VP Appukuttan Poduval, who has been awarded the Padma Shri. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
100-year-old Gandhian and freedom fighter VP Appukuttan Poduval from Payyannur, who actively participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and worked tirelessly to uplift the lives of the weaker sections for the last eight decades, has been awarded the Padma Shri by the Central Government. . Wednesday.
Mr Poduval said he never expected that he would be conferred with the prestigious civilian award at this age.
January 12, 1934 became a turning point in Mr. Poduval’s life when he met Mahatma Gandhi at Payyannur. Then he was only 11 years old.
VP Srikandan Poduval, who was his uncle and a freedom fighter, made Mr. Poduval a part of the national movement. When his uncle was arrested by the British police in 1942, he became active in the freedom struggle. He worked behind the scenes as directed by the strike committee and took over the leadership of the student union. Following his activities, he was arrested in 1943 and sent to the Kannur sub-jail. But the Thalassery court released him due to lack of evidence.
In 1944, he joined the Kerala branch of the All India Charak Sangh. From 1947 he worked under the Government of Madras as in-charge of the Energized Khadi Center at Payyanur and from 1962 as Senior Auditor in the All India Khadi Village Industries Commission.
Mr. Poduval was in charge of the office of the Sarvodaya Sammelan held at Kalady. He then participated in the Bhoodan Padayatra along with Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayanan. He also served as the executive officer of the Gandhi Smriti Nidhi program, the president of the Bharatiya Sanskrit Prachar Sabha and the principal of the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya.