SCIENCE FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTION

SCIENCE FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTIONhttp://thankachanvp.blog.co.uk/Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishathen-AUhourly82000-01-01T12:00+00:00SCIENCE FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTIONhttp://thankachanvp.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/c6/387ca48fa94dc3f3a3cd4d66ccf2d3_160x200.jpgScience Movement, A Kerala Modelhttp://thankachanvp.blog.co.uk/2007/02/22/peoples_science_movement_a_kerala_model~1784255/2007-02-22T10:19:54+01:00 <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1197939" title="KSSP Emblem"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/939/1197939_7e9a4fb250_s.jpeg" alt="KSSP Emblem" hspace="5" vspace="5"></a> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1197792" title="Kalajatha"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/792/1197792_d046568a27_s.jpeg" alt="Kalajatha" hspace="5" vspace="5"></a><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1197828" title="hey bhoomi"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/828/1197828_890dbc1bdf_s.jpeg" alt="hey bhoomi" hspace="5" vspace="5"></a> Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) <a href="http://www.kssp-irtc.org/index.html"></a><a href="http://www.kssp-irtc.org/index.html"></a> The Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (Kerala Science Literature Association) was established in 1962 by a group of science writers in Malayalam (language of Kerala, the southwestern state of India) as their forum. Its objective was simple: to popularize science among the people of Kerala in their mother tongue i.e. Malayalam. Over the past four decades it has grown into a massive people's science movement, with a membership of about 40,000 drawn from all walks of life and distributed in about 2000 primary units within the state of Kerala. Over these years, it has also expanded its fields of interests and activities to almost all forms of human endeavor. The KSSP is involved, broadly, in three types of activities: agitative, educative and constructive, in areas like environment, health, education, energy, development, literacy, micro planning - in almost every sphere of human activities. The KSSP strives to:Popularize science and scientific outlook among the people <ul> <li class="MsoNormal">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 </li> <li class="MsoNormal">Expose and oppose the abuse of scientific knowledge detrimental to the interests of the majority </li> <li class="MsoNormal">Expose and oppose abuse of environment </li> <li class="MsoNormal">Propose and help implement alternative models for development </li> <li class="MsoNormal">Carry out R&D work to transform lab technologies into field technologies </li> </ul> Science for social revolution The KSSP views Indian society as one divided into two groups: a minority which is continuously getting richer and a majority which is continuously getting impoverished or is facing the threat of impoverishment. It understands that today science and technology serve as efficient tools in the hands of the minority, the haves, in exploiting the majority, the have-nots. The KSSP takes, on every issue, a stand partisan to this majority and consequently against the minority. It strives to arm the majority with the weapon of science and technology in their fight against impoverishment, against the oppressors. Educating people means enhancing their power to understand and analyse social issues in a scientific way and helping them to play a more active role in the society. This is what KSSP's slogan "science for social revolution" is all about. 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: <ul> <li class="MsoNormal">Units functioning at the village level in an area of 10-20 sq. km. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">Sub-regional committees catering to about 10-15 units </li> <li class="MsoNormal">District committees (14) </li> <li class="MsoNormal">State committee </li> </ul> President, Vice-presidents, General Secretary, Treasurer and 3 Secretaries are the office bearers at the state level. Elections are held every year. No one holds the same office for more than two terms. 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 Education 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 Environment Protection 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. Development Building 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. Energy Kerala 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 Issues Like 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 Communication Any "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 <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1197888" title="u 048"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/888/1197888_c5c2fabdae_s.jpeg" alt="u 048" hspace="5" vspace="5"></a><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1197889" title="u 293kalajatha"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/889/1197889_d4f2ebbb6a_s.jpeg" alt="u 293kalajatha" hspace="5" vspace="5"></a> 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 Development In 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 books Universe: 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 Monographs KSSP 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. Booklets KSSP also publishes pamphlets on various subjects like: alternate development, women issues, energy, education, science and society, etc. Monthly publications The 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. <a href="http://www.kssp-irtc.org/irtc/aboutirtc.htm">Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC)</a> 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: <ul> <li class="MsoNormal">To adapt technologies known elsewhere for the people's needs </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To diffuse innovative practices and technologies </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To work out local level development plans </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To take new technologies out of its R&D institution for field trials </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To develop innovative methods and technologies in education and mass communication </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To organize and maintain libraries and to undertake the documentation of important developments in Science and Technology </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To promote human resources and skill development </li> </ul> Environment Centre The idea of extending KSSP's activities to environmental issues began in 1972 with United Nations International Conference on Protection of Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. The first direct involvement of KSSP in environmental protection was against the industrial pollution of a major river in Kerala, the Chaliyar river. KSSP's biggest fight so far for the protection of the environment has been for the protection of the Silent Valley, which is a protected evergreen forest with unique ecosystem and rich biodiversity. Silent Valley was threatened by a major hydro power project. KSSP's campaign raised widespread discussion regarding development and environment. The campaign put enough pressure on government and the project was abandoned. Soon it became obvious to KSSP to have a centre to lend technical support to such campaigns. The Environment Centre was born thus. The main activities of Environment Centre are: <ul> <li class="MsoNormal">To create awareness among every sections of the people regarding environmental protection. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To raise people's resistance against activities that affect the ecosystem. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To take up case studies of projects that affect the environment. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To take up environmental impact assessment studies. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To document the environmental issues of Kerala, national as well as international. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To network with other similar organizations. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To conduct regular awareness programs like eco-development camps for college and school students. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To conduct summer classes to school children. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To propagate KSSP's views regarding the environment and development. </li> <li class="MsoNormal">To workout developmental alternatives. </li> </ul> KSSP is not against industrial development but thinks that development should be for the people, taking care of the environment. It should be a sustainable one. <a href="http://www.kssp-irtc.org/irtc/eru1.html">Educational Research Units (ERU)</a> ERU is a project of KSSP, operated by the IRTC. At present it is operated from three campuses, Trivandrum, Thrissur and Kozhikode. Its objectives include Curriculum Development, Content Analysis of Text Books, Pedagogical experiments and studies on evaluation. It has a few full time faculty, consisting of retired teachers and academics. <a href="http://thankachanvp.blog.co.uk/2007/02/22/peoples_science_movement_a_kerala_model~1784255/#comments">Comments</a>

Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) The Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (Kerala Science Literature Association) was established in 1962 by a group of science writers in Malayalam (language of Kerala, the southwestern state of India) as their forum. Its objective was simple: to popularize science among the people of Kerala in their mother tongue i.e. Malayalam. Over the past four decades it has grown into a massive people's science movement, with a membership of about 40,000 drawn from all walks of life and distributed in about 2000 primary units within the state of Kerala. Over these years, it has also expanded its fields of interests and activities to almost all forms of human endeavor. The KSSP is involved, broadly, in three types of activities: agitative, educative and constructive, in areas like environment, health, education, energy, development, literacy, micro planning - in almost every sphere of human activities. The KSSP strives to:Popularize science and scientific outlook among the people

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

Science for social revolution The KSSP views Indian society as one divided into two groups: a minority which is continuously getting richer and a majority which is continuously getting impoverished or is facing the threat of impoverishment. It understands that today science and technology serve as efficient tools in the hands of the minority, the haves, in exploiting the majority, the have-nots. The KSSP takes, on every issue, a stand partisan to this majority and consequently against the minority. It strives to arm the majority with the weapon of science and technology in their fight against impoverishment, against the oppressors. Educating people means enhancing their power to understand and analyse social issues in a scientific way and helping them to play a more active role in the society. This is what KSSP's slogan "science for social revolution" is all about.
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

President, Vice-presidents, General Secretary, Treasurer and 3 Secretaries are the office bearers at the state level. Elections are held every year. No one holds the same office for more than two terms.
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 Education

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

Environment

Protection 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.

Development

Building 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.

Energy

Kerala 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 Issues

Like 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

Communication

Any "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 Development

In 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 books

Universe: 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

Monographs

KSSP 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.

Booklets

KSSP also publishes pamphlets on various subjects like: alternate development, women issues, energy, education, science and society, etc.

Monthly publications

The 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

Environment Centre The idea of extending KSSP's activities to environmental issues began in 1972 with United Nations International Conference on Protection of Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. The first direct involvement of KSSP in environmental protection was against the industrial pollution of a major river in Kerala, the Chaliyar river. KSSP's biggest fight so far for the protection of the environment has been for the protection of the Silent Valley, which is a protected evergreen forest with unique ecosystem and rich biodiversity. Silent Valley was threatened by a major hydro power project. KSSP's campaign raised widespread discussion regarding development and environment. The campaign put enough pressure on government and the project was abandoned. Soon it became obvious to KSSP to have a centre to lend technical support to such campaigns. The Environment Centre was born thus. The main activities of Environment Centre are:

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.

KSSP is not against industrial development but thinks that development should be for the people, taking care of the environment. It should be a sustainable one. Educational Research Units (ERU) ERU is a project of KSSP, operated by the IRTC. At present it is operated from three campuses, Trivandrum, Thrissur and Kozhikode. Its objectives include Curriculum Development, Content Analysis of Text Books, Pedagogical experiments and studies on evaluation. It has a few full time faculty, consisting of retired teachers and academics.

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