institute of Languages, Kerala SSLC: Secondary school leaving certificate SSPM: Sasthra Sahithya Parishad Malayalam SSS: Saraswathi Sahaya Samghom START: School for Technicians and Artisans STEPS: Scientific Technical and Educational Cooperative Publishing Society xii • Dreams Without an Expiry Date SVHP: Silent Valley Hydroelectric Project TIBA: This is the best alternative TIFR: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research TINA: There is no alternative TLC: Total Literacy Campaign TNSF: Tamil Nadu Science Forum UDCT: University Department of Chemical Technology UDF: United Democratic Front UGC: University Grants Commission VHP: Vishwa Hindu Parishad VSSC: Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre ZSS: Zilla Saksharata Samitis People AKG: A.K. Gopalan Aniyan: E.M. Sreedharan Annan: R. Radhakrishnan BTR: B.T. Ranadive CG: C.G. Santhakumar CN: C.N. Narayanan CP: C.P. Narayanan EKN: E.K. Narayanan EMS: E.M. Sankaran Namboodiripad KK: K.K. Krishnakumar MNS: M.N. Subramanian NV: N.V. Krishna Warrier Pendamom: P.N. Damodaran Pillai PG: P. Govinda Pillai PKR: P.K.R. Warrier PS: P. Sundarayya xiii • 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 By Lau Kin Chi MP: Dreamer with a Childlike Innocence “My name is MP, but I am not a Member of Parliament.” Then a shake of the head, Kerala style, and dimples smiling with radiance. That was my first meeting with MP Parameswaran, in 1996. This image of him, with his forever-radiant smile and the head-shake, has stayed with me for the last 20 years. MP commands respect, not with his authority, but with his modesty and generosity. Kind, hopeful, innovative, MP always stresses the three Hs—the heart, the head, the hands—in one’s commitment to social change. A pragmatic idealist, I would call him. A people’s scientist practically improving and managing the daily needs of villagers; a lyricist for kalajathas touring village after village; a philosopher dreaming for a society of justice and love. For such a communist in heart and in deed, committed to social change throughout his life, never aggressive, always naively genuine, I was surprised to learn that he had been attacked by the ideologues of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)—the CPI(M)—of which he was a member. When I paid him a visit at his home in Thrissur, he showed me a stack of newspapers with vehement attacks against him. It came up to my waist. But why? I was curious. “Maybe for my fourth world theory which the Party brands revisionist, maybe for intra-party factional xvi • Dreams Without an Expiry Date struggles against someone for whom I am scapegoat,” he told me then. 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 “colluding with foreigners”. That could, I suppose, refer to the IADEA workshop in 1996, co-organized by the Asian Regional 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 - Rural Urban Alternatives (PP21 RUA); scholars and farmers from ten countries in Asia gathered in Kerala to exchange knowledge and wisdom. That could, I suppose, refer to joint publications that MP wrote with non-Indian nationals. That could also, I suppose, refer to MP’s visits to Chinese villages and exchanges with the Rural Reconstruction movements in China… It is a contradiction that the CPI(M), claiming Marxism to be its source, within which internationalism is a core concept, would cling to a myopic nationalism in attacking communists regarded as deviants.