S. N. Sadasivan

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S.N. Sadasivan (b:1926, d:2006) was an Indian author, social historian, and public administration guru. Dr. Sadasivan is author of various books on Public Administration and Social History of India. He was was an eminent professor of public administration who served at India’s premier institutes of public governance, such the Lal Bahadur Sastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, and the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. Dr. Sadasivan was also instrumental in setting up the Kerala Institute of Public Administration at Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala in the early 1980s.

He was an alumnus of the University of Poona from where he has took his BA (Hons) and MA in Economics, LLB, and PhD degrees. For over four decades he was committed to civil service training and was a regular contributor to training literature including course designs, case studies and training methods and techniques. He has authored over 14 books, besides the various papers published in journals. His book Productivity and Efficiency in Administration is rated as an outstanding contribution to administrative science.

His book A Social History of India is a systematic and objective study of society beginning with the Aryan invasion. The book takes a leap into the pristine past to distinguish between the myths and realities associated with the origin and development of social order and religion, and makes a critical assessment of the various schools of philosophical thought in India. The book contains a history of Buddhism and re-evaluates its organised, disciplined and peaceful course over a millennium to raise mankind intellectually, morally and spiritually on the sound foundation of reason. This work traces the circumstances that led to the creation of Chaturvarna and its elaboration into the caste system that forms the framework of Hindu society.

Through his book River Disputes in India: Kerala Rivers Under Siege and other writings and talks on the subject, Dr. Sadasivan was one of the first to address the issue of the Mullaperiyar dam from a scholarly angle, and put forth thought provoking questions; particularly the question of whether an age-old agreement entered into by an erstwhile local ruler, under pressure from an erstwhile colonial power, should hold valid in the current two-tier federal and state governmental model; and whether any irrational arrangement from history should be binding on the people of present day Kerala, who are potentially at risk of an environmental disaster that is around the corner.

Dr. Sadasivan was the son of M.C. Narayanan (b:1893, d:1979), an early twentieth century social reform activist from the Central Travancore town of Mavelikara and a younger generation contemporary and follower of social reformer and saint Sree Narayana Guru.

Dr. Sadasivan passed away on 14 December 2006 at Mysore, India. Although ailing from cancer during the last few months of his life, he continued to work on the final parts of his book Society in India. Whilst he fully knew of his terminal health condition, and undaunted about death, he remarked (to this author) that death is after all an integral part of life on earth, and that he had no regrets, as he had fully lived an intellectually enriching life.

Some of the books/published papers authored by Dr. S.N. Sadasivan:

• Party and Democracy in India (Published by McGraw-Hill Education - Europe, May 1978 ISBN 0-07-096591-9).

• A Social History of India – (Ashish Publishing House: ISBN 81-7648-170-X / ISBN 81-7648-170-X , Jan 2000).

• Administration And Social Development In Kerala (Published in 1988is a study in Administrative Sociology).

• Productivity And Efficiency In Administration (ISBN 81-7484-055-9).

• District Administration – A National Perspective (IIPA -1988).

• River Disputes in India: Kerala Rivers Under Siege (ISBN 81-7099-913-8 – 2003).

• Political and Administrative Integration of Princely States (ISBN 81-7099-968-5 ,2005).

• Case Studies in Public Administration – (1984)

• Training for Administrative Excellence – in Indian Journal of Public Administration (XXXIII:4 10-12 1987).

• Efficiency in Private Organisation (A Study of Southern Roadways) - This book studies the good management practices that prevailed in the 1950s and 60s at TV Sundaram Iyengar and Sons, a private sector business house established in 1911 and diversified into logistics, manufacturing and other lines of business, with its base in Chennai, South India.

• Party and Democracy in India – PHD thesis, Poona University.