Warrier's COLLAGE August 16, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Monday August 16, 2021 Indian National Flag on top of Hari Parbat Fort*, Srinagar https://youtu.be/dFd5WYz9x34 (Link Courtesy : S K Gupta Panchkula) *Report : https://www.prameyanews.com/hundred-feet-high-tricolour-unfurls-in-jammu-kashmir/amp/ "The government of Jammu and Kashmir has installed a 100-feet high Tricolour at the historic Hari Parbat fort that lies on the west of Dal Lake in Srinagar" (History unfolding before our eyes. Tricolour comes up at Hari Parbat in Srinagar Kashmir downtown. This is the story of how common people of J&K worked with CRPF and Indian Army to erect Tiranga overlooking entire Srinagar-S K Gupta) Good Morning Nice Day M G Warrier Think it over : "Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business...." (See G for more) A Select Messages from Readèrs 1) T V Janardhana Warrier Thalassery Happy Independence Day to the Collage family. 2) In praise of writing a) S Nallasivan Hyderabad Dear Warrier, An all-rounder in Cricket we have heard, the rare player who score decent runs consistently, save the Match, and shines in any batting Order, bowls occasionally though ànd have the knack of breaking wel settled Partnership, exceptional fielder like an Eknath Solkar or Jonty Rhodes or Ravindra Jadeja when the need arise keep wickets too. We are conscious that we have such an all rounder in our midst. Not a Cricketer of course, Vathsala Jayaraman has been one of the early members to join both the Retirees Groups, stand out and tall, possibly the lone bright star amongst our Sister members. (Continued at H1) b) Vathsala Jayaraman Just now I happened to read a mail issued by Shri S Nallasivan relating the Annual Issue of Warrier's Collage. He has given glorious tributes to the Editor and all the authors of articles. I convey my sincere thanks to Shri Nallasivan. I find a huge write up on my writings, rather too heavy! Recently I read an article in a Psychology Magazine which discussed which areas of the brain are affected by appreciation and gratefulness. The hypothalamus, which controls basic bodily functions such as eating and sleeping, and dopamine, the“reward neurotransmitter”are heavily affected from feelings of gratitude. (Continued at H2) c) S R Badrinarayanan The All India Radio and the later arrival Doordharshan have a common player to entertain the viewers of all hues viz the Station artist. And Madam-jack of all trades and a master as well- is the station artist including in the recent version that effectively connects us with select gems of contributions. d) V N Kelkar Mumbai Shri Nallasivan's review on the occasion of the Anniversary of MGW's Collage is excellent. His appreciation of the top contributors is timely. There can be no two opinions on his following observations on Vathsala Madam as an articulate and prolific writer : 'Smt Vathsala Jayaraman excels and unique in her own contributions.' 'When somebody talks about an incident, on a subject it might look strange but she has one to relate to from her own life.' Her value added instant responses are encouraging. She has a magical skill of organising her thoughts quickly and make a seamless presentation. The gems in the group are inspirational and prompt others to work hard. Warrier is doing a great job. We impatiently await his Collage daily morning. May long live Warrier's Collage. VNKelkar 3) N H Subramanian Fantastic* Mr Warrier. Keep it up. Best Wishes *Responding to Collage Anniversary Special B Story Time 1) V Babusenan : Pakkanaar Vararuchi, the great astrologer, had a dozen children* by his chandali wife during his sojourn in Kerala with her. The children belonged to different castes, the eldest a brahmin(Agnihotri by name) and the youngest a parayah (Paakkanaar by name). Paakkanaar was a siddha held in high esteem who periodically visited his eldest brother. Rules regarding caste discrimination were observed and Paakkanaar squatted on the front yard of Agnihothri's residence keeping the prescribed distance. On one of such visits, Paakkanaar could not meet his brother straightaway. Agnihotri was doing Pooja. He took a pretty long time to complete his pooja. When, at last, he came out with a beaming smile, he saw something strange. There were many holes on the ground in front of his brother. Apparently they were dug by him. "What is the meaning of this,Paakky?" he asked. "When I came here, brother, sister-in-law told me that you had just started your pooja. Then I started digging a hole. After some time, she came to announce that you had switched over to another god. Then I started digging another hole. This process went on and on and the result is before you. I can't get over the feeling, brother.." Agnihothri : "What?" Paakkanaar : "I can't get over the