Remembering G.K. Moopanar

About the Book : G.K. Moopanar was a great democratic leader, who had unshakable faith in the people and democracy. He was sober, sensitive, people-centric and humane. He played a significant role in Tamil Nadu and Indian politics. He demonstrated that even without holding positions one can serve society and party in a better way than others who hold positions. In this monograph an attempt has been made to highlight the views and observations of G.K. Moopanar on many of the critical issues of our society, governance and administration. It is being given in the form of conversations between G.K. Moopanar and the author. These dialogues were held on a number of occasions. They have been presented here to present G.K. Moopanar as the uncommon leader of the common people. About Author : G. Palanithurai is an academic activist served in Annamalai University and the Gandhigram Rural Institute for about 34 years in teaching, research and outreach activities integrally. He held several managerial positions form the Head of the Department to in-charge Vice-Chancellor. He has to his credit 73 books, 22 edited volumes, 95 monographs, 42 chapters in edited volumes, 136 research articles in refereed journals and 394 popular articles in newspapers and magazines in English and Tamil in his area of specialization local democracy and development. He has prepared 42 research reports for international and national research agencies and both the governments. He has evolved innovative training modules to build the capacity of the elected representatives of the people in rural local bodies. He has trained 8000 gram panchayat presidents and of them 5000 are women and dalits. He was the Professor in Rajiv Gandhi chair for Panchayati Raj studies in the Gandhigram Rural Institute. He closely worked with state and centre planning commissions for preparation of research reports. He was a visiting professor in cologne university Germany for a semester. He introduced two innovative master programme M.A development administration and M.A. governance and development. He was awarded fellowships by Shastri Indo Canadian Institute, World Academy of Art and Science USA, the Toolkit Foundation, Netherland to visit abroad to conduct studies and to write books. He organized and participated innumerable workshops, seminars, conference at regional, national and głobal level. He received awards including Ram Reddy Award, V.R. Krishna Aiyar Award and Seven Generation Award for the outstanding activities done in the field of Panchayati Raj. Currently he is the Director of Rural Development Division (SARVAM) of Sri Aurobuido Society, Puducherry. Email: [email protected], Mobile: 9159099809