- Develop a sense of optimism in them, instill in them a sense of self-confidence that they can change the world and can build a better tomorrow
- Expose and oppose the abuse of scientific knowledge detrimental to the interests of the majority
- Expose and oppose abuse of environment
- Propose and help implement alternative models for development
- Carry out R&D work to transform lab technologies into field technologies
Area of action The area of action of KSSP is Kerala, a Southern Indian state. Kerala has a total population of nearly 30 million. Its per capita income is only about 200-210 dollars per annum at current prices. Health indices of Kerala are much higher than those of the rest of India : Life expectation at birth 72 years, crude mortality rate 6.0 (per thousand), infant mortality rate 12 (per thousand), birth rate 14 (per thousand). The nutrition level in Kerala is low, morbidity level high. Most of the diseases are either related to old age (30%) or poverty and environment (60%). The literacy rate of Kerala is near 100%, almost twice the national rate. This phenomenon of low income and high level of human development has been called the "Kerala Model" in international development parlance. The KSSP is involved in finding out the strengths and weakness of this model so as to further improve on it and also to make it sustainable. Structure of KSSP The KSSP has a four tier structure:
- Units functioning at the village level in an area of 10-20 sq. km.
- Sub-regional committees catering to about 10-15 units
- District committees (14)
- State committee
KSSP's members The KSSP has more than 40,000 members, all of them working on a voluntary basis. The most predominant group is that of unemployed educated youth the next being teachers. Among the leadership, teachers outnumber everybody. In the State Executive Committee, they constitute nearly fifty percent. But KSSP embraces all sections of society as their members come from all walks of life: engineers, doctors, lawyers, agricultural workers, administrators, technicians, nurses, teachers, peasants, students, scientists, political activists, social activists, etc.
Awards KSSP has got a number of national and international awards in recognition of its achievements in various fields of activities :
| 1983 | Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award by Indian Council of Social Science Research for its work in science |
| 1989 | Indira Pariyavaran Puraskar and the Vriksha Mitra Puraskar for its work in the field of environment, both awarded by the Government of India |
| 1990 | Global 500 Roll of Honour of the UNEP for its work in the environment field and the King Sejong Literacy Prize for its work in science popularization and literacy |
| 1996 | Right Livelihood Award (often called "Alternative Nobel prize") by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation (Stockholm, Sweden) for its pioneering work in the fields of health, peace and development |
Out of the 40,000 members nearly 10,000 are teachers. The following are the
Activities organized in the field of education:
In service training of school teachers especially to make them enjoy
Teaching.
Pedagogic innovations like "Living with Science", "Living with Stars",
"Integrated Science teaching", "Environment Based Teaching", etc. to
make learning an enjoyable activity for children.
Curricular studies, text book audits, etc.
Critique on commercialization of education.
Massive Children's Science Festivals and Teacher Exchange Program.
Mass movement for quality improvement.
Talent festivals for children - annual participation: 0.5 million.
Publication of science journals and books for children.
Leading a successful campaign to ma
EnvironmentProtection of forests, years long and successful campaign to protect the famous Silent Valley forest.
Campaign against pollution, especially by chemical industries.
Education about environmental impact of wrong land use.
Popularizing agro forestry methods of soil protection.
Raising environmental awareness level of the entire Kerala society.
Developing the three environment concept : Physical, Biological, Socio- economic and Cultural-ethical environments.
A consistent Champion of protecting the environment for the future generations.
DevelopmentBuilding models for sustainable and equitable development.
Campaigning for decentralized democracy and local level planning.
Initiating a large number of field experiments in local level planning.
Empowering the local communities through volunteer based Resource mappings, Socio-economic survey, Data analysis etc.
Formulation and realization of people's structures like "Neighborhoods” and village committees for participator democracy.
Analyzing the "Kerala Model" of development to arrive at general conclusions.
KSSP, with the help of its members and friends, undertake regular studies in development issues of Kerala and publish papers, monographs and reference books.
