Smt. MP Nirmala IAS was the first lady Deputy Collector in Tamilnadu. She has 37 years of government service and has held senior positions in 25 departments of the State.

She is presently the Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR). She was the Commissioner of Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme Department thrice — 1986, 1996 and 2008. In 2011, she served as the Secretary of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Department and was in charge of the Department of Environment and Forests.

In an exclusive interview, Smt. M.P. Nirmala IAS shares with Marie Banu her experiences in the Social Welfare sector.

Is the RTE Act effective in our State? What efforts have been taken by our government to ensure quality in education?

Even some of the private school children are not able to do basic mathematics. When we were young, we used to memorise tables and this really helped us. But, this practice is nowhere in schools. I feel that memorising tables is a must for children as it leads to logical reasoning.

I recently visited an institution and found a boy who could not do simple subtraction. When I enquired, I learnt that he did not know even the basic multiplication or decimals.  The quality of our schools determines on the quality of our teachers—whether in a Government or Private school. We not getting the best teachers although we are offering the best salary to them.

Earlier, most of our teachers were spinsters. The present day teachers are very much stressed as they have to take care of their families as well. Therefore, they are not able to concentrate on their teaching profession to develop themselves and teach children better.

I learnt recently that Psychometrics has been removed from the B.Ed syllabus. The teachers therefore are not aware about the psychological attitude of their students. I believe that if teachers are friendly towards others, they would definitely be friendly with their students. 

The Government is aware about the lack of quality in education. But, the issue is: “Where to start?” The government is now taking all steps to improve the quality of education, besides providing compulsory and free education for all.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is also working towards improving the quality of present teachers and focus on future recruitment so that people would like to choose the teaching profession.

What are the activities coordinated by State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) in Tamil Nadu?

SCPCR’s work is to mainly care for the children and protection of their rights—right to education, right to good environment, and right to live.  We are in charge of the Juvenile Justice Act, and Right to Education Act and The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO)

Act. Whenever we receive complaints, whether in person or through the media, we take immediate action to resolve the problem.

In the case of child abuse, while people are angered and want to render punishment to the offender, our concern would be to also protect the abuser. In most of the cases, it has been found that the offender has been abandoned by the society, and denied education. 

Can you tell about your experience in the Social Welfare Sector?

I have been associated with the Social Welfare Sector for 13 years and have also served in the Social Defence for over 7 and a half years. It was at this time the programme for Street and Working children was introduced by the Government to ensure that even a single child does not sleep on the pavement. We also launched a programme to eradicate child labour. I visited Sivakasi and other areas to understand the problems that the children faced.

During my tenure, the cradle baby scheme for abandoned infants and abused children was first launched in Tamil Nadu. I actively participated in these programmes and rescued over 400 children and given them for adoption.

You have held the portfolios as Secretary to Government, Food, Co-operation & Consumer Protection Department. Can you share any challenges that you have faced related to the free government schemes?

Working with the Food department was a challenging job in itself. I was in-charge of Co-operations and food distribution where I had to manage more than 75,000 institutions – Primary Cooperative Societies, Co-operative Banks, District Banks, Marketing Societies, LAMP societies for tribals, godown for farmers, construction of godowns for other people, urban banks, etc. These institutions ensured proper distribution of food and essential commodities, loans and other economic upliftment activities.

When I was the Food Secretary, we ensured that quality rice was provided all the time and also timely supply of essential commodities. We had to control to price of 33 essential commodities and so used to have a market watch.  We had supplied essential commodities to the people through co-operatives and civil supply co-operative stores. In addition to this, vegetables were supplied to the Farm Fresh Vegetable Outlets by procuring directly from the growers. It was a win-win situation where the farmers used to get loans to cultivate vegetables and the same was sold through our Farm Fresh Vegetable Outlets.  

We then offered nearly 60 crores to the onion growers for cultivation of bellary (big onion) in Thirunelveli, Pallidam and other areas so that when the price of onion in Maharashtra was higher, people in Tamil Nadu could buy at a reasonable price.

Likewise, we encouraged farmers to grow ginger in areas where they used to cultivate turmeric as the cost of ginger was at one point 400 rupees a kilo. We motivated the farmers to cultivate millets – Varagu, Samai, Kudiraivali, etc — as it was meagre in the outside market. Now, it has picked up very well. We also branded some commodities like honey, tamarind, turmeric and millets which are procured by the tribal people and made it available at a reasonable price.

The cost of rice in our State was on the increase and hence we purchased rice from West Bengal. We introduced rice at 20 rupees a kilo and this was a huge success.

Any inspiring moment in your career?

At the Town Panchayat Department, I introduced solid waste and liquid waste management in some areas. Once, Dr. Abdul Kalam visited by surprise our waste management project at Gandhi Nagar and appreciated the work.