feeling that, had I gone on digging the same hole, perhaps I could have reached water by now." Agnihotri (Smiling) : "If you continue digging all the holes, you will get water in all of them" I have only admiration for those of our comrades who have taken degrees and diplomas in various subjects after superannuation. I am inclined to prefer Paakkanaar's view to that of his brother, considering the declining faculties and the uncertainty about the time to take the final rest. (*Know more : https://ispub.com/IJBA/5/1/14150) 2) Vathsala Jayaraman : Thillaiyadi Valliammai Her short span of life did not deter this courageous Tamil girl from leaving an impressive imprint in India`s history of freedom struggle. The concept of Indian `TRI COLOUR` solely belongs to her. No wonder Mahathma Gandhi, the Father of Nation, had held her in high esteem. A South African Tamil lady named Thillaiyadi Valliammai worked with Gandhi in his early years when he toned his nonviolent methods in South Africa, fighting the apartheid there. It is these techniques that he would later use in India against British colonial rule. (Continued at H4) C 75th Independence Day : Address to the Nation by PM Narendra Modi https://youtu.be/hQUyC2yKxIM D Readers Write Is Begging Honourable? : Vathsala Jayaraman IT BEGS THE QUESTION, IS BEGGING HONOURABLE ? Supreme court on a recent PIL to remove beggars forcefully from traffic intersections, pointed out that begging is a socio economic problem that called for a humane and sympathetic approach. Having failed to provide economic security ,the article observes that it is unconscionable to make criminals out of the poor. In general begging is not an enthusiastic choice but a viable alternative to earn their livelihood but beggars are not choosers. We have rich beggars ,who can speak eloquent English,have mobile phones and can offer changes even for Rs 1000/-Some people have a tuft, with the frontal area shaved nicely, three vertical lines, two white and one red adorning their foreheads and a begging bowl in their hands.Some are fed up with their rich lives and turn into hippies. They give away their daily collections to the poverty stricken.Are they beggars? Our traditional ethos include the ideals of Bhikshu as a means of demolishing the ego or doing penance. "Om,bhavati bhiksham dehi"" call made women rush to offer rice/grains etc.Shri .Thyagaraja practiced begging as a sadhana and offered prasadam to God as a medium of communicating with the divine within himself. Even some rich people beg as a prarthana to God. "I beg your pardon" is what we say when we do not hear the other person on phone. Sometimes we beg to differ. We beg to submit, we beg your attention, I beg your forgiveness. Our great parliamentarians "beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment" After all begging is honourable. The polite term for those who don't have financial means without help from a support system in the US is called "homeless". Even though the term means "a person without a home and therefore living in the streets". Similarly, beg only means, "asking something politely". In Brahmacharya Ashrama, all the children were trained to seek help in the neighborhood to make them understand everything in life is a gift and to reduce egoistic tendencies. Most of us watched, "Enge Brahmanan?" a serial made by Cho Ramasamy where an affluent family struggled with shame when their son decided to go through and understand teachings in Vedic scriptures by practising it in his daily life. . There is homelessness in every major cities in the US. When we listen to their stories, mostly, they didn't become homeless because of disastrous financial decisions they had made but because of family healthcare costs, losing job, litigation, accidents, etc. As Ithink of 'begging,a brilliant story, dialogues and scenes of Slum Dog Millionaire crosses my mind. For a question By Amitabh in Kaun Banega Crorepathi, the participant Jamal Malik (Dave Patel) - the hero of film- narrates the events; children abducted and blinded for begging for a syndicate. Lord Krishna endorsed begging. He arranged that begging by a brahmin to Warrior Karna and the consequence we know. Karna's life gets extinguished. The conquest of Mahabali by Vishnu as Vamana begging three feet of Land is the celebration Onam today.The famous Trivikrama Tatwam is released in Mahabali-Vamana episode. Beggars are seen sitting in a row near Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal temple and (Shirdi) Sai Baba temple (on Thursday’s their population is almost few KMs huge) in Chennai. Temple authorities are cursing, as hundi collection drops as devotees behaviour changed. Devotees seem to have realised more punyam by offering money to genuine poor beggars squatting near Bhagwan in temple. Even