EnergyKerala is an energy deficit state without any fuel resources. From 1975 onwards, the KSSP has been campaigning for a
rational energy plan for Kerala. Today the organization has got within its folds some of the best energy experts in the state.
KSSP is involved in large scale energy conservation programmes both for electricity and heat energy.
Its research and development unit has developed a high efficiency wood burning stove which saves
more than 50% of firewood. More than half a million homes have installed these "Parishad Oven" as
they are called resulting in a minimum annual saving of 0.6 - 0.8 million tones of firewood - so much
less destruction of biomass to the environment and a saving of about 20-30 million US dollars
(700-800 Million Rupees). It has also invented a "Hot Box" which saves about 50% energy in cooking rice, the staple diet of the region.
KSSP has initiated a campaign to replace a substantial portion of the nearly 20 Million 60 W
Lamps with compact fluorescent lamps and high-quality electronic ballasts.
KSSP is also helping the district level local governments to develop small hydro stations within their territory.
Health
Activities in the area of health involve:
Health education Campaign.
Formulation and championing for people-centered health policies, instead of profit centered policies.
Campaigns to save the health of the people from the avarice of multinationals and national drug giants.
Intervention in the event of epidemics like Cholera - popularization of oral dehydration techniques using safe local materials like coconut water, rice gruel etc.
In-depth studies on the health status of Kerala for the purpose of formulating medium and long term health policies.
It has formulated a major five year campaign to reduce poverty and environment related mortality substantially. Its components are: a minimum nutrition programme for pregnant mothers and children under 12 (a hunger free Kerala) and a programme for safe drinking water and clean environment for a "fly less mosquito less Kerala".
It is implementing a WHO supported programme on women's empowerment through health education.
It campaigns for and extends support to town and panchayath bodies for safe disposal of Municipal Solid Waste through windrow composting and vermi composting.
Women's IssuesLike every other movement in Kerala, unfortunately the KSSP too is male dominated. Several attempts have been made in the
past to develop women leaders, but not with much success. Out of the total membership about 20-25 % are women, and of
the leadership only less than 10% . To overcome this defect the KSSP has taken the following programmes.
Women's study and leadership camps
All women street theater groups
Women science festivals
Movement against atrocities towards women
CommunicationAny "movement" involves germination and formulation of "ideas" within a small group and later widespread dissemination of
them. It demands "Large scale communication", leading to "information transfer", "attitude change" and "action initiation". The
KSSP was originally formed for a Forum of science communicators using print medium. It continues to use that medium. The
KSSP was responsible for developing a market for popular science books, especially for children, in Kerala. It has published
more than seven hundred books till now. It is the single largest science publisher in Kerala, about 30 to 40 titles per year.
The KSSP uses also other print media like posters, though not in a large way.
It has a long tradition of oral medium, lecture campaigns. It organizes every now and then massive lecture campaigns on a
Variety of topics. Each campaign will result in several thousand lectures, reaching out to hundreds of thousands of persons.
Kala Jatha
It has developed a new theater medium using elements of street theater, epic
theater, lectures, house visits etc.This is now known all over India as "Kala jatha" meaning "art caravan". Suffice to mention that there are today in India
several thousand "Kala Jatha" Groups and this art form was mainly
responsible for building up a gigantic network of Resource Persons,
structures, Organizers and learners in the mass campaign for literacy. The
Members are 60 to 70 million learners and 6 - 8 million volunteers. It is the
Contribution of the KSSP to the communication tool kit.
Research and DevelopmentIn order to strengthen and be effective the KSSP has to acquire, digest and transform information and skills relating to a huge range of activities. In order to help the KSSP in a systematic manner it has set up in 1987 an Integrated Rural Technology Centre with the financial support of the Government of India and Government of Kerala.
