SRI CHAGANTI SUNDARA RAO I.E.S.
PRAJA SPANDANA
(A Forum for Common Cause
and Protection & Promotion of Public Interest)
80
B, TYPE IV, GPRA, INDIRA NAGAR, HYDERABAD-500032
C.S.RAO,
Indian Economic Service®, President, Ph: 8500929799, 040 23000667®
Dt.12-07-2012
The following is in response to the
statement of Sri Muniyappa, Minister of State of Railways: “The merger of
Visakhapatnam Division with South Central Railway is not faceable-STATEMENT
WHILE INAGURATING FOUR EXPRESS TRAINS INCLUDING DURENTO IN SECUNDERABAD ON
11-07-2012”.
The people of Visakhapatnam have been
expressing apprehensions when the East Coast Railway was formed as one of the
mini zones merging Visakhapatnam Division lock stock and barrel and it is
creating new divisions with Khurda Road and Sambalpur in Orissa. The
apprehensions were that since Khurda Road and Sambalpur Divisions were not
capable of raising enough revenue, the surplus generated by the Waltair
Division would naturally be diverted to sustain these two deficit divisions.
The same is happening right from 01-04-2003
when the new zone was created. What is more, some of the facilities and offices
which were enjoying zonal status during the formation of D.B.K. Railway were
transferred to Bhubaneswar. Further whenever vacancies or additional posts
created were filled with non local. All the facts have been brought to light by“Praja
Spandana” from time to time.
To overcome all these problems and also
long term development need Andhra Pradesh in particular, the best solution
would be to form a new zone with TWO divisions i.e. Waltair and Vijayawada to make it viable and
there is no need for any administrative changes. The South Central Railway
would not lose much by deleting Vijayawada Division because it is already
overloaded. This issue can be fought only at the political level by the Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh with the pressure from the political representatives
of COASTAL ANDHRA.
Sd/-
(C.S.RAO)
PRESIDENT
AS PER HINDU SRI C.S. RAO IS
An epitome of social service:
REPRESENTATION OF "PRAJA SPANDANA" ABOUT SHIFTING OF NH 5 THROUGH HINDU:
SOME OTHER IMPORTANT REPRESENTATIONS THROUGH PRESS I.E., HINDU ETC. CAN BE SEEN AT THE FOLLOWING SITES:
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THE FOLLOWING IS THE OLD JAIL AREA WITH FULL OF GREENARY HAVING TREES OF 500 YEARS OLD
ON THE EVE OF SAHASRA CHANDRA DARSHAN
ON 23-07-2011
SRI C.S.RAO WAS FELICITATED BY ORGANASATIONS, FORUMS AND ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CITY OF DISTINY, VISAKHAPATNAM
AT JALA UDYANA VANAM
AUTO-BIOGRAQPHY OF SRI C.S.RAO
Being a citizen of Visakhapatnam, I am prideful to say that I am the first Indian Economics Service officer from among the three districts i.e., Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam. Being so I deemed it a duty to the posterity that how I have climbed the ladder and the message I have to leave for them for whatever it is worth.
The best lesson one can leave is the biographies and biographies of great men like Mahatma Gandhi to emulate because Gandhiji’s life was blended with ethical values easily applicable to any contemporary society and at any time. This is because of the messages he has enabled us to draw from his autobiography “EXPERIMENTS FROM TRUTH’’. To my mind I have never come across a more truthful narration of one’s own biography than Gandhiji himself. Taking a few experiments from his biography I would like to attempt here such a narration which in my view would inspire people placed in similar conditions.
In the form of autobiography one can give a rare knowledge to the posterity, which will ennoble the spirit of a person. I have been blessed in my childhood itself to have highly spiritually elevated souls as my parents, grand-father, my brother and my uncle. I had among them a very close association with my maternal grand-father who was my mentor in every sense of terms.
Although there was no school in my tiny village and I did not have any strong desire for formal education for no reason. I was contended to be under ‘tutelage’ of my grand-father. I was almost taken as his disciple to be with him all the time. He was much faceted personality having no formal educational qualification. After the demise of my maternal grand-mother he preferred to stay with my parents who treated him with utmost care. Even though he had many grand-children, it was my good fortune that he took me into his fold.
Firstly, he was a creative person and never wasted a single minute. His activities encompassed rearing up vegetable plants, banyan and other varieties of leaves suitable for preparing of leaf plates. He was adept in stitching leaf plates in a unique fashion i.e., perfect in circular form and stitching to make it appear as if they were machine stitched. While watching and nursing vegetable plants, collecting leaves, he was also teaching Upanishads and from Vedic literature, particularly “Purusha Sukta”, ‘Rudram’ etc. In order to overcome any kind of diffidence or shyness he also used to keep me in the forefront of pundits who used to accompany the God’s procession and recite Vedic mantras called swasti, particularly during Dhanurmasam proceeding Sankranthi.
Thus I spent with my grand-father up to the age of 12th/13th year. My uncle I.e., my father’s younger brother, who was I the Railway service had planned to arrange for his children to have access in the Maha Raja College in Vizianagaram. This is a turning point in my life. I insisted that I should also be included among my cousins and ultimately succeeded in joining at Maha Raja College, Vizianagaram. Then while continuing my High School education, when I was hardly seventeen/ eighteen years of age, studying in the fourth form, my mother insisted on marriage with my paternal aunt’s great grand-daughter in my old village “Nidighattu”. The marriage should be considered as a child marriage but it was accomplished even though Sarada Act prohibited such child marriages even during the British Rule. I have no idea of marriage and simply obliged my mother who is like my Goddess. By that time I lost my father.
After completing S.S.L.C. otherwise known as Matriculation, it was a common practice among most of us to seek a job after practicing type writing and stenography. The District Collectorate in Visakhapatnam which is hardly 30 km from our rail head Kantakapalli, was a great source of employment in those days. There were no formalities of tests and interviews to qualify for employment. The British adopted a very laudable practice of going by a word recommendation of their most faithful and loyal employees in selection for any vacancy. However this facility did not appeal to me. After successfully passing SSLC I developed a great taste for higher education and this is a very remarkable change that has inculcated an ambition “made of stern stuff” in the words of Shakespeare. There was no looking back in spite of many hurdles in pursuing higher and higher education. It is beyond my comprehension and inexpressible as to how and why I developed such an ambition, a very deep background surrounding me in the family because there was none who has crossed the bar of Matriculation not only in my family but in my village.
