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.To Contribute information to this site, please use this template if you wish:. Dr. P Pillai Institution(s): College of Engineering, Trivandrum - Government College of Engineering, Kannur - LBS Centre for Science and Technology, Trivandrum Subject(s): Electrical Engineering, Field Theory and Electrical Machines Year(s): 1936 - Contact(s): TC-9-1855, Poornima, Sasthamangalam, Trivandrum-695 010 Profile: (Compiled by Dr Achuthsankar S Nair, 2011) Dr. Parameswaran Pillai (popularly known as “KPP”) was born in August 1936 to P. Parameswaran Pillai and K.

Devaki Amma in Attingal. His father was an employee of the Attingal Munsiff Court and was a descendent of Kuttikkad Chempakaraman Pillai and Kuttikkad Mathu Pillai. His mother was the sister of Sri.

Raman Pillai (Lawyer and member of Sree Moolam Praja Sabha – known for his verbal attack on Diwan Rajagoplachari and support for Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishan Pillai) and K.P. Velu Pillai (who was DGM of South Indian Railway and later was Transport Commissioner in Kerala who wrote the Transport Reforms Report of 1957). Both his parents had basic education only, but his father was an ardent cultural activist, being an actor (having acted in E.V. Krishna Pillai’s ‘Kavitah Case’) who would frequently take his children to watch drama and cinema.

Was the 6 th of the 7 children that his parents had. The eldest brother died young (at age of 20). The second brother K.P. Madhavan Pillai did his BA in English from St.

Joseph’s College, Trichy and got job as Air Traffic Inspector at the Trivandrum Aerodrome (on Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer’s recommendation to the head of the Aerodrome, Mr. He served in Delhi and Bangalore, but died at the age of 33.

The third brother studied at U.C. College, Alway, and went on to join Air-Force and then served in the Indian Railway. The Fourth sibling, K.

Lakshmikutty Amma married her father’s nephew and is today settled in Thiruvanmiyoor (Tamilnadu)with her daughter. The fifth brother, K. Padmanabha Pillai also joined Air-Force. After retirement, he was active in Drama and Cinema field. He directed many films but only 2 were successful, one being “Ashtamudikayal”.

Saraswathy, KPP’s younger sister, took her BA and BEd. Her husband died young and KPP had to spend time and energy to take care of this younger sister and also fight many legal battles for her for years.

KPP started his formal education at home. He fondly remembers the pedagogic innovativeness of his teacher Paramu Pillai (of Kanakkapillai Veedu) who taught him the Malayalam Alphabets with a card pack. He had his schooling at Attingal Govt. School for his preparatory (Years 5) and also 1 st and 2 nd Form (Years 6 and 7).

He faintly remembers doing his home work in the “Vakeel Office” of one Nellaiappan in the “Ranthal” light (hurricane lamp) in the evenings. From the 3 rd form onwards he studied in the St.

Joseph’s School, Trivandrum where he met one of the teachers who later became a major influence in his life. Joseph, the Hindi teacher who later became Head of Dept of Hindi in Mar Ivanious College.

KPP found in P.J. Joseph a commanding personality coupled with an artistic mind. Joseph was, according to KPP, a make-up artist of exceptional talents. KPP studied Sanskrit as his second language in school and the acquaintance with P.J. Joseph switched him on to Hindi. It took him to the Rashtrabhasha Mandir in Statute Road, Trivandrum where he soon successfully completed his Madhyama, Rashtrabhasha Praveshika, Visharadh-I & II, all in first class. For his University intermediate exams, he secured 82% for Hindi.

He also went on to do his Vidwan Pareeksha in Oriental Faculty of erstwhile Travancore University where he was examined on Hindi, Sanskrit and Oriental Studies (All these happened while his formal study of Intermediate (11 th and 12 th year schooling) and then Engineering Degree education was taking place, as we will see, securing First Rank in the State for both). His passion for Hindi grew continuously, but silently. He translated E.V. Krishan Pillai’s drama, ‘Nalanum Kaliyum’ into Hindi which was staged in VJT Hall in 1952 at the behest of P.J.Joseph.

The poem “Keralam Valarunnu” by Pala Narayanan Nair was translated into Hindi which was published in “Rashtra Vaani” in 1953-1956. He wrote a historic novel on Velu Thampi Dalawa, which was serialised in “Yugaprabhath”, the Hindi fortnightly published by Mathruboomi under the editorship of N.V. Krishna Warrier. He also translated Mahadevi Varma’s Hindi poems to Malayalam, and published them in “Rashtravani”. In 2000, he translated Vailaopally’s poem about death “Maranam Kanijothi.”).

