M.P., the indomitable: the man who electrified the imagination of Kerala’s youth
This article serves as a tribute to Dr. M.P. Parameswaran, a nuclear engineer who became a prominent social activist in Kerala. It highlights his transition from Marxist ideology to a focus on decentralized governance and sustainable development.
Why it matters
It documents the intellectual history of Kerala's people's science movements and the evolution of grassroots political thought in India.
Dr. M.P. Parameswaran, fondly called M.P. by his numerous friends, is no more. His going is certainly a loss to many in Kerala and the rest of India who knew him or of him.
A young nuclear engineer-turned-political and social activist during the second half of the 1960s, M.P. got attracted and then immersed in building up a small organisation of writers of science called Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad into a people’s science movement. Of course, there were forerunners like P.T. Bhaskara Panicker who had already opened a way for mobilising young teachers, professional experts and students. M.P. electrified the imagination of the youth especially in rural areas by his book, rather booklet, titled Nature, Science and Society . KSSP activists conducted more than thirty thousand classes during 1974-76 based on this booklet talking about the interrelationship between nature, science and society.
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