Parappil Puthiyapurayil Ummer Koya (1 July 1922 – 1 September 2000) was an Indian politician,

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...

, freedom fighter and educationist. He was the second Education Minister of Government of Kerala headed by

Pattom Thanu Pillai Raja Shri Pattom A. Thanu Pillai (15 July 188527 July 1970) was a participant in the Indian independence movement who later served as the chief minister of Kerala from 22 February 1960 to 25 September 1962. He was known as the 'Bhishmacharya' o ...

. He also served as the Minister for Public Works in government headed by

R. Sankar R. Sankar (30 April 1909 – 7 November 1972) was an Indian politician who was the third Chief Minister of Kerala from 1962 to 1964. He was also the Deputy Chief Minister of the State from 1960 to 1962. Sankar apart from as a politician is kn ...

Political career

Born in Calicut, the young Ummer Koya entered public life as an activist of the Indian National Congress. He played a key role in building up the Congress Party in the

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

region. He was appointed as the Malabar Youth Congress Convenor in 1952. Two years later, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Council. Ummer Koya contested 1960 elections as an Indian National Congress candidate from Manjeri constituency and was elected to the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 c ...

. Koya held the portfolio of Education from February 1960 to September 1962, in the Ministry headed by

. He also handled the Portfolio of Public Works, in the Ministry headed by

from September 1962 to September 1964. During his political career, he also had served as the Vice President of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He had also a stint as a member of the

Kerala Public Service Commission The Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) is a body created by the Constitution of India to select applicants for civil service jobs in the Indian state of Kerala according to the merits of the applicants and the rules of reservation. The Hea ...

. Along with

K. Kelappan Koyapalli Kelappan (24 August 1889 – 7 October 1971) was an Indian politician, independence activist, educationist and journalist. During the Indian independence movement, he was the lead figure of Indian National Congress in Kerala and was p ...

, M. P. Manmadhan, and M. K. Kumaran, Koya was actively involved in the campaign for prohibition.

P.P. Ummer Koya Award

An award titled ''P.P. Ummer Koya Award'' has been instituted by P.P. Ummer Koya Foundation, Kozhikode in honour of him. The prominent winners of the award include, Justice P. K. Shamsudheen (2007), freedom fighter K. E. Mammen (2008), and noted social activist and environmentalist A. Achyuthan (2009). The

paid its homage to him on 21 December 2000.

References

Malayali politicians Politicians from Kozhikode 2000 deaths 20th-century Indian Muslims Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala 1922 births Kerala MLAs 1957–1959 Education Ministers of Kerala {{Kerala-INC-politician-stub