While being final-year student in the Engineering College, Trivandrum, during December 1956, he represented Kerala University in the Inter University Youth Festival in Hindi Elocution, where he competed with native Hindi speakers. He remembers spending 18 days in Talkotora Gardens in make-shift tents with coir cots and also the Statesman News Paper reporting on his performance. While he visited the Rashtrabhasha Mandir for his Hindi studies, adjacent to it was started the “Yoga Vidhya Kendram” run by Sri. Padmanabha Pillai, an officer of he Publications Department of the Kerala University (the Publication Department’s office was at that time housed in a small building between the Fine Arts College and the Palayam Christ Chruch).

Padmanabha Pillai was a person believed to have had extra-sensory perception (KPP had opportunities to experience it). Padmanabha Pillai was a disciple of a Yogeeswaran by the name Swami Sivanda Paramahamsan of Vadakara who also had an Asram “Kalan Paara” in Kuttichel, Trivandrum. KPP became a student of B. Padmanbha Pillai and learned Pranayama, Yogasanas, Patanjali Yoga Sasthra, Yoga Vasishtam, Ashtavakra Geetha, both theory and practice. He also used to assist Padmanabha Pillai in training others.

KPP’s character formation was heavily influenced by the spiritual education he received thus. He also was trained in “Kalari practice, Chavitti Thiurmal and Marma” by a preceptor from Venganoor. Drama became in the second nature of KPP in the early part of his life, possibly kindled by the exposure that his father gave and later by the enthusiasm that his mentor P.J. Joseph gave him. He had directed and acted in numerous amateur dramas. During his M.Sc education period, he presented a dance sequence on “Pururavas and Urvashi” along with G. Madhusoodhnan Nair who later retired as Dy.

Chief Engineer in KSEB (His son is the illustrious cine-music director Mr. Jayachandran).and another son is M.

Prakash Chandran, Vice- President of Siemens Asia-Pacific Region). He also recalls presenting “Katha Prasangam” in the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, along with A.S.

Menon (who later became Principal of VJTI, Mumbai.).He also very often drew a parallel between a class room and a stage (see his article for instance). He had 7 th 8 th 9 th & 10 th year of schooling (ESLC) in St. Joseph’s High School Trivandrum. However, mid way through the 10 th year, he shifted to English High School at Venkulam, Edava. He used to walk 8 Km. Everyday to and from school and wrote all the 10 th ESLC examination papers in 5 days (which was the practice in Kerala till a couple of decades ago). He passed the ESLC examination with third Rank in the state.

Even though ranks were published in the Govt. Gazette, he recalls that there was no media blitz-Krieg about ranks and neither did friends or relatives took note of it! He soon joined the Intermediate College (present Govt Arts College) in Trivandrum for his intermediate. (11 th and 12 th year) of education. He stayed with his brother in-law in a very small accommodation in Thampanoor which did not even have enough space for the family. He used a corner in the drawing room for his study. He recalls that the only book he purchased was the Clark’s table, he borrowed the text books from others and compiled his notes.

In the Hindi classes as he had already passed his ‘Visharad’ qualifications, he had the freedom to spend his time preparing notes for other subjects. Among his teachers, he remembers Shakespeare Velayudhan Nair (English) teaching Julius Ceaser, Sreedharan Nair, (English), Parameswarm Pillai (Maths). Sankaran Nair who taught Physics was a thought-provoking lecturer and a great personality (he looked like a Maharaja). Decades later when KPP was Principal of the College of Engineering Trivandrum, he had a vistor – the aged Prof.

Sankaran Nair – who came to see his former student occupying a prestigious position. Mohan and Dr. Venkitachalam (who was also the Principal) taught Chemistry. Vellayani Arjunan was his contemporary as also and Dr. Sambasivan (famous Neuro Surgeon). KPP passed the Intermediate examination in 1953 with First Rank. Again there were no media recognition and no body took much note!

He had secured 751 out of 950 (and the second rank was 50 marks behind). He had his mind set on studying electrical engineering and to become a teacher. He does not recall how his passion for engineering and teaching profession arose, but he vividly remembers that his mind was very clear and firm on this choice. At that time the coveted opportunities were the six seats for B.Sc (Hons) in University College and the 84 seats (30 – Electrical, 46 Civil and 8- Mechanical) for Engineering in the Trivandrum Engineering College (Both Colleges were run directly by the Travancore University). Even though he was first rank holder, admission process was not a transparent one. The Principal Dr.

