Nettur P. Damodaran

Who was Nettur P. Damodaran?

Nettur P Damodaran was a member of the 1st Lok Sabha of India from the constituency of Tellicherry, which was part of the erstwhile Madras state. He represented the now defunct Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party. He was elected to the Lok Sabha with 42.61% of the electorate voting in his favour. Nettur P, as he was popularly known, had established his own image as a good Parliamentarian, journalist, philanthropist, reformer and writer. He graduated in Physics from Madras Christian College and it was here that his public life started when he was elected as the first elected Student Union Chairman of the College council in 1935.

Damodaran had for a brief period worked as a journalist, first in The Free Press Journal and later for Mathrubhumi in Mumbai as correspondent. He was also editor of 'Dinaprabha', a Malayalam daily published from Kozhikode in early 1960s. From 1963–66, he held senior position in the Home ministry, Government of India, as Officer on Special Duty for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes, which gave him opportunity to travel extensively all over India. His experiences during these travels gave enough material for his literary incursion in the form of travelogues. In 1967, he was appointed as the Chairman of Backward class reservation commission by the Left Democratic Front Government headed by E M S Namboodiripad. He served as chairman until the report was finalised in 1970. The report, known as Nettur Commission report stirred many a political battles in Kerala.