JUBAIL, 7 October 2006 — “People’s resistance against Coca Cola in Kerala will be on the increase until their genuine opposition to the soft drink giant is addressed through judicial activism or new legislation” Dr. P.V.S. Namboodiripad said bluntly while criticizing the recent court order nullifying Kerala government notification banning the sale of Coco Cola in the state.
The government and the judiciary cannot ignore the fact that more than 80 percent of the people want to ban the soft drink, he says, adding that in a democracy it is the people’s right to initiate legislation through various means and if it is thwarted, violence and revolution will be the result.
Namboodiripad has been in the Kingdom for the last 11 years as business advisor to Al-Rajhi Petrochemical Group. He was instrumental in establishing Gulfarabi, Al-Rajhi Group’s first venture into the petrochemical industry. Currently he is associated with their second petrochemical venture Al-Rajhi Petrochemicals Industries Ltd, a $7 billion-dollar project. A postgraduate in chemical engineering with a doctorate in industrial management Namboodiripad doesn’t fit the stereotype of such an executive.
While as intermediate student at SB College Changanassery, he was actively involved in the electioneering of CPI candidate Kalyanakrishnan, which angered the college management who refused to issue a good conduct certificate to him hence he could not apply for admission to the state’s only engineering college in Thiruvananthapuram. He appeared for the entrance test of Bombay IIT and was one of two of 600 applicants selected from Kerala.
Namboodiripad recalls that the SB college management could have barred him from appearing for the intermediate examination but did not take that action considering his academic brilliance. He regretted that such dignified attitude is lacking in today’s managements, which in his opinion is the root cause behind the current stalemate in self-financed education in Kerala.
Namboodiripad concedes that the fiscal state of Kerala does not permit the government to make the required heavy investment in professional education hence self financed institutions has a role to play but all matters pertaining to the running of such institutions especially admission criteria and fees tariffs should be regulated uniformly in the interest of public.
“Minorities may establish and run as many institutions as they want, permissible under existing laws, but more than a certain number of such institutions can not be given minority status because it provides an undue advantage to a particular section of the people, which is very much undesirable in a democracy and certainly is against the norms of equal opportunity for all,” he pointed out.
Minority institutions are per existing provisions of our constitution excepted from any kind of government control on admissions. This provision is meant for protection of their distinct religious-cultural identity. Unfortunately it is now misunderstood by many as unlimited permission to indulge in profiting in the name of education. This cannot be allowed, especially in the professional education field, as in the long rum it will turn against the very interests of the minorities themselves, as I am afraid that it might lead into resentment among the majority community, which will be exploited by communal parties like BJP, he added.
Namboodiripad started his career from Anil Starch in Baroda but soon joined Larsen & Toubro’s engineering construction division where he had long tenures. During his stint with Baroda Rayons he was asked to resign and leave with in 24 hours due to his role in assisting the employees to form the first trade union there. He firmly believes that a well-established trade union is an advantage to management and workers alike as it can be instrumental in employee welfare and better productivity. In India at least 51 percent of labor unrest could be attributed to management deficiencies.
People like T.V. Thomas, M.N. Govindan Nair and Malayattoor Ramakrishnan IAS encouraged him to come to Kerala. Later through a central government selection he was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Latex, a public sector undertaking at Trivandrum. Latex was running on loss for many years and when he took over the cash balance was a meager but when resigned after five years to join Apollo Tyers it was 180 million rupees.
With Apollo Tyers, a giant among Indian tire manufactures he created history by getting the trade unions sign a bipartite agreement for three years linking productivity and bonus.
“Managing the human resources in any industry is of vital importance,” he said. “Initially managements gave only nominal attention to it. From labor relations to labor welfare and from human relations to human resource management and development, this all-important component of industrial management has come a long way. I am glad to state that in my own way I too played a role in this positive evolution in Indian industry”.
When an occupational health study he had initiated found that more than half of his employees were suffering from high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes he immediately convened a meeting with trade union leaders and together they took the decision to ban beef from food supplied at the company canteen. There are plenty of such instances where Napoothirippad initiated positive actions aimed to the welfare of his employees with no or nominal financial burden to the management. Such actions heavily contributed to increased productivity and employee satisfaction. He resigned from Apollo in 1994 when management asked him to carry out some unethical practices during negotiations for a long-term agreement. He never regretted that decision.
His elder brother, P.V.K. Nampoothiripad, who was managing director of Kerala State Warehousing Corporation and earlier an active member of the party attracted young P.V.S. to the communist party. He continues to be a CPM member even today but is unhappy about the ongoing tussle between the intellectuals and cadre type members of the party.
“As the Soviet and East European experiments collapsed and failed it is the duty of the party intellectuals to deliberate further to formulate a new strategy and application. No one can deny the fact the Marxism has failed in its Russian model.”
He regrets the party decision to expel intellectuals like M.P. Parameswaran and Dr. B. Ekbal.
“CPM needs cadre type members and intellectuals at a ratio of preferably 60 to 40 to have a vibrant and responsive party apparatus in the state,” he said. “Both should accept each other and work together rather than engaging in weakening and annihilating each other. The well-read and articulate intellectuals like Dr. Thomas Issac and M.A. Baby are an asset to the party but they should work as a team with cadre type leader V.S. Achuthanandan. Perhaps it is not happening which certainly is detrimental to the leftist alliance as a whole”.