Much against the advis4e of my uncle again I insisted on pursuing my studies in Intermediate Science Stream. For4tunately for me, I never paid a single rupee as tuition fee because of grant of merit scholarship. After successful completion of Intermediate my wife was formalized and this again constituted another road block to pursuit of my graduate/post graduate education. By that time the existence of Andhra University in Visakhapatnam came to my knowledge and again it was a herculent task to fulfill my ambition to join the University.
Here I faced many obstacles to join the course like Engineering, Science or Technology for the simple reason that it was beyond reason. Therefore I settled down for a subject like Economics which I detested that something which cannot be called a form of intellectual pursuit. However, I must acknowledge with gratitude and reverence to Prof. B. Sarveswara Rao who was the head of the department. Along with a friend of mine who was also in the same predicament took me to Prof. B. Sarveswara Rao garu and after detailed discussion he convinced the in the economics there was an option i.e., pure theory and allied subjects or to opt for mathematical economics, now called economics and statistics. Out of the total marks 50% are allotted to these subjects. So taking this provision I had decided to join economics as advised by Prof. Sarveswara Rao. We were only seven students for the subject as against total 30 students in my batch. Although the faculty for these subjects of my interest was not up to the mark, we depended upon standard authorized books like Edgeworth papers on political econometric equations. Prof. Patel Samelson, a noble laureate boulding and also Bartail’s papers on Mathematics economics. Besides the statics was already well popular subject. Thanks to Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis, who was the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. That is how I managed all those three years and successfully came out with a second class.
Then my other ambitions to work in Central Government in Delhi, posed another challenge. In this context I must mention that in spite of many obstacles both on the family front and career front. Sri Papanna, the then employment officer in the Visakhapatnam Employment Exchange came as a “Lead Kindly Light.” When I expressed my desire, he assured me that he would help to fulfill my ambition. Accordingly my bio-data was forwarded to Delhi Employment Exchange. Fortunate forced me all because of my “Ambition made of steamer stuff.”
I was selected as an economic investigator to work in the Nizam Sagar Community development project in the Nizamabad district which was still a part of the Nizam State. Ha name of the office was also very interesting i.e., P.E.O. (Programme Evaluation Organisation) of the planning commission. It was a tough job; because we have to move from village to village mostly by walk carrying our schedules, a lantrine, kerosene stove etc. Our job was to collect from all the families in selected villages, a comprehensive data as per the given schedule and supplement any views expressed by the respondents. Although it was physically a very odious task, we three investigators had complete satisfaction because of our rural back ground, a formal community. Besides performing my given duties, unlike the other two of my colleagues, I used to record my observations about the social, political and economic life of the people of Telangana and tell to my senior officers. I received a lot of applauds and administration for such observations. In one word I must say that we had to work like soldiers in the Territorial Army braving all the physical and mental hardships with stoic discipline.
The curtain came down on 31st March, 1955 with the abolition of my post being junior most. By that time I had two sons; one five years and the other three years old. Again I was confronted “To do or not to do.” After receiving the last pay emoluments to Rs. 250/-, I took very bold decision at the cost of my moral duty to return to my home town and eak out my livelihood to support my family, without putting the burden on my eldest brother, who had to maintain a big establishment with slender income and resources.
My inner voice (Antaratman) prompted me to go to Delhi ad seek a job in the Government of India and later compensate for all the troubles, travails undergone by my eldest brother to maintain my family. Although such a decision was unethical on my part, I was optimistic that this was the best decision not only to satisfy my ambition but also to achieve a breakthrough in the family, to be a standing example to other members of my family, brought up in a rustic rural setup.
Apart from my satisfactory duties performed in the Government of India as an officer of the India Economic Service in various capacities, I entertained a strong feeling that individual and society are highly inter linked. This is based on a popular adage that “Man is a social animal.” The word social animal is impregnate with lot of meaning, a group of human beings living anywhere from a part of the society, no matter whether the tribal or the highly civilized. The word animal has got many characteristics to be shared with humans i.e., food (hunger), sleep (rest) and maidhunam (reproduction) to perpetuate the progeny of human race are common to animals and humans. However, humans have something plus which is very rare and distinguished from every part of the creation because he himself is endowed with a rare faculty to discover himself as also the very creator of this entire universe, in this endeavor sometimes is clever to make false claims and to deny the much unseen existence of the creator. This is because unlike animals man is endowed with intelligence and wisdom which are very powerful faculties and instruments enabling him to move forward with every discovery but instead of being humble for this gift of God, he is arrogant enough to proclaim his own glory and achievements and deny the very power of universe which is responsible for our very sustenance.
Having obtained this analytical power, thanks to many high and low persons with whom I came in to contact, I have developed a kind of mind set which prompts me constantly that I am born as others with a difference. This difference is that my mind constantly gets agitated if I find anybody doing injustice in any form to any body and anywhere in the universe. Although I cannot reach out the people in the far-flung areas to share my mind but I have determined to live and do what I have planned before any retirement.
Now a new chapter in my life begins with this consciousness. Ten years before my retirement, I contemplated as to how I could translate my above ideology in to action. For about 7 years after my retirement I experimented and successfully demonstrated that this is the motto of life of at least senior citizens who can do and change the course of society for betterment and happiness, harmony and peace. This is the bed rock of our Indian philosophy and the ultimate wish of great men i.e., “SARVE JANAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU.” Every one of us can do a little bit to promote the above objectives.
Having firmly establishing the ideology I changed my operational theatre to my own hometown, Visakhapatnam in the middle of 1999 and set out to fulfill my own agenda. Although in the beginning I was groping in dark, Sri Gurajada Suryanaraana Murthy, a veteran Telugu journalist and a senior citizen of yester years has shared my views and jointly we conceived a new chapter to fulfill our mission. For this we need a platform with an inspiring title, thus the joint efforts of all of us gave birth to ‘PRAJA SPANDANA’, a common cause forum to protect and promote public interest, in other words, in other words, take us on the path of noble ideal enshrined as above i.e., “SARVE JANAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU.”