after rehabilitation, many beggars tend to come back to their old protected venues as they hold the view that begging to make money is less cumbersome and convenient than working in a shop or mall or in an office. Habit dies hard! A news report that a beggar in Varanashi near an ancient and popular temple died of old age in front of his small hut. When the hut was removed, the authorities found he had concealed income of over few lakhs of rupees! The money was underground under the hut! Among beggars too, there are talented beggars in terms of management philosophies- selection of place, begging hours, shift operations, targeting customers! etc.Can be awarded title as" Efficient Manager Beggars" Such a good profession the begging is! Bihar is the state known for its poverty. A young man won in the contest Kaun bhanega crorepathi. Sushil Kumar: What the real Slumdog Millionaire did next. Google and read. He claims He remains same as he was before winning a crore of Rupees! Begging seems to be really honourable! Vathsala Jayaraman V T Panchapagesan clarifies : Begging... Pitchai is one thing. Bikshai is another thing, different from begging. In modern world we do very many things for our sustenance . This is Pitchai in different forms. Whereas Bikshai is relinquishing everything and living on alms. And noble people who see them, come voluntarily offering oblations respecting them. This is offering Bikshai. Many have forgotten this today. Be Well, V T Panchapagesan E ANALYSIS People's Plan Campaign in Kerala Mainstream, VOL LIX No 35, New Delhi, August 14, 2021 25 Years of People’s Plan Campaign in Kerala | Jos Chathukulam by Jos Chathukulam This August 17 marks the silver jubilee of the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) in Kerala. The introduction of PPC was hailed as a milestone in the realm of democratic decentralization as it played a significant role in fostering local democracy, devolution of functions, funds and functionaries (3Fs) and decentralized planning in the state of Kerala. It was also the most extensive and efficient decentralization program undertaken in India. The PPC has been considered as a far reaching and radical experiment in grassroots level decentralization not only in Kerala but also across India. The PPC which was launched in 1996 spearheaded large-scale rural development and also facilitated the decentralization of powers. Poverty reduction in the state was a significant outcome of the PPC and the main reason for this to occur was the slew of welfare measures since 1996. It had a major impact on the quality of services rendered, especially in sectors like health, education, drinking water, sanitation, roads, energy, and housing. Kudumbashree, a self-help group network rooted at grassroot level is also one of the significant outcomes of the 1996 PPC. (Continued at H3) F Book Review : The Greatest Salesman in the World https://www.hookedtobooks.com/book-review-greatest-salesman-world-og-mandino/ Summary: Often, there are people we look up to and we wonder how we could ever live up to their achievements. However, Og Mandino fully believes that anyone, no matter where they come from, is capable of rising as far as they desire to go. The Greatest Salesman in the World presents a series of principles, laws, and fundamental truths in such a way that they are easily understood and able to be implemented into daily life. Mandino uses a simple story of a boy with the most unlikely of circumstances to explain the importance and effect of nine simple concepts. G Quotes on fault-finding https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/fault-finding.html Like : "Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces." Og Mandino (Augustine "Og" Mandino II was an American author. He wrote the bestselling book The Greatest Salesman in the World. His books have sold over 50 million copies and have been translated into over 25 languages.) H 1) Continued from A2 Warrier's one year old Collage helped to enlarge her scope and horizon as it is a unique platform where one can indulge to his/her heart's content. Warrier was a bit sad when I last suggested to him that Collage needed no Anniversary Special Issue as every single issue remain so colourful, rich in content and the unwieldy in size. The Collage has no dearth for Scholarly and erudite authors. Shri V.T.P.Panchapakesan a kind of his own who has mastered the art of, presenting his deep understanding and exhaustive knowledge on Philosophy, Religion, Scriptures in a simple way even to those who are not initiated in such heavy subjects. He is an unparalleled master in relating them to mundane day today events in life and make one believe that Salvation is so simple and within one's reach through leading Life kind, caring, helpful and compassionate. Of