Remembering Dr. H.A.B. Parpia on his birth centenary

Dr. H.A.B. Parpia

By Bhamy V. Shenoy

September 5th is the birth centenary of late Dr. H.A.B Parpia, former Director of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, Founder-President of People’s Education Trust (PET) and Founding President of Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP). This occasion gives Mysureans an opportunity to recall the significant contribution of Dr. Parpia to preserve the old charm of Mysuru till his last days.

One factor which might have motivated him for his grassroots involvement (not armchair activism) might have been his spending time at Mahatma Gandhi’s Sevagram when he was 13 years old. Thanks to Sevagram, he imbibed many qualities — punctuality, mentoring young talents, courtesy to all, never exceeding time allotted to deliver talks and above all to give back to society. Parpia never hesitated to stand for principles he believed in even if he was the only one in the group — just like Mahatma Gandhi.

Once during a visit to K.R. Hospital he offered to the Superintendent that he would come and clean the toilets when he could not bear the smell and she should join. Despite holding high positions he never felt below his dignity to participate in several protests organised by MGP. 

Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, at the age of 90 years, participating in MGP’s Save People’s Park protest in 2012.

Dr. Parpia passed away on July 9 at the age of 91 years. Just two weeks before his demise, he was busy writing letters to different authorities questioning the justification for awarding high grade to Amity University by NAAC. Since one year, he was collecting information on the amount of money spent on different Ministers in Karnataka using RTI.

It was because of Dr. Parpiaʼs efforts as a member of MGP education committee that today students in Karnataka are able to get their answer sheets  to ensure they have been evaluated correctly. These efforts were helped by an honest Education Minister H.G. Govinde Gowda and concerned Education Secretary S.V. Ranganath.

Dr. Parpia was also instrumental in convincing the Education Department to stop announcing ranks based on public examination marks. He never believed that examination marks are the true indicator of oneʼs capacity. It is unfortunate that private schools/coaching centres are again highlighting “ranks” to promote themselves.

He constantly worried about the worsening traffic situation in Mysuru. Whenever there was a new Police Commissioner, Dr. Parpia gave a lot of information which he had collected from different countries on how to improve traffic conditions. Unfortunately, only few took interest. Because of his initiative, NIE conducted the first scientific traffic study of Mysuru.

FROM LEFT: Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, G.T. Narayana Rao, Prof. J.R. Laxman Rao, T.S. Satyan and Prof. K. Srinivasan during Save Mysuru protest in front of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) in July, 2004.

Soon after the Bangalore Agenda Task Force was constituted, he wrote a vision paper for Mysuru to convince the then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna to have a Mysore Agenda Task Force (MATF). He succeeded. He was one of the most active members of MATF constantly pushing the bureaucrats to improve governance.

In our city, we have streets, circles and layouts named after freedom fighters, literary giants, political leaders, sports persons, etc. But it is very rare to find any named after social activists. By naming a street after Dr. Parpia on his centenary, not only do we recognise his contributions, but also show why Mysuru needs such social activists. This will be an inspiration to our scientists and professionals to get involved in thankless task of holding a mirror to the society as Dr. Parpia did selflessly and bravely after his retirement.

This post was published on September 4, 2022 6:15 pm