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Chief Minister MG Ramachandran serves foodstuff to a girl to mark the inauguration of the Nutritious Noon-Food Scheme at Pappakurichi in Tiruchi district on July 01, 1982. | Photograph Credit: The Hindu Archives
Former Tamil Nadu Main Minister MG Ramachandran (MGR), a top rated cinema hero-turned mass chief, stays a darling of the masses 35 yrs right after his passing on December 24, 1987. As counsel for MGR, his get together, AIADMK, and get together functionaries , I have viewed him at shut quarters.
MGR will be remembered in background for his signature undertaking of Wholesome Noon-Food Plan for college youngsters aged earlier mentioned 2. Under the scheme, released in 1982, bad university little ones ended up presented wholesome food stuff, tooth powder, uniform and footwear. I understood that numerous very poor people despatched their little ones to school mainly because of this scheme which drove up enrollment.
Viewed as a waste
In 1985, three decades since the plan was commenced, [former Prime Minister] Manmohan Singh, who was then the Deputy Chairman of the Preparing Commission, which played a position in the allocation of cash and means to the States, refused to allocate means for the plan, which was witnessed as a waste of resources. MGR went to Delhi to satisfy Dr. Singh.
When Dr. Singh questioned MGR and the officials who accompanied him how the scheme could be funded, MGR stood up with no speaking a phrase and walked out. The officers followed him. However, in minutes just after the then Prime Minister intervened, the file was cleared and the challenge was fixed amicably.
Apparently, in 2013, the Union governing administration, headed by the incredibly same Dr. Singh approved MGR’s policy and a nationwide mid-working day food application was announced for school small children. And it was enshrined in the National Food stuff Stability Act by his UPA govt.
During May perhaps-June 1980, when MGR was the Chief Minister, the storage in the Mettur dam was incredibly minimal. Karnataka refused to release water to Tamil Nadu. 1 great early morning, MGR paid a shock take a look at to Karnataka and landed straight at the home of Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, who was caught unawares and invited him to breakfast. Right after entering the drawing space, MGR all of a sudden had a match of hiccups, whereupon his host offered him a glass of drinking water. All that MGR stated was, “Maybe, my hiccups are agent of the problem of Tamil Nadu these days. Will you present it drinking water, much too? The two laughed and the very upcoming working day, Karnataka introduced drinking water.
barter promotions
Even so, a barter offer was arrived at concerning the two States. Underneath it, Tamil Nadu supplied energy in return for the water launched by Karnataka. Afterwards, when R. Gundu Rao was the Chief Minister of Karnataka, there was again a shortfall in the provide of Cauvery water.
This time, MGR rang up Rao (who incidentally transpired to be his ardent supporter) for a breakfast conference at his residence in Chennai. In advance of Rao took depart just after the assembly, MGR carefully reminded him of the Cauvery h2o. Rao reported he would acquire treatment of the concern.
On reaching Bangalore the similar day, Rao directed PWD engineers in charge of the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam to perform routine maintenance for two times. This facilitated the movement of drinking water from the dam to Biligundlu, the inter-point out call level among Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Education liberalised.
These two breakfast conferences ended up proof of the fact that MGR used the tool of diplomacy in resolving inter-Condition disputes like the Cauvery h2o crisis in the course of the cultivation period in Tamil Nadu.
MGR also liberalized bigger schooling, each technical and health-related, and authorized non-public gamers to develop infrastructure for engineering and health-related education. It is because of this initiative that Tamil Nadu turned the heart of greater learning.
Commenting on MGR’s administrative means, previous Director-Basic of Law enforcement K. Mohandas in his e-book ‘ MGR: The Guy and the Myth‘ observed, “It took some time for MGR the actor to catch up with the nitty-gritty of administration and, far more importantly, to alter his way of life. But when he started very seriously addressing the responsibilities of administration, the bureaucrats have been amazed by his indigenous wisdom and potential to promptly grasp the necessities. His unfamiliarity with the English language was a handicap which he, nevertheless, acquired above in a reasonably brief time.”
MGR was one of a kind and will be remembered as a well known leader mainly because of the results of his welfare techniques. People who try to imitate him must bear in mind that it is not straightforward to proper his legacy.
, The creator is a previous Advocate-Basic of Tamil Nadu.,
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