course, there is an award winning, much decorated author, Shri Babusenen who at ease at with Bertrand Russell, Malayalam Poets of the lore and mastery over relating unique and serious complicated neurological problems through stories of known friends and family. Then we have the Dr.T. Surendran, has his Physician Kit full of cases interesting and intriguing that he had handled during his Pediatric practice both local and abroad. It is unusual for a Paediatrician to carry the sense of humour to discuss unique cases with wit. Warrier, an ace editor and proofreader, rolled in one reckoned individual contributions from Vathsala Jayaraman, it must be very substantial, an elephant's share in the daily Collage pages. Now I am inclined to write something which would be more fitting to be added to the Annual Issue and want to sing her glory. Smt Vathsala Jayaraman excels and unique in her own contributions. Have you ever pondered what makes her to come out effortlessly with variety of stories, long though, with rich content today tomorrow and every single day? Of course she had a brilliant academic career with Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College as her alma mater.( my wife too was a student) Does education alone make one a successful writer? Vathsala Jayaraman had the fortune of being brought up in a Joint Family of 16, with uncles, aunts, cousins, nephew of every kind with a thatched roof over your head, no electricity or running water. Her father was an erudite and disciplined teacher in the Class of the Head Masters Shri Naidu, Higher Secondary School of Kumbakonam and Parameswara Iyer of the SIES School, Matunga.. Her mother had been the worldly wise woman who ran the kitchen to feed Joint Family. As if it was not enough she got a mother-in-law who proved to be a second mother in showering love and affection and remained a valuable teacher in guiding counseling her all through her life. Stood with her daughter in law through thick and thin. And Vathsala knew what Francis Bacon meant that Reading makes a man or a woman full. Shri Surendra Khot, a man who was closely associated with Publication of the Volumes of RBI History, and closely associated with the 18th Floor at the Central Office, an admirer of Vathsala Jayraman's contribution had said that had she not chosen to return to her good old Ashok Nagar House from Bombay she could have easily scaled new highs in the RBI hierarchy, if not a Deputy Governor, an Executive Director. But then she had been proved right as a Career woman she had her hands full. Seen in retrospect she had chosen the correct course at the crucial turn of events in her life. She has proved right and she is the most successful homemaker . Her son who is the alumni of IIM, Calcutta is now a happily settled man in the US. Her grandson though born and brought up in the US is budding Carnatic Singer and Writer too. Her daughter of course is the head of a happy family at Singapore. Shri Jayaraman must be a blessed and gifted husband to share a life in matrimony with Vathsala. He had serious neurological set back after his major motorcycle accident. Only her courage, kindness and determination saw him lead a near normal life. She had nursed him, nurtured him till the last. She had travelled widely and is an authority in Carnatic Music. She has been a connoisseur of music. She started contributing articles to the Open Page of the English Daily The Hindu. She has such wide experience in her long life both within the walls of the Bank and outside world. When somebody talks about an incident, on a subject it might look strange but she has one to relate to from her own life. When somebody mentioned R Janakiraman the Deputy Governor you can not match Vathsala in recalling incidents associated with the former DG. He has been an obedient student of her father and the Spouse of Jankiraman, her Classmate and how she was the bridesmaid during the marriage. She has been making contributions since long drawing mostly from her exhaustive reading. Deep understanding, keen and sharp observations and rich experience both good and not so good. She can effortlessly recall interesting incidents as if it had happened if not yesterday, the day before yesterday. Be it the nerve wracking, spine chilling episode of a monkey grabbing her 13 day old infant daughter and sitting precariously on the parapet of the well with no help anywhere near. And how a timely recall of her wise mother narrating the monkeys' craze for seeing their image in the mirror. She ventured unafraid with a mirror to the monkey and it gracefully left the child for her to grab with all the force she could command. Did she not narrate to you the agony and pathetic tale, during a visit to the Shore Temple at Tiruchendur where she had to sweep the floors of