Keshava Rao had the final say after an interview. A person with high marks could be rejected citing reasons such as “unsuitable Physique”! Luckily, KPP got through this uncertainty and joined the Engineering College in 1953. Those days, the branch was not allotted until the third year. The first two years was common. Civil and Mechanical subjects were much more than today, in the first two years.

Students could leave the programme after the first two years with a F.E. Certificate (First Exam.) in Engineering.

Only those who passed the F.E could enter third year (a system that continues to the modern days in Kerala University, but waived very often due to student unrest and legal complications). Principal Keshava Rao was an engineer who had worked in G.E., London and was AIISc, the equivalent of M.E from I.I.Sc, Bangalore. He took his Ph.D in Physics (as there was no Ph.D provision in Engineering in Travancore University) under the guidance of Prof. Aston of I.I.Sc on the topic ‘Pole face loss in Synchronous Machines’. The work appeared as an article in IEE Proceedings (London). KPP remembers that in those days the authors got not only 50 reprints, but also a payment of ₤.15. Among those who taught him, Keshava Rao, V.S.

Bhaskara Menon (all Electrical), M.P. Mathew, MRK Menon (Mechanical) G. Nagappan Nair (Maths) were the prominent ones.

He was yet to discover his mentor among the teachers. He was on the look out for a inspirational academic to lead him. During the third and fourth year, the academic tour was led by Dr. Keshava Rao himself.

The visit to Pallivasal, Kundala, Mattupetti and Neriamangalam was a good experience. KPP remembers climbing the ladder of the 60 feet tall Surge Tank at Chenkulam Dam and seeing the fury & power of water surging up and down with load fluctuations-a scary as well as impressive imagery of hydel energy. KPP was active in the cultural life of the College. Mainly acting in and directing dramas. Some teachers perhaps took this as a sign of non-commitment to studies and his sessional marks reflected these (out of the 600 marks for sessional each year, 50 marks was for “decency and decorum” and there were no norms for award of these marks!). Even with minimum sessional marks, KPP passed his B.Sc. (Engineering) Degree with First Rank from Kerala University in 1957.

Among his batch mates were R. Ravikumar (who later became Director of Technical Education, Govt of Kerala), M.R. Sreedharan Nair (who later became Principal of Trichur Egg.

College), B.S. Bhat (who later became Principal of VJTI, Bombay). There was no political activity in the Engineering College Campus during his days. There was an Electrical Engg Association which was a body for conducting academic activities. KPP was its Secretary in 1956 when M.P. Parameswarn was the Vice Presedent (M.P. Pramaeswaran, later went to Russia for higher studies in Russia and joined B.A.R.C and soon returned to Kerala to became an activist of Communist Party and also of Sasthra Sahithya Parishad).

KPP started his career as Junior Engineer in the KSEB. On the day his result was announced, he, along with a few classmates, walked from the University Office to the KSEB Office which was at that time in the Power House Building near Pazhavangadi. They met the Chief Engineer Mr. Oommen and sought a job and were forthwith appointed provisionally as Junior Engineers. Oommen’s son, who had the same name, later occupied the same post). The salary was Rs. 125/-, same as that of a Lecturer those days.

The first task that he was assigned was to prepare a proposal to improve the regulation of a proposed Sholayar - Kuttadi Tie-line! (a task that required a seasoned engineer’s expertise). At that time the Bhilai Steel Plant at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh (State) had the famous M.K.K.

Nair as the Deputy General Manager. He was well known as the job provider for Malayalees. He wrote to the Trivandrum Engineering College informing that he is on the look out for young Engineers. KPP applied and was called for interview. After a tiring train journey (changing 3 trains), he reached Durga and attended the interview and got selected for the post of Technical Assistant at a salary of Rs. At Bhilai, KPP came under profound influence of two people. One was M.K.K.

Nair himself. KPP was impressed with the leadership qualities and managerial skills of this great man. Another was his boss, a Bengali; Engineer who assigned him the first task of laying H.T, cables in underground tunnels. There was a problem. Usually a Crane is used to unload huge cable drums from railway wagons.

There was no Crane available to the section. To compound the problems, there was heavy rain which flooded the underground tunnels. There was no pump to drain the water. KPP complained to his boss and pat came the response “Young man, if all facilities were available, there is no need for an engineer, workers would do.

An Engineer is posted here to overcome all adverse situations- and finish the job on target date”. This was a deeply significant advice to KPP, which made his views about what an engineer should be. His work at Bhilai went on for an year.