Following the famous title of a book written by a great British author Sir Shunacker with whom I had a great opportunity to interact in person for a day in Delhi when I was in service. “The Small is Beautiful” that is his main theme. I was very much impressed and encouraged by the philosophy of promoting everything that is small; everybody who is small do realize the greatness hidden with which we can take the society forward without marked failures. There is another advantage for me because I was blessed by my elders both within the family and outside and personally because of their boons in my day-to-day duties also in the government. I was given the task of promoting household micro and small enterprises in the entire country. Having been inspired by this philosophy I did not entertain any idea of developing this big organisation as experiment I standing alone at the apex because I strongly believe that anything is manageable if it is small.
This belief has been fortified by the two cardinal principles i.e., “Limits to Growth line and managerial skills.”
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
Ambitions and achievements
My journey from a tiny village called Nidighattu at present under Lakkavarapukota Mandal of Vizianagaram District with hardly a population of 500 people to the national capital Delhi is a great thriller to me indeed. As a child born in a family where higher education was not encouraged by elders and a large chunk of the upper caste families in the village also did not provide an example for the youngsters. The only preoccupation with the elders was just to move upto tenth standard, pass or fail but with typewriting and stenography would enable them to get a job in any government offices or as a primary school teacher in mostly unaided schools in the nearby villages in the district i.e. Visakhapatnam, formerly a composite district in the presently called Uttar Andhra and later after Independence trifurcated into three districts namely Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.
Early life:
Born on 12th October, 1929 to my parents Bangaramma, my mother and Veeresayya, my father, I was reared as the third and last male child with lot of love and affection bestowed on me, both by my grandfather and my parents and eldest brother. In fact I owe all my fortune and achievements to my maternal grandfather, Ivaturi Sanyasayya who was a multifaceted personality, although he had no access to higher education. He was also a teacher in a small aided school in a neighbouring village and some other villages in the district and earned a great reputation as a teacher who had molded his students to live a life of fulfillment and imparted along with education upto primary standard, a love for traditional arts and culture like drawing and painting, making of god figures with mud, and folk music and dance popularly known as the Veedi Bhagavatham, a close version of Kuchipudi. He was never idle to the extent I know and was creative in his own way in some productive activity. He was also very fond of growing fruits and vegetables, nursing plants, making hand stitched platters with locally available leaves like Peepal, Moduga, Adda aaku.
The old practice of the village community at that time was not to bother about education of children, including males among the upper caste upto the age of 5. Therefore, we had enjoyed freedom to play all the time the rural games and enjoy life in the mango grooves and nearby small streams, rivulets and hillocks. My grandfather took extra care, finding me very receptive, to teach and recite poems from various popular sathakas like Vemana, Sumati, Kumari, Bhatruhari, etc. besides, he had also flair for teaching small stotras and mantras often, which I used to get by heart and join him in reciting on special festival days like Vinayaka Puja, Saraswati Puja, Dhanurmaasam when the local god is kept in a palanquin and taken out along the streets to enable every household to offer their prayers and worship. There were other children in my village, elder to me who had the good fortune of getting education in the recognized well-known high schools like AVN College, Visakhapatnam and Maharajah’s College, Vizianagaram who used to spend their holidays in our village and the entire village was bustling with our activities like games, parties and even visits to nearby towns to enjoy eating our breakfast in well known restaurants and watch Telugu movies in famous theatres. It was the most enjoyable period, when I was waiting for school holidays of my friends, to come to our village to breathe a joy in my life. Every such school vacation was a source of joy for me. As I was available for any service, both my own parents as well as some of my relations in my village used to send me to nearby towns for small purchases because I was going on child ticket by train to Vizianagaram or Visakhapatnam at 10p. During the other days, it has been part of my job to go to the weekly rural markets (shandies) for purchase of vegetables and small requirements. All these places within the radius of 10km, I used to walk without dredging and this has also given me very good experience in marketing and stamina to cover distances of even 25-30 km by walk.
But in one corner of my mind there was a feeling of helplessness to go for formal education to the nearby towns, entirely due to lack of facilities and opportunities. Thus, upto the age of 11, I could not dream of going for formal high school education. Luckily, my uncle retired from Bengal-Nagpur Railway service and settled down in our village. He had planned to set up a small establishment in Vizianagaram to educate his children. I also forced myself and moved over to Vizianagaram after getting direct admission into the first form (6th standard) in the Maharajah’s college. I was the tallest and the oldest student in the class and to some extent, I used to feel shy before other students. To overcome this feeling, I decided to work hard and came out first in the class in all examinations. This kind of situation went on upto the fourth form (8th standard). I lost my father who loved me the most in 1942 itself. Then there was some pressure on my mother by some paternal aunt’s granddaughter to marry her daughter, who was hardly 13 years. Somehow, my mother yielded to the pressure and convinced my uncle to arrange my marriage with my late wife, Smt. Vijaya Lakshmi, related to me as above. I had no idea of what a marriage means and its implications. However, I continued my education and distinguished myself in the SLC examination in March 1948. Fortunately for me, although I forced myself and put additional burden on my uncle, I had not only earned the love and affection of my cousins and served the family in the management of household affairs. I have to mention that while the expenditure on my education was the least and enjoyed merit scholarship also in addition to a small financial help from the college authorities as a token of their recognition of my merit. With these qualities and affability I have acquired lot of friends in the college and outside. What is most satisfying for a student like me was that I was asked by my class teachers to teach in their presence, particularly, Mathematics and English grammar.
Ambition for higher education:
My uncle and all those from my in-laws side were trying to force their decision to give up any desire for further education and settle down in a job because by that time itself it was more than two years since our marriage. I convinced my uncle that I would not stop with SLC but since there is need for extra expenditure on me, I wanted to do intermediate also in the same college. I took Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (MPC) which were dear to me and again at the Intermediate final examination, I came out meritoriously. I did not stop with this but developed further interest on knowing that in our very own neighborhood i.e. Visakhapatnam, we have the most famous Andhra University with wide choice of subjects and renowned professors. I argued at length with my elders but could not convince them ad extract any word of support for my proposal for University education. I played a small trick here. I took away a small gold chain from my wife and also a few rupees from my mother and without taking anybody’s consent, I joined first year of B.A. Honors with Economics. My first preference was studying engineering but the engineering college was located only in Kakinada which is far away and is expensive for me to think of. In the Andhra University also, although I used to look down on all subjects like History, Politics, and Economics as inferior to Sciences, I could not venture to seek admission in Chemical Technology, a subject which was available in the Andhra University. Admission was not at all a problem because in those days, admission was purely on the merits. However, I settled down with the advice of my professor, Late B.Sarvesawara Rao that Economics with Statistics was a good combination was worth studying as an alternative to engineering and technology. In view of the fact that by that time, after achieving freedom in 1947, Government of India set up Planning Commission, which was a source of hope for a person like me. Thus, taking the advice of my professor B.S.Rao, I took admission but continued to nurse a feeling that I have degraded myself by taking a subject which I used to dislike in the past.