a filthy Bus to lay her hands on the missing diamond nose stud. Of course all her real life stories had the blessing of ending well. When she had found the sparkling diamond shining from under the sole of a condemned slipper it was easily perceived as the mercy of the Lord who vanquished the demon, to her agitated mind. She again proved herself a writer in humour, a satirist on the pains of helping friends and how her Special Deepavali had been spent in an hospital where her mother-in-law was nursing a hip -bone fracture she had suffered in her slippery, messy kitchen thanks to the joint venture of preparing Sweets. Her retelling stories from Epic and Scriptures are vast, deep and exhaustive. She can narrate you half a dozen Gita; One full dozen of Ramayana; She can convince you that it was Dasaratha and Rama who were wrong and the virtues of a Kaikeyi, Urmila or Subhadra. Mahabharat and Srimad Bhagavatam are the ever fertile mine for her stories. She will argue convincingly that the Kaliyuga has already ended and we have entered into Dwapara Yuga when we are told that Kalki will arrive after the 427000 years of remaining Kaliyuga. She can engage you with equal interest in Kambar, in Kalidasa as in Shakespeare. She has her heart in the right place and she always support and encourage other contributors and many a time her responses add more value to the original. Many a time shock the Original author to ponder and wonder who was more original. When PPR posted mails on life and time of Carnatic Musicians she supplement it with her original and with still unexplored incidents. She has the ability to remain away from controversies and during her loong unbroken innings never ever go near, or even touch with a barge pole the subject Politics. I take the liberties to proclaim that she is not one of the but the brightest star shining and illuminating not only among our Group of friends, not confined to any recognised Group or circle of friends. S.Nallasivan 2) Continued from H2 (b) Furthermore, these brain boosts can have significant positive effects in the workplace and in the employee’s life balance. Showing gratitude can increase a person's wellness, better sleep habits, increase metabolism and lessen stress. Gratitude creates good feelings, cheerful memories, better self-esteem, feeling more relaxed and more optimistic. My sincere thanks are due to the moderators of both the groups for the encouragement. Otherwise I would have restricted my business to making some Pongal and vathal kuzhambu. Praise is wonderful, isn't it? Maybe you've also had that slightly uncomfortable experience of being praised for something you thought was‘just doing your job, or for doing something perfectly ordinary and unremarkable. Can praise, can being praised, actually make you less successful? Now first of all, I have to say that I'm all for positive motivation. Letting people know they're doing or have done well can be vital sometimes. No one likes to be criticised all the time, and only told what they don't do well. But, as with all things, it's the balance that counts. This is not just common sense – the research tells us that excessive and constant praise can actually be damaging to self esteem and personal effectiveness. Think of praise for a moment as a kind of food or medicine. No one would argue that healthy nutrition or necessary medication is a bad thing. But it’s also clear that what’s good for you in small or measured doses can be bad for you if you have too much of it. We all need a correct and balanced dosage of food or necessary meds. Too much food, no matter how healthy it is, can make us sick. One headache tablet may help your head feel less sore, but a hundred tablets will not make you feel one hundred times as good. Everything requires appropriate dosage, from exercise to allergy pills. It's the same with communication – including, of course, praise. What strength of dose is required? How often should it be administered? Constantly praising someone to the skies can make them addicted to praise. Addiction to praise can be as destructive in its way as any other addiction. The late great Dr Milton Erickson used to say that he was wary of over praising his patients for doing things that they should be doing anyway. This is not to say that we shouldn't acknowledge positive changes in people, but over-doing the praise can be dangerous. This is because if we imply that something is exceptional then that makes it the exception to what is actually normal. Excessively praising someone could actually make them less happy in the long term because it can diminish their capacity to find intrinsic reward in anything. Which would be a massive handicap. We need to move on from labelling good actions and good behaviour as out of the ordinary, even if we are only