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By this time he got news from home that the Kerala University has started a M.Sc. (Engineering) programme for the first time. He immediately decided to head back to Kerala, though M.K.K. Nair advised him to consider a long term attachment with Bhilai.

There were just 4 seats for M.Sc. (Engineering) for Electrical branch. (Civil had 9 for Soil Mechanics and 9 for Structural Engineering and Mechanical had none). KPP got selected and restarted his association with CET. Among the teacher this time he had Dr.

Kuriakose whose lecturers were though provoking.(C.P Kuriakose took his PhD from London under Prof. Humphry Davis on Analog Simulation of Synchronous Machines, which was a cutting edge work at that time, (though analog computers are now gone for ever from Engineering field).

However he was yet to find his mentor. In 1960, he worked on the topic “Dannatt’s Core Loss Tester” for his thesis, and developed an eddy current loss measurement technique with unique advantages, those days.

This work was suggested by Dr.V.Keshava Rao. In 1960 he completed his M.Sc. (Egg.) with first rank from Kerala University. By this time Dr. Keshava Rao became the Director of Technical Education.

KPP was appointed provisionally as lecturer in the CET. Soon the formal appointment was made through PSC, thus fulfilling KPP’s dream of a teaching career in Engineering.

The CET Campus was in.the present PMG Office and Science and Technology Museum Campus. The main building (PMG Office) had the ground floor housing Principal’s Office. First floor had drawing halls and lecturer halls. The Institution of Engineers Office was also provided space in the campus. The old building which now houses the S&T Museum had lecture halls and professor’s rooms.

The building besides it which now houses the KSHEC office had library, lecture halls and staff rooms of lecturers, where KPP had his office space. Electrical, Hydraulics and Heat Engines labs were behind the present planetarium building which is now used by Controller of Stationery. Carpentry and other workshops facilities were in the building where the City School was functioning. The men’s hostel is presently the old building occupied by the IMG. Soon after KPP joined as Lecturer, CET was shifted to the present campus to Kulathoor.

1962 was an eventful year for KPP. He joined research at IIT, Kharagpur, one of the upcoming and most prestigious technological institutions in India. 1962 was also the year in which he married G. Varadakumari who was also a student of CET while KPP did his MSc (Egg).

Varadakumari completed her BSc. (Egg.) in 1962 and she also joined IIT, Kharagpur for her M.Tech. During these days research/PhD was not a usual thing in CET. Keshava Rao and Dr.C.P. Kurikose had PhDs.

There was no need to have even MTech. To secure promotions, even for Professorship. But KPP had set his mind on it years back.

At IIT Kharagpur, he was assigned Dr. Ray Chaudhuri, Lecturer, as his supervising teacher. The other professors at IIT Kharagpur at that time were Prof. Manchester), Head of the Dept of Electrical Engineering, hailing from Ernakulam (but would not speak Malayalam!) and Prof.

Keshava Moorthy, M.Sc (Engineering); an expert in Electro Magnetic Field Theory. In Ray Chaudhuri, KPP found a mentor, philosopher and guide that he was looking for. Ray had a history which was itself noteworthy. Born before independence, Ray had took part in Quit India Movement. He hailed from a village in present Bangladesh. Life turned sour for Ray as he was on the wrong side after partition.

He lived in the fearful days of communal carnages in East Pakistan in a neighborhood of Muslims. One night, his young Muslim friend from the neighborhood came secretly to his house and told him in tears that he heard his own family members plotting to kill Ray the next day. He wanted Ray to escape immediately.

He ran with a hastily compiled bundle (which missed his certificates) and took a boat to the nearest town from where he boarded a train to India and narrowly escaped the fate which many of his relatives had. He had a challenging life-facing the uprooting of his life from his home village and facing the question of existence.

He thrived out of tuition classes he managed to get. Luckily for him, Jadavpur University admitted refugees who had no certificates with them after an entrance test. Ray entered the Jadavpur University’s B.Sc (Egg.) programme and passed with first rank. When IIT Kharagpur started, he got selected as lecturer with B.Sc alone, though other applicants had PhD and MSc, This was due to the mastery of the subject Ray had which was evident to the interviewers.

Ray soon received his Dr. Ing from the famous Dresden Polytechnic, Germany. K.PP believes that working with Ray was the best achievement in his life. Ray chandhuri was a pious person who later headed REC Durgapur and REC Silchar, the latter during time of naxalite insurgency.

His research guidance was based on the outlook that original contribution had to come from the student and the guide had the role of setting stage and offering comments only. KPP had a fellowship of Rs. 400 and Varadakumari had a fellowship of Rs.

