kssp

KSSP

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad

History

Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad is a People's Science Movement of Kerala, India. Founded in 1962. It started its works at the science society interface with about 40 members as an organisation of science writers in Malayalam. Over the past four decades it has grown into a mass movement with a membership over 40000, distributed in more than two thousand units spread all over Kerala.

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) literally means The Kerala Forum for Science Literature. In fact it was founded in 1962 as a forum of science writers with the limited objective of publishing science literature in Malayalam, the local language, and popularizing science. However it was soon realized that mere publication of literature or taking science classes was not enough, if the blessings of science were to reach the common people. KSSP became convinced that at present a privileged minority was monopolize the benefits of science and technology, and it results in their enrichment, at the expense of the majority. KSSP chose as its mission, the challenge of arming the people with the tools of science and technology so that they can reverse this process. Thus in 1972, KSSP decided to become a People's Science Movement and adopted "Science for Social Revolution'' as its motto

How to become a member

Any person who has attained 18 years age can be a member of KSSP. Membership form will be obtained from Unit Secretaries of the concerned locality. The normal membership time is November - January. The membership has to be renewed every year. Fee for new membership is Rs 10/- and for renewal is Rs11/-. The membership application will be scrutinized and accepted by the Zonal committee of the concerned locality.

Organization structure

The KSSP has a four line structure: Units functioning at the village level in an area of 5 - 10 esq., sub-regional committees catering to about 10-30 units; 14 district committees and a state committee. KSSP is a member of the All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN). President, Vice-presidents, General Secretary, Treasurer and Secretaries are the Office bearers. Elections are held every year. No one holds any office for more than two terms.

Each unit has a unit executive committee elected every year. Annual unit meet also elects the members of zonal council as per proportional representation system.( the number of Zoanl council members limited to 100 and each unit get a due of zonal council members according to its membership strength.) Each zonal council meets every year called the zonal (Mekhala in Malayalam) conference in which the Zonal committee and District Council members are elected. In turn, the District council members elect the State Council Members and the District Committee Members at the District conference held every year. The sequence of organizational conferences ends every year with the State Conference in which the Central Executive Committee of KSSP is elected.

To start a Kssp unit

A KSSP unit can be started at any locality provided there are at least 10 persons willing to be members or activists of KSSP. During the membership time, (December - January) the unit can be registered in the Zonal Committee of that area. The annual conference of the unit should be convened every year, normally in November /December, and office bears should be selected. The Unit executive committee is comprised of 7 members at least, with a president, Secretary, Vice president and Joint secretary and minimum 3 members. Sub organizations like Beloved, Women’s Forum etc can also be formed in the locality to conduct activities relating to a respective area.

Awards

KSSP has been conferred with a number of national and international awards in recognition of its achievements in various fields of activities.

1983Vikram 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 awards by Government of India.

1990 Global 500 Roll of Honor of the UNEP for its work in the environment field.

1991 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, piece and development.

1999 Best R&D Institution Award at State Level to Integrated Rural Technology Centre, R&D institution in the field of energy conservation studies.

Balavedi

Balavedi is the children's organisation of KSSP. It is an unofficial gathering of children where they play, sing, conduct experiments, observe things and come across the methodology of science. As far as KSSP is concerned it is a children's forum as well as a workshop where new innovative educational experiences and models are molded.

At present the term "Balavedi" refers not only to the children's organisation but also to all the activities performed by KSSP in the field of children coordinating and clustering various organisation and institutions of children.

When eminent personalities of different walks of life in Kerala recollects their collaboration in childhood with Balavedi, Urea and Sastrakeralam as a guiding factor in their life, KSSP realists the value of Balavedi activities conducted in the early decades of the organisation.

Kssp and development

KSSP has been involved in building up models for sustainable and equitable development; campaigning for decentralized planning 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 of people's structures like "Neighborhood groups" and village committees for transparent democracy; analyzing the "Kerala Model" of development to arrive at general conclusions and seeking its improvement. With the help of its members and friends, KSSP undertakes regular studies on developmental issues of Kerala and publish papers, monographs and reference books.

