Basava Premanand was an Indian skeptic and rationalist from Kerala, India. He organised many tours around rural India for the promotion of scientific thinking, exposing alleged miracles and scams carried out by various charlatans and godmen while spreading awareness of dangerous superstitions. Premanand was the founder of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, the convener of Indian CSICOP, and the owner-publisher-editor of the monthly magazine The Indian Skeptic, which investigates paranormal claims in India.
Moolayil Narayana Menon Vijayan, popularly known as Vijayan Mash was an Indian academic, orator, columnist and writer of Malayalam literature. Known for his leftist ideals and oratorical skills, Vijayan was the president of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham and served as the editor of Deshabhimani. He published a number of books of which Chithayile Velicham received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Literary Criticism in 1982.
Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) (lit. 'Kerala Science Literature Movement') is a prominent science and literature organization based in the Indian state of Kerala. It was founded in 1962 with the aim of promoting scientific temper, rational thinking, and a scientific approach to societal issues. The organization has played a significant role in popularizing science and scientific knowledge among the general public, particularly in the Malayalam-speaking region.
Silent Valley movement was a social movement aimed at the protection of Silent Valley, an evergreen sub-tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India. It was started in 1966 by an NGO led by Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) to save the Silent Valley from being flooded by a hydroelectric project. In February 1973, the Planning Commission approved the project at a cost of about Rs. 25 crores. The valley was declared as Silent Valley National Park in 1985.
The Kerala Bhasha Institute is an academic publishing house in India that was established on 11 March 1968 as a part of the fourth five-year plan. Twelve years later, on 1 November 1980, a regional center was set up in Kozhikode. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. It publishes books on science and technology, the arts, literature, folklore and information technology. In addition to book publication, the institute also runs translation camps, book festivals, computer training and seminars.
R. V. G. Menon is a professor of engineering in Kerala, India. He was the principal of Government College of Engineering, Kannur. He was deputed as the director of Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT). He is the author of An Introduction To The History And Philosophy of Science, which is a part of the engineering curriculum in Kerala.
Vinod Raina was an Indian educationist. He was a member of drafting of the Right to Education Act.
M. K. Prasad was an Indian environmentalist known for his grassroots level activism to protect tropical rainforests in the Indian state of Kerala. In the late 1970s, as a member of Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, he led the Save Silent Valley movement, to prevent development of a hydroelectric project in the Silent Valley National Park, a project that would have flooded the rainforest.
The people's science movement (PSM) aims to popularise science and scientific outlook among common people. Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Assam Science Society, Bigyan Prachar Samiti (Orissa), We the Sapiens and the All India Peoples Science Network are some popular people's science movements in India.
Moothiringode Chithrabhanu Nambudiripad was a pioneer of popular science writing in Malayalam language and an eminent translator. He was one of the founders of popular science movement in Kerala State, India. He was conferred several awards for his writing and translation, and for contribution to society.
National Alliance of People's Movements is an alliance of alter-globalisation activist groups in India. It is an umbrella organisation for various civil society organisations and individuals working towards similar goals.
Sajitha Madathil is an Indian film and theatre actor. Her performance in Joy Mathew's feature film Shutter (2012) won her the Kerala State film award for second best actress. She is the head of the department of Acting at the K. R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts (KRNNIVSA), an autonomous institute established by the Government of Kerala. She had been the Deputy Secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademi New Delhi(Academy of Music and Dance, India), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She appeared in the feature films Shutter in 2012, in Adimadhyantham in 2011, and in Shalini Usha Nair's feature film Akam in 2011.
All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) is a national network of Peoples Science Movements of India. It was established in the first All India Peoples Science Congress, organised in 1988 at Kannur in Kerala State. The attempt to establish a national platform for science organisations in India started in the late 1960s. By that time, there were Science organisations in West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Kerala and Maharashtra. In many other states, there were committed scientists who were interested to work with people for a social cause.
Narender K. Sehgal was an Indian physicist, scientific administrator, and science populariser. He was born in Lahore. He worked as Scientific Officer in the Theoretical Reactor Physics Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. In 1963 he went to US for his MSc and PhD in particle physics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He became professor of physics at the Somali National University in Magadiscio, East Africa. He returned to India in 1978 as visiting scientist at the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In 1982 he joined the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. He was head of the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) and later Vigyan Prasar, where he remained until his retirement in 2000.
Bisweswar Bhattacharjee is an Indian chemical engineer, multi-disciplinary scientist and a former director of the Chemical Engineering and Technology Group of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). He is a former project director of the Rare Materials Project, Mysore and a member of the Atomic Energy Commission of India. Bhattacharjee, a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Shri, is best known for his contributions in the development of gas centrifugal technology for the High Speed Rotors (HSR), used in the production of enriched Uranium and other strategic materials, at BARC.
T. Thrivikraman is an Indian mathematician who has made important contributions to topology, fuzzy mathematics, history of mathematics and to several other areas of mathematics. He actively promoted the culture of mathematical research in Kerala, himself guiding as many as 29 students in their doctoral research. He was also actively involved in the activities of the science popularization movement known as Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad.
S. Sivadas is an Indian children's writer in Malayalam. He is the author of around 200 books which include popular science, contemporary ecology, short stories, novels and other fictional stories with an emphasis on scientific outlook. He was a chemistry professor at CMS College Kottayam. He is a three-time recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
Karivellur Murali is a Malayalam language poet and playwright from Kerala, India. He has won many awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Drama, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award and Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship.
K. Bhaskaran Nair was a Malayalam language writer from Kerala, India who writes mainly in the genre of scientific literature. He was also noted as a literary critic, essayist, and educationist. In 1971 he was awarded Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Literary Criticism.