150 and they lived in a shared accommodation in the Railway Colony in Kharagpur. KPP’s research work progressed well and resulted in 2 full papers in the prestigious IEEE Transactions, USA. The institute requirement was to have at least one IEE/IEEE paper.

But KPP had 3, one published after the award of PhD, but based on the work he did for PhD. The title of his thesis was “Static and Sliding Resistance of Electric Contracts”. He was awarded PhD in 1965 and returned to CET that year itself. He was 28 when he received his PhD The period 1965-71 was the most productive period in KPP’s academic career. Professor, he produced prominent publications each year.

In one of the major works, he re-looked at the basic formula for capacitance G=€ 0€ rA/d, which does not take into account the electro magnetic field fringing and the only correction that was available at that time was a heuristic correction by Kirchoff which was to use a correction factor 2/π Through application of hand calculated hyperbolic integrals, (the only available computer-MINSK in VSSC-was difficult to access) KPP derived a correction which was published in IEE proceedings, London, in June 1970. Publishing was a painful process in those days when DTP or Internet were not even dreamt of. Five copies had to be typed, with diagrams made with Indian ink and then were air-mailed, the expenses being a very great drain on the pocket. KPP used to overstay in the college laboratories from 4 to 7 PM to conduct his research experiments. He kept himself current about developments in electrical engineering through IEEE spectrum which also carried book reviews.

He ordered the latest books through Higgin Bothams for the college library. KPP does not have fond memories of academic climate in CET during those days. Research was a dirty word and no credit was given for being research active.

KPP fees that CET could not rise to its potential those days because it did not demand, encourage or nurture research talent. Like Geebels who said, “I reach for my gun when I hear the word culture”, research suffered the same fate in CET and also other colleges and even in the University administration. It was categorically asserted that research cannot be treated as “work load”.

Shanthiniktan is a great place as it had the eco system to nurture a Tagore. With most of our education system “out of box” thinking is merely treated as breaking of rules. Oppenheimer who took his PhD in 27 days in would have had to wait for completing the “prescribed minimum period of research defined in the regulations” of one of our Universities! A clerk in port trust appointed as Palit Professor of Physics by invitation by a Vice-Chancellor would make head lines in news papers as a back door entry.

Sinhala Script

Yet there was one Ashuthosh Mukherjee to do that in Calcutta University in 19 (C.V. Raman was the person appointed). Laxminarayana, a BE from I.I.Sc guided many PhDs. KPP remembers one of his MSc students, Nanduri, who received his PhD from IISc Bangalore in HV Engineering, without a formal guide (Nanduri’s MSc thesis dealt with the effect of electric field on “the period of a pendulum, under the guidance of KPP. Nanduri holds a patent for non-inductive resistance.

He later became Vice-Chancellor of Anantpur University of Kakkinada). KPP quotes Russel, “Conformity in Education leads to Mediocrity in later life”. KPP feels that CET has to go a long way in creating a conducive environment for research which nurtures out-of-box-thinking. It needs to start from autonomy for CET and the guts to use the autonomy.

In 1971, at the age of 35, KPP was promoted as full Professor, over looking seniority. He was interviewed by the DTE, Govt. Secretary, Dr. Kuriakose and Prof. He was designated as PG Professor and the HOD was Dr. Narayana Iyer. In late 1970s, KPP was recognized as a research guide in Electrical Engineering under the Kerala University.

Soon the first PhD in Electrical Engineering in Kerala University emerged, that of Dr. Sankaran who was then a faculty in CET.

Narayana Iyer, senior colleague of KPP was the only other guide. Iyer had a PhD from Imperial College, London under K.J. Bins, in Electro Magnetic Theory. Gopalakrishnan Nair, Professor of Mathematics in CET was the lone PhD under Dr. Ramachandran, a junior colleague of KPP guided Dr. Samchandran, successfully). KPP went on to produce 6 PhDs till 2007.

Sankaran, Dr. Krishmoorthy, Dr.

S Ramakrishnan, Dr. Achuthsanakar S. Bindu and Dr. Mini Idiculla were his PhD students. In 2011, he accepted Mrs.

Hema Ramachandran as PhD student. In addition he played an important role assisting his wife’s PhD work which was formally guided by Dr. Muraleedharan (This work was on “Rheology of Fluid Mixtures”, involving fluid mechanics. Viscosity was studied as a function of flux density). KPP rates his important works as studies as irregularity factors of stranded conductors, analysis of capacitance of parallel plate capacitors, linear synchronous motor analysis and Electro Managentic powder clutches and rheology of fluid mixtures. He holds that new ideas emerge from questioning attitude.