Kssp and education

With a strength of several thousand teachers among its members, KSSP organizes in-service teachers training to make them enjoy teaching; promotes pedagogic innovations to make learning an enjoyable activity for children; assesses curriculum and text books; organizes massive children's science festivals, teacher exchange programmes and talent festivals for children; publishes science journals and books for children and organizes mass movement for quality improvement and mass literacy campaigns. KSSP played ahead role in making Kerala totally literate. KSSP has established aspirate centre to do research and in-depth studies in the field of education viz., Education Research Unit (ERU) with three campuses, at thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikkod.

Kssp and energy

From 1975 onwards, KSSP has been campaigning for a rational energy plan for Kerala. KSSP is involved in large scale energy conservation programmes-both electricity and heat energy. It’s 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 "Paris hath Oven" as they are called. KSSP has initiated a programmed to replace a substantial portion of the nearly 20 million 60W lamps with compact flu recent lamps and high quality electronic ballasts. KSSP is also helping the district level local Governments to develop small hydro-electric stations within their territory. KSSP advocates for an Integrated Rural Energy Planning with an implementation package for Local Self Governments; components identified and tested by its Research and Development Wing.

Kssp and environment

One of KSSP's objectives is to raise the environment awareness level of the entire Kerala Society, through campaigns popularizing good environmental practice. KSSP's concern about the environment is linked with the concept of sustainable development. Among the multitude of activities, the major ones are: protection of forests (long-drawn and successful campaign to protect the famous "Silent Valley" Forest.); campaign against pollution; especially by chemical industries; education on environmental impact of wrong land use; popularizing Agro forestry methods of soil protection; developing the three dimensional environment concept; Physical, Biological, Socio-economic and cultural ethical environments and acting as a consistent champion of protecting the environment for the future generations.

Kssp and health

Over the last few decades KSSP has actively campaigned for People oriented approaches to health. Led by a dedicated band of doctors, health workers and activists, the organisation has conducted village level classes and discussions on common health problems and scientific and cost effective solutions. The campaigns also sought to expose the role of multinational corporations and big business in promoting and perpetuating ill health. The KSSP health study of 1987- published as "Health and Development in Rural Kerala"- and the follow-up study of 1996 helped to define the morbidity load and its relationship to socio-economic variables. The health policies of Central and State Governments were critically examined and alternative people's health policy formulated. The era of globalization, dominated as by the World Bank and the WTO has brought forth new challenges like the mindless imposition of intellectual property regimes. Parishad continues the struggle for better health for the poor and oppressed, along with like-minded organisation in India and abroad.

Science propagation

KSSP uses several media to communicate; printed word, posters, spoken word, theatre and to a limited extent electronic media. It has organized massive leaflet campaigns on many subjects. KSSP has developed a unique form of theatre, which is a combination of street, folk and proscenium theatre called "KALAJADHA" or Art Caravan. KSSP is the India's largest science publisher, having published more than 1,000 titles and producing 30-40 new titles per year. KSSP is also publishing three Science Magazines separately for primary school students, high school students and the general public. KSSP also organizes every now and then massive lecture campaigns on a variety of topics and each campaign will result in several thousand lectures, which reach out to hundreds of thousands of people.

Women issues

Kssp and women issues

Even though KSSP was formed in 1962, the woman's wing started functioning only in the 1980s. The low percentage of participation of Kerala women in social activities like Politics, Trade Union, Service organisation, Cultural organisation and NGOs (5 to 10%) in spite of a better sex ratio and educational status attracted the attention of KSSP.

The activities organized by KSSP in the woman's front are two fold.

1. The woman should be empowered so that they became aware of their problems and be able to tackle them successfully.

2. Society should be gender sensitized so that women are recognized as individuals and their rights are considered as human rights.

Various activities like publication of booklets and leaflets, organizing Vanitha Kalajdha, Samatha Vijnanothsavam etc were taken up with this end in view. Training for employment and income generating activities like production of soap etc are also being provided to women. Even a small income of their own, results a much desired change in the status of women in family and society.

Current Pro grammes

At present the most important initiative of KSSP on women issues is a comprehensive study on the status of women in Kerala. The study focuses of find 'how Kerala women think and how Kerala women live'. The sample survey based on the question are prepared by experts is over. The data is being analyzed. Focus Group discussions are being also organized, besides the survey.

The Women Study is a sequel to the KSSP is much acclaimed study on How Kerala thinks and How Kerala lives, based on the survey conducted in 6000 households all over Kerala.