I informed my uncle and others about my decision in joining the University. Here also, I had no problem of funding because I got merit scholarship and there is no need of purchasing costly books because the Andhra University library was best equipped. I used to carefully listen to the teachers and do library work to adjust myself to the new discipline. And somehow I managed to complete all the three years and passed in second class. There was a provision that a three years Honors course will entitle a student to acquire post graduation degree like M.A.
Ambition for employment:
I had desire to do M.A. Honors or PhD but by that time, I had my first child and therefore, I myself felt that it would not be fair to my wife to leave her to the care of her parents even after 7 years of marriage. So I gave up all fanciful ideas of doing Postgraduate research.
It is very strange and I cannot explain how I got a wonderful idea of seeking a job only in Delhi and not anywhere else. In this situation, I have to acknowledge the best advice and help I got from one, Mr. Bapanna who was the Employment officer in Visakhapatnam. I expressed my ambition to go to Delhi and sought his help. He appreciated my proposal and forwarded my bio data to Delhi Employment Exchange. In the meanwhile, he advised me to take a temporary job in the local Central Excise office to earn some money to make it possible to go to Delhi. I did so. As he visualized, I got a call from the Planning Commission for an interview held in Hyderabad. I was selected as an Economic Investigator in the Programme Evaluation Organization (PEO) of the Planning Commission and posted in Nizamabad district of the former Nizam state.
Although it was less than one year, I had to work in the PEO, it was a very thrilling experience because for the first time I had the taste of life outside my home and it is full of several hardships in every sense because I am not a person to adjust easily with food and living conditions outside my home. In those days, being a part of former Nizam state, the villages did not enjoy any facilities. We were three investigators to carry out field studies to evaluate the performance of Community Development Project, which was first of its kind and it embraces all aspects of rural life. The language used although they claim it to be Telugu was totally alien to me and therefore I had to prepare a small dictionary of words of Telangana Telugu to Sarkar Telugu. That was the first hurdle which I faced in my service. Secondly, we had no place to stay except a cattle shed-like so-called village chawdi where we had to cook our own food and live there. When we moved from place to place, we had to carry our bed holder and a bunch of schedules with very little help from the local people. This kind of interaction with those people and also an insight into the socio, cultural and economic life of the people then who had to bow down to the orders of the Nawabs, who were agents of Nizam. But for me coming from a typical rural background with perfect knowledge of Agriculture, animal husbandry etc. there was no difficulty to appreciate development programmes which formed a part of Community Development. The only dimension which was added to my experience was that I had to adjust to very rigorous living conditions and also my superior was very unkind bachelor who never considered our problems seriously.
I was the first man to be relieved as it was a temporary post for about a year. But it was a dilemma for me whether to return to my hometown and look after my two sons, one of them was a toddler. But I took a bold decision to go to Delhi straight away and try my luck. It was early March 1955 when the cold winter days persisted. Delhi was a newfound land to me in every respect. I did not know anybody there to seek any help. So I preferred to stay in a hotel in Connaught Place which is in the heart of the city. In those days, Delhi was a small town and most of the Andhras there were holding very high positions and they were prominent in their own way. So I took advantage of this fact and planned my meetings with Dr. K.L.Rao, a famous Civil Engineer who later became a Minister for Irrigation in Nehru’s cabinet. I also met Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh, Kotanraju Rama Rao, a veteran journalist and many prominent Andhras had sought their help, to get a suitable job on the basis of my qualifications and experience. It is very unbelievable if I say that I got the same post which I quit in Nizamabad in the PEO, Planning Commission, Delhi within two months. Later my family joined me in Karol bagh which is a mini Andhra. My wife who had no exposure outside her home and without any formal education and knowledge of any language other than Telugu had to run the show all alone and that was a great marvel, because I was carelessly spending my time leaving everything to my wife to manage the household with three sons. But life was very comfortable and enjoyable because Delhi was very cheap and everything was available at a very low price. And most of my Andhra friends were very helpful in leading a very comfortable life.
While working in the Planning Commission, I had acquired good experience and knowledge of the type of work I was asked to handle. I distinguished myself in every post I held and within 3- 4 years I got two lifts. After having been selected by the UPSC in 1960, I was transferred to Madras where is pent about 7 years. While in Madras, I developed great interest in classical Carnatic music and used to attend most of the concerts which were held in Mylapur.
In 1967, I was transferred to Hyderabad to hold an independent office in the PEO with wide jurisdiction. During my stay here, the Telangana problem came to surface, thanks to Dr. M. Chenna Reddy. I must say here what Late Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, the last Chief Minister of Hyderabad and how prophetic his advice came true. He told the Andhra leaders before formation of Andhra Pradesh in November 1956 that in any Government, Dr. Chenna Reddy should be in,V.B.Raju should be out for trouble free governance. In 1969, what happened was exactly the same prophetic truth. And along with other Andhras, our family also had to face lot of problems bordering on threat to life and property. So I shifter my family to Visakhapatnam and fortunately I was promoted and transferred to Delhi. Thus, I could overcome the impending danger.
A very interesting part of my stay in Hyderabad needs to be narrated here. While I was staying in Madras, I had developed close contact with Sri Aurobindo society of Pondicherry. During the period of turmoil on account of demand for separate Telangana in 1969, I was invited by the holy mother of Pondicherry to advise the society as to how to integrate the rural areas which were located within the comprehensive Aurovill project. I had the benign grace of the Holy mother who had assured that nothing would happen to my family and that is how I could stay carefree for one month in Pondicherry. This was a great, memorable period in my life and my spiritual bent of mind received a great impetus. Professor A.R.Srininvas Iyengar whom I knew in the Andhra University, also came to Pondicherry. I was given all the best facilities to write a report and submit personally to mother and receive her blessings.
The tragedy of eldest son’s death:
During the Telangana agitation, for reasons of safety, I shifted my children to Visakhapatnam and admitted them in the local educational institutions under the orders of the AP Government. I returned to Visakhapatnam to take my sons back to Delhi. I had suffered a shock of my life when my eldest son died in Visakhapatnam.