doing this implicitly. Making a huge deal out of anything someone achieves – or attempts – may just be encouraging ‘praise addiction’. . The trouble is, empty praise can make looking smart more important than being smart. Don't over-praise people (or yourself) for doing stuff you should be doing anyway. Sure, it’s good I don’t go around stealing from people, but it should also be my normal behaviour. So be discerning and selective with praise. Focus on the normality of the desirable behaviour rather than implying that it’s exceptional and therefore not something that can happen often. Don't always praise others, or you'll be fostering praise dependency and an inability to pursue excellence for its own sake. If you don't praise all the time, the praise you do offer has more potency. Focus on what is actually within a person's control (like hard work) rather on nebulous and essentially meaningless characteristics. “You have worked really hard!” implies that success was something they could consciously influence. Telling someone they are “fabulous” for completing something gives them no meaningful information about their input. Sugar is nice, but a little goes a long way and too much can really screw you up. The right kind of praise at the right time and in the right quantity can help you develop the habit of excellence, but a diet of uncontrolled praise won't do you or anyone else any favours. Vathsala Jayaraman 3) Continued from E Creating a space for democracy and development at the grassroot level The 1996 PPC laid the formal foundations for a number of socio-economic developments and welfare projects as well as agencies and stakeholders in the state. The PPC showcased that democratic governance can be made possible through the larger and comprehensive participation of people in grassroot politics and decentralized planning. As part of the PPC, the then Left Democratic Front (LDF) government earmarked around 30 per cent of the outlay of the Ninth Five Year Plan towards projects and programmes drawn up by the local governments. In the case of devolution of financial powers in Kerala under PPC, nearly one-third of the plan funds were given into the hands of local governments. Social mobilization for formulation and implementation of plans was a notable feature of the PPC. It opened the doors before the ordinary people to become a part of the planning process at the village level through Gram Sabha and it in a way empowered decision making at grassroots level. The PPC encouraged people to identify their own needs and problems and to formulate solutions to them through their participation in local development planning. Though the first attempts to decentralise power to local level democratic institutions began in 1957 in Kerala, it was the 1996 PPC that made Kerala a forerunner in decentralization. The Political Legacy of PPC in Kerala The introduction of PPC was a major contribution of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala. E M S Namboodiripad, the first Chief Minister of Kerala and a Marxist ideologue of decentralization was the key architect behind the PPC. Political theorists have observed that the extensive involvement of LDF and CPI (M) in the PPC have helped them to tighten their grip on Kerala society and thus mobilize votes during elections. Their involvement in PPC have convinced the people to think that LDF means with local development and social justice. It has helped the LDF and its major ally CPI (M) to woo and mobilize not only proletarians and peasants but also white-collar workers, middle-class women, and ‘public intellectuals’. Under the umbrella of a slew of socio -economic programmes and measures that originated from the 1996 PPC, some 25 years ago, the LDF have endeared itself to Keralites by offering a balanced combination of growth and development along with a humanist touch. While it is generally believed that decentralization in a way attempts to downsize the state, in the case of Kerala it has turned out as a vehicle to empower the state regime. The first phase of PPC which started in 1996 was smoothly functioning till 2001 but due to various reasons it got derailed. It has been noted that decentralization in Kerala shows a clear hiatus between theory and practice especially when practice is taken as the reference point and contrasted with an ideal situation of devolution. Studies and research show that Kerala’s record is not up to the expectations of genuine enthusiasts of decentralisation. The Kerala experience also suggests some limitations of decentralization initiated from above and were implemented with centralized command, deeply embedded in ‘democratic centralism’. Revival of PPC In 2016, when LDF government under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan came into power, it