Spirit of enquiry is fundamental to research. His favorite subject for both teaching and research were of course the highly mathematical Electro Magnetic field theory and he mastered the art of transforming Electro Magnetic problems into various alternate co-ordinate systems (as many as 48).

The bible for this area was ”Field Theory for Engineers”, by Moon & De Spencer In 1976, after the Apprentice Act came into force, there was active movement towards establish it in Engineering Colleges. After an interview conducted by the Director of Board of Apprenticeship, KPP was posted as Professor (Placement & Training) under the DTE. This marked the end of formal teaching duties for KPP. From 1976 to 1982 he ably led the placement and training activities in Kerala. It was statutory for industries to accept fresh graduate as Apprentices with a modest stipend provided for the student which was contributed by the industry and the Govt. Regular placement of Degree and Diploma holders were made possible during these years.

KPP also spearheaded the establishment of a Supervisory Development Centre at Kalamasery. He got acquainted with Mr. Jain from Delhi who learned doll and toy making from Japan. A course in this area was soon started in the SDC. Soon courses for Diploma holders in costume design and dress making were started.

Some of the students of this course later established small industrial units with the skill acquired in the course. Another innovative course was on cosmetology and beauty management which introduced technologies based on high frequency equipments. The budget of the Department which was 1 lakh in 1976 became 12 lakhs by 1982. In addition to academic research, KPP was one of the first Engineering teachers to seriously dwelve into industrial consultancy. The financial attraction was minimal and 1/3 rd of the income had to go to Govt too.

One of his first consultancy works was an informal one, with KEL, Mamala., when KEL got trial order from Railways for 10 claw-pole type brushless alternators. The collaboration was educative for KPP. TESIL, Chingavanam had a problem with welding electrodes productions. The furnace transformer failed frequently and production loss was high. KPP diagnosed it as the very high RRRV in the vacuum circuit breaker and suggested an MOCB in its place and solved the problem. Another work was to diagnose the failure of 400/11KV Transformer at Travancore Titanium Products. This was again done with the archaic facilities in the CET labs.

When KSEB took over distribution of electricity in Kottayam, Ernakulam and Trichur from private licencees, the distribution infrastructure was brought over. There was a case regarding the compensation. The private party claimed that copper wires had no depreciation and demanded 1.2 cores of compensation. KPP appeared as expert witness in arbitration held at Madras successfully. KPP also had bitter experiences which gave him lot of wisdom. When he was involved in the rewinding of a slip ring Induction motor of IRE, Chavara, he experimented with reducing copper usage by reducing the winding over hang, but it caused problems and failed. In 1982 began ansther the chapter in KPP’s professional career.

He was posted as Joint Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri Engineering Research and Consultancy Centre (LBSERCC) which later he renamed as LBS Centre for Science and Technology (LBSCST). LBS was not in good shape when KPP took over. Ramachandran IAS was asked by the Govt. To study the functioning of public sector undertakings and he had recommended LBS to be closed down (along with Kerala State Shipping Corporation which’s ship Kairali sank). However the Director of Technical Education Dr. George gave it one more lease of life.

In place of Dr. Naranayana Iyer, KPP was asked to take over as Joint Director of LBS which had at that time a grant of Rs. 50,000/- from the Govt. And showed no signs of sustainability. KPP took over and the post was re-designated as Additional Director and advertised and KPP himself was appointed on deputation for tenure of five years. The DTE was the Director but Dr.

George gave KPP a long rope. From the tiny rented house opposite the present Indira Bhavan in Vellayambalam, KPP shifted LBS to a more spacious building in Sasthamangalam Junction (where Norka office later functioned).

By the time KPP left, the centre had a budget of 90 lakhs with Govt. Grant of only 10 lakhs, the rest being generated through courses and consultancy.

It had just 11 staff, 6 being on deputation. KPP also instrumented in establishing a new building in own land for LBS. In a unusual step, KPP proposed purchase of land from a private party in Palayam (normally Govt. Land only is allotted), as he found the spot to be very central. The Finance Secretary Sri.

Babu Paul IAS gave his approval and so did the Executive Committee. For 35,000/- Rs. Per cent, land which was locked up in legal battle by 9 owners was brought. This needed quite an amount of deftness in local Govt.

Kadhaprasangam

One of the owners was Velayudhan Pandit, son of S.V. Bobban Varghese of Architecture Dept. Of CET was the architect and provided a modern design with structural members predominantly displayed. R.P.R Nair from Govt. Engineering College, Trichur who was at that time consultant and teacher at LBS, was the structural designer. Radhakrishnan of Electrical Dept. Of CET was the electrification consultant.

