Born in Thirukkuvalai, a tiny village of Thanjur district, M. Karunanidhi has emerged as one of the leading statesmen of India. His contribution to national politics, literature, poetry and screenplay is immensely recognised in the country. After the demise of Annadurai, the great founder leader of the DMK, in 1969, Kalaignar Karunanidhi has overcome the leadership tussles among his contemporaries and became the president of the party.
Serving as the Member of Legislative Assembly since 1957 to the day of his death, his achievements are unique in Indian political arena. As a chief minister of Tamil Nadu for five times, he has introduced many innovative socio-economic programmes which uplifted the downtrodden of the society. Some of the novel schemes implemented by him during his five time regime in Tamil Nadu are: 1. The rehabilitation of leprosy beggars, 2. Abolition of hand-pulled rikshaws, 3. Implementation of one kg rice at Rs 1 to all family who live below the poverty line, 4. Adding 5 eggs in the noon meal scheme for school children, 5. Starting of government medical colleges and government hospitals in each districts, 6. Helping the pregnant women by giving Rs 10,000 before child birth, 6. Thirty per cent reservation for women in jobs, 7) Empowering of women by giving them equal rights in property, 8) Free Kalaignar insurance scheme for life saving treatments, and 9) Opening of farmers market in urban centres.
Periyar Samathuvapuram, a novel housing scheme implemented since 1996 in many districts of Tamil Nadu, paved way for social equality by bridging spatial distance among different castes and religious communities. It is a social reform measure helped to promote social capital among different sections of Tamil society.
He founded Dr Ambedkar Law University which was the first of its kind in India. By foreseeing the growth of software industry in Indian economy, he has established TIDEL park which led to the growth of IT industry in Tamil Nadu. He created 13,000 community internet centres, first of its kind in India, extending modern connectivity to the farther corners of the state.
During his tenures as chief minister, he gave importance to irrigation projects in agriculture. He took a balanced view in promoting agriculture, industry and service sector and lent governmental support to sustain the overall growth of the economy. This led to Tamil Nadu to stand as the second largest economy in India.
Tamil Nadu is a pioneering state in integrating social welfare measures to render economic justice to the poorer sections of the society. When I had the opportunity to serve under him as the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission, I have seen personally his visionary look in promoting development in all the sectors of the economy. When we decided that the 11th Plan Outlay would be around Rs 84,000 crore—double of the 10th Plan Outlay—as a chief minister, he readily agreed to implement it. Forty per cent of the share of public expenditure went to education, health and social welfare. At the end of the 11th plan, Tamil Nadu outlay has increased to Rs 92,000 crore. It is really a great achievement which resulted in inclusive growth in Tamil Nadu economy. That is why Tamil Nadu stands first in the higher education in India and occupies the third position in the Human Development Indices among the states.
He is an innovator in implementing the reservation policy by including the have-nots in the social order—30 per cent for BCs, 20 per cent for MBCs, 18 per cent for SCs and 1 per cent for ST. He has also ensured that the reservation system reached the bottom of the society. Within the 18 per cent reservation for SC, he introduced 3 per cent to Arunthathiyar community who is the marginalized section among the SC population. He gave 3.5 per cent reservation to Muslims, which helped the poorer section of the Muslim community. He also gave 30 per cent reservation for women in local bodies and 30 per cent in employment. As a social reform measure, he enacted law to appoint Archakas to all the temples in Tamil Nadu. Though the Supreme Court has validated this law, the act has not seen the light of the day.
Karunanidhi's contributions to literature, cinema and drama are immeasurable.
Kalaignar’s achievements in the past seven decades in various fields cannot be contained in a small piece of article, like the Niagara Falls cannot be stored in a pint pot.
[Naganathan is former vice-chairman, Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission. He has closely worked with Karunanidhi.]