Although I was not in a proper frame of mind to carry on my duties in Planning Commission, my senior officers including ICS officers had extended a great deal of moral support with which I was able to rehabilitate myself.
Formation if Indian Economic Service:
Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis, Director, Indian Statistical Institute had very good rapport with Jawahar Lal Nehru who was also the Chairman of Planning Commission proposed two All India professional services, one, Indian Economic Service(IES) and Indian Statistical Service (ISS). The first batch of officers selected for these services joined in 1962. I was one of those first batch officers in the IES.
Some interesting aspects of my service in the Planning Commissions:
During my childhood days in the absence of any formal schooling, I was asked to supervise some agricultural operations by my elders. I was not a passive watcher of anything. I developed deep interest in everything that came my way. My mother was practicing Ayurveda and even preparing drugs in our house. My parent used to take me wherever they went. My grandfather used to demonstrate how vegetables should be grown. He was a perfectionist in everything he did and imparted such a knowledge to me as my grandfather cum guru and also taught me vedic hymns like Purusha sooktam, Sree sooktham , Bhoo sooktham, Rudra, Namaka Chamakam and thus, a good foundation was laid during my early life by my grandfather, parents and even some of the farmers ho were very knowledgeable and we used to discuss with them to get educated. All these opportunities have prepared me to do a better job in Planning Commission.
My service as an IES Officer:
It was my good fortune that I got tailor made garbs suitable to my background, knowledge, experience and interest. That is how I was able to improve my knowledge and apply the same during the course of my service and later.
Service in the PEO:
My experience in the PEO based on field studies of various aspects of rural development including agriculture and allied sectors, micro, small and medium industries etc. helped me to perform activities top my own satisfaction as well as the satisfaction of my seniors.
Service in Telangana:
A service in Nizamabad district before the Nizam state was merged with enlarged Andhra Pradesh had provided me with a great insight into the life of Telangana people in those days when there was not even a high school at the district headquarters. There were no newspapers, no radio. They did not know even improved methods of cultivation, even though enough water was available from a perennial source like Nizam sagar. They were satisfied with the type of life which can be described as sub human. Taking advantage of the socio-economic factors, this vacuum had been filled by progressive farmers from the coastal districts who have purchased large areas of fallow but fertile land and adopted improved methods but there was no emotional integration to the local people who remained aloof. This single factor has encouraged divisive forces who could not match their skills with the farmers from the coastal areas, but at the same time they wanted to enjoy the same status. Although there was some tangible progress since 1969, but still some leaders for their own political gain raised the bogey of separation even after 50 years. To some extent, there is a deficit in the personal relations between the Telangana people and people from rest of Andhra. I have analyzed all these factors and also offered various alternatives in my submission to Sri Krishna Committee on the demand for separate Telangana which submitted its report in December 2009. But the problem continues to be intractable.
Green revolution:
In the early years of our independence, the country experienced food shortage and we were helped by the US under PL 480 scheme. In the meanwhile, the ICAR and IARI under the guidance of Prof. M.S.Swaminathan and leadership of Sri C. Subramanyan who was Union Agricultural Minister, an attempt was made to procure high yielding varieties of paddy and wheat. The Tai Chung native 1(TN1), a short duration of high yielding coarse variety of rice was introduced in the rice growing areas of particularly South India and Gangetic basin. While in the case of wheat there were not many strains, in the case of rice there are numerous varieties which made farming difficult but yet there was a substantial improvement in the yield of both wheat and rice, particularly, in the river basins and the Green Revolution was a great success, thanks to our agricultural scientists. But only factor imposed a kind of problem was supply of fertilizers and pesticides without which Green Revolution has not much to gain.
In this context, it needs to be mentioned that while the first Five year plan was a hurriedly assembled document, more scientific and formal approach was made in the formulation of second Five year plan. Prof. P.C. Mahalonobis of ISI, Calcutta has played a key role in giving a new direction to the second five year plan. I have a good number of friends working in ISI, Calcutta but stationed in Delhi for the purpose of assisting Prof. Mahalonobis in formation of second Five year plan. There was a paradigm shift in the approach to planning and development. During the first five year plan, the policies and programmes were largely formulated under the able guidance of Sir V.T.Krishnamachari who was the Diwan of many princely states. He had the uncanny knack of laying his fingers on the pulse of development and strengthening of rural economy and institution building from bottom. In this context, his slogan was that “every village should have a strong institutional framework with democratic administrative institution, village panchayat, a cooperative society and an elementary/middle school and connectivity to nearby urban centers”. In the second plan, under the influence of ISI, Nehru had accepted a planning model close to the USSR model in which the emphasis was largely on basic and large industries to build a strong infrastructure. In this approach, the second plan had two key areas, one, a very big component of heavy industries like steel, cement and fertilizers, as also in conformity with the constitutional obligations. For the first time, the second plan had clearly defined the long term goal of building a socialistic pattern of society which needs no elaboration because the essential component of this model is to ensure production and social justice i.e. to promote egalitarianism. Thus, the ISI had played very key role in preparing a road map for long term development on India. Needless to say how important such heavy industries like cement for construction of dams and factories and houses. Likewise, steel has its own applications in heavy industries and development projects. For higher output, needless to say how important it is to switch over from traditional practices to chemical fertilizers. The Sindhri fertilizer was the only production unit which could not meet the growing demand, part of which was met by imports.
As said above, during the second plan, the concept of Green revolution gained considerable importance to augment production of food grains and in fact, for about forty years the role of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the Green revolution of cereals, pulses etc cannot be over emphasized. There was an arrangement to organize Farm Management studies in order to ascertain the profitability of farming. During the second plan period while the Government’s policy was to promote use of fertilizers, there was one senior officer M.S.Sivaraman, ICS who advocated strongly green manure for sustained conservation of soil fertility. He was uncompromisingly advocating application of organic manure with a large dose of green manure and therefore he was nicknamed as ‘Green Manure Sivaraman’. It is very strange that after 40 years with the non-conventional methods adopted in the Green Revolution, the advocacy of Sivaraman is gaining momentum today with the rising suicide deaths of farmers, particularly in Andhra and Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, largely due to the value of outturn of agricultural products and market price and even a minimum support price and many other support systems provided to the farmers could not bridge the gap between the cost of production and ultimate price offered. This is a very crucial area for further contemplation as to the future of the non-conventional Green Revolution. Besides the cost of fertilizers and pesticides there is also a strong evidence of health hazards caused by the products like cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables etc. grown with the help of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In fact, quite a number of countries have virtually banned import of agricultural products from India for the above reason.