Thomas of Civil Dept. Of CET was the consultant on sanitary side. The construction was through a private contractor, not PWD. A retired Chief Engineer was engaged to oversee construction. At 3 AM in a morning, a house warming ceremony also took place with a Ganapathy Pooja and Bhagavathy Seva! (today a sure case for a controversy). KPP recalls that it was Dr.

Kuriakose’s idea to start an Engineering Experimentation Centre in connection with silver jubilee celebration of CET. The idea finally took off with Prime Minister Lal Bahadhur Sasthri laying the foundation stone for the centre at CET campus. KPP recalls the Prime Minister arrival in 1965, February 7.

Sambasivan Kathaprasangam

There was no heavy security or paraphernalia. The faculty together received him in the college portico and a guard of honour was given by NCC. The foundation stone he laid remained in CET for 20 years till KPP’s efforts. 1980’s was the time of advent of micro computers. Till then computers meant main frame giants in the Kerala University Computer Centre and the VSSC. Narayanan, CEO of Transmatics, an electronics company in Kaudiar, Trivandrum and a former student of CET, was one of the first to sell 8-bit, 64K micro computers in the state. LBS purchased some micro computers with CP/M operating system loaded in large and clumsy floppy disks as big as long-play recordes of yester years.

Courses on programming languages COBOL and Pascal were offered on these PCs. Soon, a very prominent technology upgradation occurred in LBS. Narayanan invited KPP to USA to acquaint himself with the latest in computer field-Unix. KPP’s visit convinced him of the need to go for a Unix installation in LBS which arrived in 1985 (TIFR and IISC had Unix installations after LBS had). Zilog 8000 system with UNIX 0S, Tape memory and line printers arrived. Experts from US visited LBS and gave training. Jayasankar and Prof.

Mohan who were both of EC Dept of CET were trained at Bell labs on Unix. Courses were soon based on Unix systems. COBOL, Pascal, FORTRAN, Basic and C skills arose in LBS. R.P.R Nair and Dr.

Kuncheria Issac (who was later DTE and Member Secretary of AICTE) were the software experts. Devassia, the first Vice-Chancellor of the Gandhiji University (Later renamed Mahathma Gandhi University) sought LBS’s service in computerizing +2 (Pre-degree) examinations. The unions in the University would not permit it there and hence the data was brought to LBS. Thus began the first major e-governance initiative of the state and one of the first in the country. Nair was the master brain of the project with able assistance from Prof. Jayasankar, Prof.

Issac and Prof. The work was completed successfully and students were issued mark lists in pre-printed stationary on which line printers printed processed data. The successful reform neither attracted boques nor brick bats and passed silently but the story was far from over. The Minister for Education than was Mr. Jacob, later acclaimed as one of the best parliamentarians.

The young ministers had a passion for experiments and mooted the idea of repeating the Kottayam experiment in Calicut and Kerala Universities. Unfortunately for Mr. Jacob and e-governance, the decision coincided with another controversial (but later well accepted as unavoidable) decision to delink pre-degree from Universities - +1 and +2 syllabus and exams were managed by Universities then).

Decision was based on the report of the Vice-Chancellor’s Committee with Dr. Sukumaran Nair, Sri. Habeeb Mohamed IAS, Sri. Jayachandran IAS and Dr. Devasia as members. This evoked strong protests from unions as they feared retrenchment.

Both pro-left and pro-congress unions went on a powerful strike that saw the syndicate suspended and 144 declared in the University Campus. To make matters worse the elections were around the corner. The protectors toughened their stand and there were allegations that they also played foul by destroying some data sheets before pen down. Massive Data entry of more than 2 lakhs of records has to be made is few days under the stress of the strike. This was finally done at a private firm in Bangalore.

The software built by LBS suddenly was strained as it found new cases to be handed were data was missing. Program had to be patched up and with software engineering process not in place; it put heavy stress on the technical team.

And the University officials were not technology – friendly, to be of any help. Many results had to be withheld. However, protestors alleged that “computers made mistakes” and “police was asked to value answer scripts” etc.

And there was a general impression that the computerization failed. Media too supported this and the first e-governance initiative took a big beating. Elections saw the Govt. Voted out of power. The Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi went on record saying that the Govt. Lost due to wrong educational policies.

