M. K. Prasad (1932 – 17 January 2022) was an Indian environmentalist known for his grassroots level activism to protect tropical rainforests in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. In the late 1970s, as a member of

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) () 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, Rationality, rational thinking, and a scientif ...

, he led the

Save Silent Valley 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 ...

movement, to prevent development of a hydroelectric project in the

Silent Valley National Park Silent Valley National Park is a national park in Kerala, India. It is located in the Nilgiri hills and has a core area of . It is surrounded by a buffer zone of . This national park has some rare species of flora and fauna. Silent Valley Natio ...

, a project that would have flooded the rainforest. He was a principal of the Maharaja’s College Ernakulam, Kochi, and pro vice chancellor of

Calicut University The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to be set up in no ...

. Earlier, as a part of KSSP, he had contributed to the

national literacy mission The National Education Mission (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12, launched in 2018. It was allocated a budget of in the 2019 Interim Union Budget of Indi ...

which had resulted in his native

Ernakulam district Ernakulam (; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'') is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, and takes its name from the Ernakulam, eponymous city division in Kochi. ...

being declared the first fully literate district in the country.

Early life

Prasad was born in an ''

Ezhava The Ezhavas, () also known as ''Thiyya'' or ''Tiyyar'' () in the Malabar region, and Chovar () in the south, are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the po ...

'' family in

Cherai Cherai is a small town located in north side of Vypin island. It is a region in the suburb of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. It is at a distance of about from the ''High Court Junction'', Kochi. Cherai has the longest bea ...

on the island of

Vypin Vypin (, Cochin Portuguese: Isla Santa) is one of the group of islands that form part of the city of Kochi, in the Indian state of Kerala. Vypin forms a barrier island which lies between the Arabian Sea in the west and the Cochin backwaters ...

in the coastal district of

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the central business district of the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is the namesake of Ernakulam district. The eastern part of Kochi city is mainly known as Ernakulam, while the western part of it after the Venduruthy Bridge ...

in present day Indian state of Kerala. He studied in the Rama Varuna Union High School, a school that was established by local Hindu and Christian community leaders. The headmaster of the school and Prasad's early mentor, K. C. Abraham, would later go on to serve as the

governor of Gujarat The governor of Gujarat is the nominal head of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor is appointed by the president of India and resides in Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar, Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. Acharya Devvrat took charge as the 24th governo ...

. While his family was expecting him to follow in his uncle's footsteps to become an

Ayurveda Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

physician, he joined Maharaja's College in Kochi. He received an undergraduate degree in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

before going to

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani The Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a private deemed university in Pilani, Rajasthan, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. BITS Pilani was one of the first ...

to graduate with a master's degree in botany.

Career and activism

Prasad joined the Kerala State Educational Service in 1955 and went on to spend over 30 years in the academic arena holding various positions in the Kerala higher education system including Principal of the Maharaja’s College Ernakulam, Kochi and Pro Vice Chancellor of

. Prasad joined the

(KSSP, ) in 1967. The organization was set up in 1962 as a publishing house focusing on publishing scientific magazines and journals. He wrote extensively for the organization's science journals before stepping in to set up the Ernakulam district unit for the organization. Some of the topics that he wrote in the initial years in the 1960s included industrial pollution, particularly focusing on the

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of the Periyar river. In 1971, he partnered with scientists Syed Zahoor Qasim and U. K. Gopalan to organize a seminar and draw attention to the problems of industrial pollution in the Ernakulam district. In the late 1970s, he led efforts to save the Silent Valley, a tropical rain forest in the Western ghats in southern India, when a planned

hydroelectric plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also mo ...

threatened to flood and devastate the flora and fauna of Silent Valley. He initially wrote about the project's impacts in ''Sastragathi'', a scientific journal published by KSSP, in 1977. He later led efforts, working with engineers, economists, and scientists, to draw attention to the environmental impact of the project. These efforts were followed by ground level activism including organization of street plays and other forms of protest across the state. The protests were called off in the early 1980s when the then prime minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

, ceding to the protests, promised that the forests would be preserved. Prasad also contributed to efforts at KSSP towards the spread of literacy as a part of the

. He was actively engaged in actions that resulted in

being declared the first fully literate district in India in 1990. He also set up KSSP’s Integrated Rural technology Centre in Mundur, Palakkad district, Kerala and served as the centre's director for three years. Prasad was a member of the United Nations’

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment, called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, launched in 2001 and published in 2005 with more than $14 million of ...

Board for a five-year tenure. He was also a life member and active participant in the activities of the World Wide Fund of Nature (WWF) – India and of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN-CEC). In India, he chaired the Programme Advisory Committee of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation's (MSSRF) Agro Biodiversity Centre, in Wayanad, Kerala and served as a member of the Governing Council of the

Centre for Environment Education Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

(CEE) and of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board. He authored numerous books and monographs in Malayalam on environmental issues and popular science and co-authored a techno-economic and socio-political assessment of the Silent Valley Hydro Electric project in 1979. Prasad also served as the vice chancellor of the

University of Calicut The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a State ownership, state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to ...

, the principal of the

Maharaja's College, Ernakulam The Maharaja's College is a Public university, government college located in the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. Established in 1875, it is one of the oldest colleges in India. Located in the heart of the city, the college campus is spread ov ...

, the executive vice chairman of the Kerala Government's Information Kerala Mission, and the president of the KSSP.

Personal life

Prasad was married to Sherly Prasad, who retired as a professor from

. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. He was a native of Kochi. Prasad died at a private hospital in Kochi on 17 January 2022, while being treated for complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Explanatory notes

References

External links