This calls for a very serious attention of the Planning Commission, ICAR, and IARI and if we make an honest beginning right now, perhaps in another 10 years we would be able to restore the glory of Indian farm products grown under conventional methods. This has also an added advantage of retaining soil fertility without erosion except due to unforeseen natural calamities like floods.
Advent of Maruti motor cars:
Among the stalwarts who headed the Planning Commission as Vice Chairman, the name of Prof. D.R.Gadgil, a veteran economist of Poona School stands out. During his tenure, Planning Commission had hope of achieving balanced development of all regions and also strengthening rural economy which was the main plank of Gadgil. Therefore, when the proposal for production of small cars like Maruti with Japanese collaboration was mooted, the Planning Commission rejected the same and suggested that the need of the hour was to produce more and more passenger buses, heavy vehicles like trucks, tractors etc. and not necessarily small cars which did not fit into the priority scale of Planning Commission but on this very count, Prof. Gadgil was asked during the emergency to submit resignation of all the members of the Planning Commission, which including among others, the former President R.Venkata Raman. He did so and took the next available train to go back to his home town Pune. But alas! He paid heavy price for sticking to his guns and lost his life before reaching his destination i.e. Pune. This was one of the saddest parts of Planning Commission history. Now, we see a flood of cars, motor bikes in the market with lot of tempting offers and our roads are not capable of managing the volume of traffic. The result is road accidents, some of which are very vital resulting in loss of life. Besides, since our domestic output of petroleum and natural gas is not sufficient to meet even 25-30% of our demand, we have to pay for import of petroleum products through our nose. Even now, in spite of my several appeals to the Planning Commission, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Advisory Council in the PMO, the response is not only nil but continuing the self restricting policy of production of more and more cars including luxury cars and two wheelers. This aspect needs a very serious attention of all right thinking people in the country.
We need to improve road connectivity and rail connectivity to the interior and hilly areas where most of the Girijans are living in isolation without any sense of participation in the development process of the country. How the rural settlements cannot be restructured as easily as you think because they have their own sentiments about their habitats and settlement. We have to plan a network of transport systems which enables any villager to reach the place of work or education or medical service i.e. hospital within a walk able distance of maximum 2kms.
It goes without saying that planning needs some discipline and cooperation and we should participate with nature. And certainly cannot be left to the sweet will of narrow minded politicians and criminals who are entering the sacred portals of Legislature, both in the state and the center. Therefore, we should develop a time-bound rigid frame say 10 years, which would ensure eradication of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, corruption, ill health, congenital and hereditary disabilities, and more importantly disparities of incomes and development between the regions. In other words, balanced all round development of all parts of the country and ensure social justice to one and all in every sense of the term should be our goal. It makes a sad commentary on our democracy which has already attained sufficient maturity during the last 62 years since Independence. Now it is time for us to gird up our loins to accelerate the pace of development to catch up other fast growing third world countries, particularly China should be our guiding neighbor in this respect.
SOME HIGH LIGHTS OF THE PROJECTS TAKENUP BY ME
As stated earlier I had a good fortune of allocation of jobs most dear to me in every department I worked. Some of the major projects in which I derived great sense of fulfillment are being briefly mentioned here.
SERVICE IN MORMAGAO PORT TRUST:
I was on deputation during 1980 to 1982 to head the Department of Planning and Research as Director. I had encountered certain problems because the Port Authorities had some reservations to accept me; but the Secretary, Ministry of Shipping prevailed upon the chairman and who had no option but to accept me.
As the Director (Planning and Research), there is no department in the port trust which was not in my domain. After studying the port operations and economy I felt that being a mono cargo port like Iron Ore for export mainly to Japan with hardly 6 berths, the port would certainly reach a point of extinction sooner or later. Therefore my first task was to plan for diversifying port operations to provide for general cargo berths and sea food for which Goa is famous. Secondly, one of the berths was under the control of private operated from the time of Portuguese rule. I found that it was incongruous after the major port trust Act came in to operation and Marmagoa port was also transferred from the Portugese Ruleres to the Government of India after their rule ended. Thirdly, from Karnataka Iron Ore was carried by train and the entire rail route was meter gauge. Therefore, my major task was to remove the above handicaps and to enable the port to provide best services. For the first time my above policies made me a target of vested interests there and they had managed to poison the mind of the Secretary, Shipping to such an extent that they were prepared to abolish my department and surrender me to my cadre control authority. I used to receive lot of threats even openly and challenged me if I could implement even one of them. I did not take them seriously and prepared a comprehensive report incorporating suitable recommendations for upgrading the port. During my tenure I was taken as a member of the board of management of the NIO (National Institute of Oceanography, Panaji). I had earned their love and affection and I had the privilege of launching the first ship to Antarctica to study various aspects. That was a first adventure of NIO followed by series of such expeditions carried out by NIO. Another mile stone in the history of port trust was export of frozen cargo, consisting mainly of white shrimps which had lot of demand abroad. Finally, another pet project was a survey of meter gauge Railway line by the railways for conversion of the broad gauge which has now become a reality forming part of the Konkan Railway. I don’t know what happened about the private berth but having realized my apprehension about the future of the port a new general cargo berth was added. Thus practically all my recommendations were implemented although none of them including the ministry recognized my foresight. However, the former chairman N.C.Narona IAS, now retired had maintained his contact with me after leaving the port and joined the ministry of Industry. Later he became vice chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a prestigious town planning institution of Delhi which has become a role model for other similar bodies in various states. He used to interact with me very often and helped me to provide infrastructure and other facilities in the newly developed Trans Jamuna, a large DDA colony, called Mayur Vihar Phase II. I was the President of the local welfare Association and did social service to the local people to our mutual satisfaction which only prompted me to replicate similar activities in my birth place which is a small village mentioned above in Visakhapatnam District. Thus the “PRAJASPANDANA” has taken birth under the banner of which I continued to extend to the people of not only to Visakhapatnam, but also Andhra Pradesh and India.