The new Govt. Ordered enquires into the whole affair though nothing came out of it. Also declared immediate cessation of all computerization in the State (Interestingly, the Govt. Soon implemented Pre-degree delinking in a new name –Plus 2- and also started taking pro-IT steps including the establishment of the Techno park in Trivandrum).

The new Govt. Also wanted a change at LBS, it however let KPP remains in office until the new building was opened, and this he remaind in office for more than the 5 years he was deputed. There are two more noteworthy initiatives at LBS by KPP.

One was launching of distance education programmes in IT in Dubai. Mostly Keralites working in Dubai joined and took contact classes while they came or leave to Kerala. The fees were collected in foreign exchange.

In 1985-86, LBS made a nearly-successful attempt at bidding for a mega national project-that of architectural consultancy for Ezhimala Naval Academy. This project was estimated at around Rs. Oommen from CET and Prof. Viswanath and Prof.

Koshy from TKM College of Engineering were the consultants. A model of 18 ft x 12 ft was to be demonstrated. These were made and packed in 8 boxes and taken by train to Delhi under the direct monitoring of Dr. Special services of Prof. Eugine Pandala and Retd Air Admiral Savanth were used.

Out of the 100 agencies which competed, 6 were short listed for final consideration at Delhi Naval Public School. LBS came second and LBS’s fame as technology consultants shot up at a national level. The detailed plan and its bidding was done after KPP’s exit from LBS and was not successful.

Kasragod –Trichur NH 17 survey also became another achievement for LBS consultants. AG’s audit of LBS’s accounts lauded the institutions for its expnential growth. KPP served as Principal of the newly started Govt. Engineering College at Kannur where he completed the long delayed building construction in less than an year and received a special prize from the Govt. For a short span he was Principal of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, his alma-matter. He retired from service in 1991-92. Thereafter he was invited to be the founder Director of School of Technology and Applied Sciences at MG University, Kottayam.

He soon took over as Member Secretary of ISTE, New Delhi and got an opportunity to serve the engineering academic community at a national level. He soon returned to Kerala and served as a special secretary to Sri. Joseph, the Minister for Education. Thereafter he has been serving as consultant to a large number of engineering colleges all over the state, advising them on planning, recruitment, staff development etc. He also serves on committees of the ISTE and AICTE also.

Articles About/By The Teacher/Other Resources on the Teacher: 01. Achuthsankar S. Bindu, “A Strategic Road map to Developments in Engineering Education in India”(Discussions about the current developments in EDUSAT, e-Learning, Engineering, Innovation) 02. Pillai, Mini K.

Idiculla, Dr. Achuthsankar S.

Nair, ”Spectral study on the Voltage Waveform of Claw Pole Automotive 03. Achuthsankar S. Bindu, ”Analysis of Balanced Magnetic pull in Train Lighting Alternators with Skewed Rotor under Static Eccentricity and Conical Rotor Motion” (Electromagnetic analysis, Eccentricity, Finite 04. Pillai, Ramakrishnan. S, “Theory and performance of the disc-type electromagnetic particle clutch under continuous slip service” 05.

Pillai, An Analysis of Resistance Characteristics of Static Electric Contacts. Pillai, An Investigation on the Economic Operation of Kerala State Power System 07. Pillai, Torque Calculations of Polyphase Reluctance Machines 08. Pillai, Alaysis of the irregularity factor of stranded conductors 09.

Pillai, Impedance of ferromagnetic Conductors. Pillai, Fundamental frequency eddy current loss due to rotating magnetic field,part II.Eddy current loss in hollow rotors 11. Pillai, Fundamental frequency eddy current loss due to rotating magnetic field,part1.Eddy current loss in solid rotors. Pillai, Fringing field of finite parallel plate capacitors 13. Pillai, Field investigations on three core belted cables 14.

Pillai, Armature reaction in salient pole machines 15. Pillai, Three dimensional analysis and performance of Clawpole type eddy current brakes with trapezoidal pole face. Pillai, Predetermination of generated voltage in heteropolar inductor alternators 17. Pillai, Analysis of radial magnetic forces in induction motors having non-uniform airgap 18. Pillai, Voltage -fed operation of linear induction motors under conditions of supply unbalance 19.

Pillai, Transient performance of linear Induction machines following reconnection of supply. Pillai, Theory and performance of Electromagnetic particle clutch under continuous slip- service 21. Varadakumari, “Rheological behavior of Iron-Silicone fluid mixtures used in magnetic slip clutches”, Proceedings, IEE, Vol.131, November 1984, pp.591-97. Idiculla, Frequency Spectrum of the Generated Voltage of Claw Pole 23. Pillai, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.