decided to revive PPC and thus the second phase of PPC began. It led to the launch of Nava Kerala Karma Padhathi, an umbrella programme under which four missions - (i) Aardram, (ii)Education Rejuvenation, (iii) Haritha Keralam and (iv) LIFE (Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment). ‘Aardram’ focuses on revamping the healthcare system into a people-friendly one, ‘Education Rejuvenation’ attempts to modernise schools and to develop quality content for students, ‘LIFE Mission’ for providing housing for the homeless and ‘Haritha Keralam’ for waste management, organic farming, and water resources management. If the first phase of PPC focused on planning , the second phase focused on governance. The subjects under these four missions fall in the domain of local governments. The four missions in a way facilitated the integration between various departments and agencies and provided the technical support to the local governments. The Government stressed on the participation of people and voluntary works in all activities carried out under these missions. Kerala Model PPC Adopted at the National Level The Union government in 2018 launched a national level PPC under the slogan Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas. The planning process experimented under the 1996 PPC in Kerala has been scaled up to the national level in the form of PPC for Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) in 2018. The PPC is an effective strategy for ensuring the preparation of GPDP in a campaign mode. To improve the quality of GPDPs, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India jointly launched PPC under the theme Sabki Yojana, SabkaVikasin 2018 and further reinforced in 2019, 2020 and 2021 for preparing comprehensive GPDPs. These campaigns improved the quality of the GPDP substantially and extended it to other two tiers of Panchayats as Block Panchayat Development Plan (BPDP) and District Panchayat Development Plan (DPDP). (Author: Jos Chathukulam is former Professor, Sri. Ramakrishna Hegde Chair on Decentralization, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru and currently the Director, Centre for Rural Management (CRM), Kottayam, Kerala. Email joschathukulam[at]gmail.com) 4) Continued from D2 Valliammai joined Gandhi's movement at the age of 16 and died during the anti-apartheid agitation. Gandhi said that her sacrifice increased his resolve to fight. After passing his matriculation in 1887, Mahathama Gandhi went to England for higher studies in Law. In 1893, he went to South Africa. There, he was appalled by pathetic conditions of coloured people and discrimination against the Indians and South Africans. He adopted a new method of fight against the British rulers. He practised peaceful resistance to racial discrimination. His weapons were Satyagrah(truth) and Ahimsa(non-violence). Many youngsters followed him. Thillaiyadi valliammai, a young Tamil girl was an example. She sacrificed her life for this fight against British rulers. She was born to R.Munuswamy and Janakiammal, a young immigrant couple from a small village called Thillaiyadi in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. They went to Johannesburg the gold mining city of South Africa in search of wealth. Her father was a trader and owner of a confectionery shop. Since her mother Janaki hailed from Thillaiyaadi village and her daughter Valliammai came to be popularly called Thillaiyadi Valliammai. The young Indian lawyer Mohandas Gandhi began his protest march against the discrimination of Indians and other South Africans. Young Vallimmai and her mother joined this march of women from Transvaal to Natal, which was prohibited by the government of South Africa. Valliammai, 16 years of age was arrested by the South African police while she was in the protest march and spent three months in Jail. She suffered a fatal fever in jail, when she was released, she was very weak and could barely walk. She heard some South African prison officers yelling at her, `why don`t you people register and become South Africans instead of Indians. Your India doesn`t even have a flag and it is not even a country. What are you really fighting for.` If having a flag is what would give form to India, then here it is, she said, tearing off her saffron-white-green sari and she waved it triumphantly, MY FLAG! MY MOTHERLAND! Mahathma Gandhi met her and asked: Do you not regret having been to jail? Look at you! If going back to jail again would add to the cause, I would do it again she replied. She gave us our National flag (Gandhi designed the flag with the same three colours as her sari), a greater resolve (in his own words) to Gandhi`s freedom fight, undying fiery guts to women and a soul full of strength for her, our country. Jai Hind! Vathsala Jayaraman