Before mentioning our activities in Visakhapatnam let me state that after Dr.E.A.S.Sarma, IAS Rtd. And former Energy Secretary, Government of India settled down in Visakhapatanam, a spirit and enthusiasm of social activism in not only Uttar Andhra but the entire world gained Phillip and momentum. In a meeting of likeminded people in his house, one day we launched another NGO called FBV (Forum for Better Visakha) which has identical views as I have and launched earlier Prajaspandana with the same manifesto and agenda. Both of us for our own reasons did not get them registered nor sought any donations and funds and even membership and left it run on its own, with our own personal funds, without accepting any money from any source whether it is high or low, including NRIs. In other words we wanted to promote our own ideals and ideologies no matter whether we succeed or fail. Thus in a way I and Dr. Sarma can be described as true faces of the same coin as far as our chosen activities are concerned. We are not competitive but mutually complimentary. In a society which has not able to shed its slavish behavior it is my good fortune that Sarma without any ego has been treated me as hi elder brother with all his love and affection. This trend has considerably boosted up my morale and fighting spirit, regardless of my age and ageing problems in sweet eighties.
Some milestones while in service:
The last posting in the Ministry of Industry provided me very rare opportunities and entirely in tune with my concern for people in the rural areas in particular and those who live on household activities whether in metropolitan areas or hill areas. Added to that as if providence has blessed me, I had every possible support from both from senior officers as well as political bosses. I can never forget one such officer late G.Venkataramana IAS of West Bengal Cadre and very much loved by all his colloquies in West Bengal Government. What is most noteworthy was his is that Jyothi Basu, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, who had completed unbroken service as Chief Minister for nearly three decades, a record in the entire world, never failed to invite him to the bungalow house in Delhi to take his advice about the development projects in West Bengal.
In the initial meeting itself with him while exchanging notes, he told me that the subject which I was handling was most dear to him and he offered his best support to enable me to promote appropriate technology as a powerful tool to improve the economic and social life of artisans, rural industries all over the country. With this official support I had lounged a few projects which I feel worth mentioning here as my personal contribution in the area of promoting micro and small industries. Some of the major projects are briefly stated here.
ALIGHARH LOCK INDUSTRY: Aligharh is a big town in UP with large number of people belonging to minority community. That is why, when Hindu University, Benares (now renamed as Varanasi) was set up as a complimentary to it Alighar Muslim University was set up. The very name Aligharh is inseparably associated with house hold handmade lock industry alike of which is nowhere found in the world. There were about one lakh artisans and equal number of people engaged in trade and ancillary works and services including marketing in the city. At that time Sri N.D.Thiwari, was the Union Minster of Industry. He hails from UP and is a committed political leader for development of firstly his constituency and secondly his state UP. He is one of the very few surviving octogenarian politician of yester years who held several high offices as Chief Minister of UP, Uttaranchal. And Union Minister, Governor etc. He had treated me with utmost affection and gave me unstinted support in every sense to overcome many hurdles particularly placed in my way by internal finance wing in the ministry.
In order to achieve a breakthrough in the century old traditional industry, I worked out a three pronged strategy. Firstly, there should be a total change in the technology to improve the productivity and earnings of the artisans. Secondly, the design of the locks should be better than what is available in the market, and thirdly training, marketing and supply of raw materials should be taken up by a specialized agency. For this purpose I drew upon one of our ministry’s subsidiaries, NSIC (National Small Industries Corporation) who had set up a branch in Aligarh. After discussing with UP Government concerned officials, Artisans and all others closely associated with the industry, I put our plan before them and after ensuring their cooperation and support; the project went off very well. Sri N.D.Thivari himself in a review meeting highly appreciated this Venture.
On coming to know of the achievement in Aligarh, the Government of Tamilnadu, asked the ministry to improve similar industry in Dindugal (near Madurai), where there are also similar lock makers but not as large as in Aligarh. Again NSIC took the lead in this endeavor.
CULTIVATION OF JAWA CITRONELLA GRASS:
In the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in the North East, rice crop is being raised three times a year, although it is 90 days short term crop and the quality of rice is coarse, consumers have no problem to accept. However in the Sibsagar District, Dibrugarh and Digboy which is very old oil field, rice cultivators in Sibsagar District and the surrounding areas of Digboy, faced with a problem of elephants which used to destroy rice crops for want of food elsewhere. In order to overcome the problem my predecessors with the help of RRL (Regional Research Laboratory) of CSIR Group, Jorhat tried Jawa citronella cultivation to reduce essential oil from the grass which had many applications in the cosmetics Pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. The entire project was supported by ATU (Appropriate Technology Unit) of the Ministry of Industry. It has yielded very good results as marketing of citronella oil was not a problem. ATU has set up demonstration units for extraction of oils in some areas under the supervision of RRL Jorhat. On seeing the success of the project our ministry wanted to extend the same project to other states like Manipur and did it successfully.
MANUFACTURE OF LIGHT ROOFING TILES:
The North Eastern region of India is earth quake prone. Therefore pakka competitive structures cannot be raised for fear of being affected by earth quakes not only causing loss of property but also life. From time immemorial the people of north east have been living in huts habituated by using bamboos, thatch, grass etc. This problem was addressed by ATU and found a way out by using appropriate technology methodology. Everywhere lot of agro and other organic waste is available in plenty. This is crushed and pulverized and by adding a waterproof adhesive, this can become suitable light material which can be molded into corrugated light waterproof roofing sheets. A technology is very simple and raw material is locally available making it affordable in price to the common man. Such technology has also become popular in west Godavari district of Andhra where poultry farmers started using them widely.