Popular science booksUniverse: an introduction
Scientific look on the universe and its origins
In search of secrets of life
Book dealing with life, its origins and evolution
Biography of Dr S. Chandra Sekhar
The life of the famous Indian astrophysicist, Nobel Laureate
Power to people
The issues of development and decentralization of power
Man and nature
Man and his relation with his environment
Wealth of Kerala
Resources appraisal of Kerala
Reference books
Why? Why? Why?
Science Encyclopedia
How? How?
Science Encyclopedia
Science Curiosities
Science Encyclopedia
History of Science
Science history through the biographies of famous scientists
Science books for children
Science Cream
Set of 20 books on different scientific topics
Children Science series
Set of 10 books
Naughty Mathematics
Mathematics for entertainment
The book without end
Book on nature
Books for popular campaigns
Man, science and society
Challenges of the patent law amendments
Globalization and India
MonographsKSSP publishes monographs used as technical references for local level activists on subjects like drinking water, land and water conservation, education, energy crisis in Kerala, use of electricity, etc.
BookletsKSSP also publishes pamphlets on various subjects like: alternate development, women issues, energy, education, science and society, etc.
Monthly publicationsThe KSSP also publishes three monthlies dedicated to science information:
Eureka, for primary school children (has a print run of about 50,000)
Sastrakeralam, for high school children
Sastragathi, for college students and general public
For more information about KSSP's publications or to place an order
In order to provide the knowledge base to support to the wide range of its activities, KSSP has established 3 institutions with support from both state and central government : the Integrated Rural Technology Centre, the Environment Centre and the Educational Research Units. Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC) The KSSP had been involved in Research and Development (R&D) in areas relating to rural technology ever since 1980. In the early 80's, KSSP ventured into R&D in areas like low cost housing and solid waste management. It all began with a very modest attempt to develop a smokeless Chulha (oven) which is also fuel-efficient. It turned out to be a phenomenal success. Soon KSSP realized that it would be necessary to have a regular scientific research team and a regular infrastructure to organize serious R&D and decided to set up a centre for these purposes. Integrated Rural Technology Centre was born in 1987 and became an independent autonomous society in 1995. During the past fourteen years, the IRTC has worked in the fields of environment, health, local area planning, energy, education, construction, etc. The main focus being to strengthen the people's institutions like the panchayath, with knowledge and skills. IRTC has taken up a number of research projects in areas like Wood Burning Stoves, Energy conservation and management, small hydel investigations, solar thermal devices, electronic ballasts, pump as turbine, solid waste management, bio-methanation, low-cost construction techniques, land and water management, sustainable farming practices, panchayath resource mapping, local area planning, income generating activities for rural women, like rabbitry, mushroom culture, spawn production, aquaculture, fish seed production, as well as education regarding technology, curriculum development and management. As an offshoot of the IRTC, the Parishad Production Centre (PPC) was created with the objective of organizing commercial production of its technological innovations like Electronic Ballast, for benefiting the Society. The Centre has conceptualized its production ensuring maximum decentralization of the production process along with centralized procurement and quality control. Recently Samatha Production Centre has been added to the group to take care of Income Generating Activities for women, like soap making, mushroom cultivation, etc. IRTC objectives are:- To adapt technologies known elsewhere for the people's needs
- To diffuse innovative practices and technologies
- To work out local level development plans
- To take new technologies out of its R&D institution for field trials
- To develop innovative methods and technologies in education and mass communication
- To organize and maintain libraries and to undertake the documentation of important developments in Science and Technology
- To promote human resources and skill development
- To create awareness among every sections of the people regarding environmental protection.
- To raise people's resistance against activities that affect the ecosystem.
- To take up case studies of projects that affect the environment.
- To take up environmental impact assessment studies.
- To document the environmental issues of Kerala, national as well as international.
- To network with other similar organizations.
- To conduct regular awareness programs like eco-development camps for college and school students.
- To conduct summer classes to school children.
- To propagate KSSP's views regarding the environment and development.
- To workout developmental alternatives.
This seems like a worthwhile organisation. Anything which promotes public understanding of science should be applauded.
I wish you luck.