Sitaraman Sankaranarayana Iyer (4 May 1946 – 9 December 2020), also known as Professor S. Sitaraman was an environmentalist and teacher from

Aluva, Kerala Aluva (; also known by its former name Alwaye) is a town in the Ernakulam District in Kerala, India. It is a part of the Kochi metropolitan area and is situated around from the city center on the banks of Periyar River. A major transpor ...

, India. He has been active in the protection of rivers, water bodies and forests of Kerala. He is best known for his campaign on the protection of river

Periyar Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'F ...

and is the founder of e.g. the All-Kerala River Protection Council.He died on 9 December 2020 aged 74.

Early life

Sitaraman was born on 4 May 1946 in Koovappady, Ernakulam district, Kerala. He obtained his undergraduate (BSc) degree in chemistry from Sree Sankara college, Kalady and graduated with MSc degree from Maharaja's college, Cochin, Kerala in 1969.

Professional life

He joined the department of chemistry at Sree Sankara College, Kalady as a lecturer in 1970 and later on became the head of the Department of Chemistry in 1996 and held this position for six years until retirement. Sitaraman then became the head of science and humanities at Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering and Technology (ASIET) from 2001 to 2011.

Environmental activities

His most recognized work is regarding the protection of river

. He led the afforestation programme along the banks of

Periyar (river) Periyar, , (meaning: ''big river'') is the longest river and the river with the largest discharge potential in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the few perennial rivers in the region and provides drinking water for several major towns. ...

at Aluva

Shivratri Maha Shivaratri (IAST: Mahāśivarātri) is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. The name also refers to the night when Shiva performs the heavenly dance called Tandava. In every month of the luni-solar Hindu ca ...

Manappuram, to prevent the excessive soil erosion at the confluence of its tributary, Mangalapuzha. The project was initiated in 1987 under Integrated Development of

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

scheme with small amount of funding from the Science and Technology Department. Sitaraman has also extensively studied heavy metal contamination and water quality of

at several locations along its course and has suggested critical measures to prevent water pollution and

illegal sand mining Sand theft or unauthorised or illegal sand mining leads to a widely unknown global example of natural and non-renewable resource depletion problem comparable in extent to global water scarcity. Beach theft is illegal removal of large quantities ...

. He is actively involved in environment awareness programmes in high schools around

area and is also the chairman of the Western Ghat Protection Council.

Books

Sitaraman has coauthored several books and reports and is also the managing editor of ''Jalatharanagam'' publication. His books include ''The Periyar Action Plan'' submitted to the Kerala state government in 1997, and ''Periyar, Keralathinte Jeevanadi'' coauthored with Dr. C. M. Joy.

Awards and honors

* Down to Earth "Joseph C. John" National Award (2007) * Paristhithi Ratna Award (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyer, Sitaraman Sankaranarayana People from Aluva Indian environmentalists 1946 births Educators from Kerala 2020 deaths