LACQUER WARE WOODEN TOYS AND ARTICLES:
At the instance of the former minister of industry and presently Union Minister of External Affairs Sri S.M.Krishna, ATU has taken up a project in Chennapatna (Karnataka) which is known worldwide for its lacquer ware wooden toys and other articles. At that time i.e., in 1984, there was a great spurt I the export orders for lacquer ware, wooden beads used for decorative hanging curtains in foreign countries. The traditional wood working lathe operated by one artisan and one helper was not able to produce enough to meet the export order. In this context it was a challenge to the ATU headed by me thrown by our minister. The lath needs lot of improvement to attain higher quantitative productivity and low cost. At the same time the artisan cannot afford to use power operated lathe for which their dwelling places were not suitable. Keeping I view the need for augmenting availability of raw material i.e., soft wood of particular type mostly grown in forest areas under certain climatic conditions and other limitations, ATU conceptualized a mechanical devise. The pedal operated sewing machine used by tailors to stitch garments were considered as a suitable machine but pedal power is not sufficient to operate a lathe, therefore such modifications in the fly wheal were suggested and electric motor was also added to meet the required energy. If electric power is available the motor could be used. For any reason as we are often experienced, the power is not available; the artisan should not be deprived of his daily earning on which he sustains his family. This is the crux of the problem. In this context the services of the engineers and economists in the NPC (National Productivity Council) which was also under the Ministry of Industry were used. They came to my expectation and successfully delivered the goods within six months. The project was conceived as a comprehensive one, so that the Government of Karnataka could provide the much needed impetus to the traditional industry to survive on its own later.
The modified version of sewing machine cum wood working lathe which was costing less than Rs. 5000/- has gained considerable popularity, because such lacqerware wooded toys industry continues to be one of the popular industries in our country e.g. Kerala, Etikoppaka in AP, Udaipur in Rajasthan etc. Our former Secretary Smt. Otima Bordia, IAS, who hails from Rajasthan took lot of interest and personally took me and organized and extension work shop at Udaipur. In this context I must acknowledge very active and personal encouragement and invaluable support given by our former Chief Minister and at that time Union Industrial Minister Jalagam VengalaRao Garu.
As regards availability of soft wood, the Karnataka forest department took up special care to ear mark some area in forest to grow soft wood suitable for lacquer ware wooded articles. As regards marketing I took a team to Europe, particularly Italy, Germany etc., where fashion designers suggested ornamental lacqerware wooden articles such as ear studs bangles etc., which became popular with ladies apart from pen stands, curtain beads and some other novel articles.
SABAI GRASS PRODUCTS IN MAYURBHUNJ DISTRICT OF ORISSA:
The State Bank of India, as a Lead Bank in Mayurbhunj District in co-ordination with the industry department of Government of Orissa drafted the services of ATU to apply appropriate technology to bring about all round development in manufacture of sabai grass products is the basically dominated districts of Mayurbhunj. In large mountain and uplands of Mayurbhunj District, the elephant grass locally called sabai grass with a length of 2 to 3 meters grows. This is a wild growth and does not need any organized farming. After cutting it grows again in a period of 6 to 10m months and it is a freely available raw material. The tribal people in the district make a living by spinning and making long thread. The entire operation of cutting, spinning and polishing is manually done in every poor manner, sometimes causing permanent damage to the soft skin in the palms. The traders come mainly from north India where the Sabai grass is used for making cot. They come and give a meager some as advance and collect the product in rolls and bundles. This sabai grass thread is largely used by all classes of people in the north who are not in the habit of sleeping on the flour however they are poor. Thus it has a very big market year round. But the tribals do not get adequate remuneration.
Against this back ground made a thorough study of availability of raw material, manufacture into finished product and marketing. Again the sewing machines came handy with some modifications by incorporating a spinning machine using once again either electric power or manual power. Thus the techno economic feasibility of the devise had been established. It did not take much time for as to introduce this technology with the help of CMRI (Central Mechanical Research Institute) Durgapur (WB) one of the CSIR Labs. The product as such has much value edition. Therefore once again the fashion designers were commissioned by the ATU to diversify the product. It has been found that with the Sabai grass yarn, a number of utility and decorative items would be manufactured such as furniture, Konark wheal, bowels, table mats etc. In the endeavor, the National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad again a subsidiary renowned organization came to our rescue and indeed the products dyed with different colors and shapes attracted a lot of exporters and foreign traders. For this purpose once again I led a team to Europe and with the help of the ITC (International Trade Centre) Geneva (Switzerland) to explore marketing and popularization. It may be stated here in the western countries any product made of natural raw material are preferred unlike in our country although our climatic conditions are not suitable to use largely plastic, Rexene made furniture. This makes all the difference. It must be acknowledged here that TSR Subramanian IAS, former Chief in the ITC, Geneva and retired as Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India took personal interest in promoting all my ventures in the field of appropriate technology, a subject which was very dear to him impact both of us travelled together and even wanted to setup an institute exclusively for promotion of appropriate technology to improve productivity and incomes of artisans, micro and small entrepreneurs.
PRODUCTION OF ETHNOL:
In Sundarbans area of 24paraganas of West Bengal, the entire land is marshy and partially covered with forests. The local Government contacted my senior officer late G.Venkata Ramanan IAS of West Bengal Cadre, and sought ATU’s help. They started a new experiment to cultivate sugar beet for which the land was pre eminently suited. ATU carefully studied how this sugar beet could be industrially and commercially used to enable the people mostly tribals to improve their living conditions. On coming to know that ethanol could be extracted from this sugar beet juice and many pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals could be manufactured with sugar beet juice as raw material. An experimental and demonstration plant was setup at Narendrapur which is close to the areas where sugar beet was grown. Later it is found that ethanol is an environmentally friendly substitute for petrol and diesel in automobile industry. Now as a matter of great pleasure to note that this has become a reality and Government of India is promoting blending the petroleum products to reduce air pollution due to emission of carbon dioxide.
PRODUCTION OF SALT WITH INTENSIVE SOLAR POWER:
The BCT (Bhagavatula Charitable Trust) Ellamanchili sought the help of ATU to apply appropriate technology suggested by one expert to intensify solar energy to reduce the time of evaporation sea water and also the see pace. This involved using black long polythene sheets to be spread in the channels over which the sea water flows until it is dried and become salt by solar evaporation, a commonly used ancient technology. The sea coast where this technology wa spplied is close to Sarvasiddhirayavaram, a very historic place where the light of Andhra, Gurajada Appa Rao took his birth. In order to pump water wind power was also used by setting up wind mills at regular intervals.
I have not been able to narrate various episodes and anecdotes which formed a part of my life history for fear of length of this autobiography, however to the extent I can recollect depending entirely on my memory I have attempted this piece of my biography because of my age and health do not permit me to collect various reference material to authenticate every statement I made. As the occasion demanded I had no choice but to oblige my honorable members of the organizing committee of this event and I am ever grateful to one and all.
“SARVE JANAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU”
“LOKAH SAMASTHAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU”
''OM SANTHISSANTISSANTIHI''
''OM SANTHISSANTISSANTIHI''
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