Founder

Shri P. A. Ramakrishnan was born in a poor Vedic priest family at Puthucode village in Palakkad District of Kerala on 15th Feb 1927. After passing out First Class at Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at Chennai in 1946, He joined Ms. Scindia Shipyard (presently Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, Visakhapatnam) in their drawing office and was involved in designing the first ship "S.S. Jala Usha" built in Independent India in 1948.

He also completed his Naval Architecture at City & Guilds, Glasgow, U.K. in 1948 and was involved in various aspects of Shipbuilding. As Superintendent, Dry Docks and Naval Architect to the Calcutta Port Commissioner's, He designed several vessels for the Port Trust. He was involved in the famous Ship surgery of the grounded passenger vessel T.S.S. Sangola and read a paper on the same at the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, London in 1964.

He started Ms. Vadyar Boats at Chennai In 1969 in a very modest way by manufacturing wooden boats and small FRP boats and was instrumental in the indigenous design, manufacture and supply of various types of FRP Lifeboats, Fast, MOB Rescue Boats, Patrol Boats, Passenger Launches, Davits and Winches (Launching Appliances) etc. to various shipyards and shipping companies in India and Abroad. The International Maritime Organisation, London amended SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations with effect from 1st July 1986 introducing very stringent rules for Lifeboats fitted on Oil Tankers, Chemical and Gas Carriers etc. which was a turning point in his distinguished career.

He indigenously conducted the most severe fire test in the very first attempt successfully on the prototype 8 mtr 50 Persons Capacity Totally Enclosed Fire Protected Lifeboat with 3400 ltrs of Kerosene, Petrol for a period of 14 minutes with a couple of Mice kept inside the boat at outskirts of Chennai in Apr 1989. This was a rare feat achieved by only a few European and Japanese firms globally who had a thriving ship-building ecosystem making it all the more commendable due to its non-existence in India. His other achievements included successful indigenous design, manufacture and supply of the 11 mtr 25 Passenger capacity High Speed Fiberglass Launch for inter Island transport as per Dynamically Supported Craft rules of the International Maritime Organisation.

Throughout his long and eventful career spanning more than six decades He was very passionate on fulfilling his social responsibilities. He worked with Late Shri Eknath Ranadeji during construction of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari in the 1960's and besides collecting funds donated the first FRP Work Boat “Agastya” for the project in 1969. As the Managing Trustee of Sri Adi Shankara Educational Trust, He was instrumental in gifting 58 acres of land to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at Thiruporur in outskirts of Chennai near the 1100 year old Lord Murugan Temple in Feb 1997 for construction of a mega Educational cum Cultural Complex including a Woman’s College, Management Institute etc. It was due to his pioneering efforts that the first Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Centre at Sydney, Australia was inaugurated by Shri Yashwant Sinha, then Minister for External Affairs, Govt. of India in Aug 2003.

He started a Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kendra at his native Puthucode village in Palakkad district of Kerala in Oct 2000 and immediately opened a school at the primary level. His vision was rural children from lower income groups denied high standards of education must have access to it without migrating for this purpose and the catered education must be value based encompassing our glorious culture and heritage including study of Sanskrit studies. It was due to his initiative that Five National Seminars on Sanskrit and Culture were organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Puthucode Kendra from 2002 to 2007 and scholars, eminent personalities from all over India including minority communities participated.

Apart from his own personal contributions, He collected funds from India, Abroad for expansion of the School and the Educational Complex Phase I constructed at a cost of Rs. 1.25 Crores in 11.30 acres at Mannapra village was inaugurated in Dec 2008. The Bhavan's CBSE affiliated school (www.bhavansmannapra.in) currently caters to the needs of around 1000 children from mostly lower income group families settled at several villages within a radius of 10 - 20 kms from Vadakkachery to Pazhayannur in Palakkad district and stands testimony to his dedicated and relentless efforts. The Board of Trustees of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai named the School “Shri P.A. Ramakrishnan Memorial Vidyashram” in recognition of his selfless contributions and as a tribute to his memory in Sept 2008.

His last assignment in defence of Dharma was being involved in the Save Rama Setu movement, the oldest heritage monument in the world estimated to be 1.7 million years old. Due to his vast experience in the Shipping Industry spanning more than six decades, He was strongly convinced on the non viability and feasibility of the Sethu Samudram Shipping Canal Project initiated by then Govt. of India and also concerned of the devastating consequences, impact on our priceless heritage, ecology and livelihood of fisherman etc. due to the proposed destruction of the Rama Setu.

He was instrumental in publishing full page colour supplements on the importance of saving Rama Sethu in two national newspapers (New Delhi Editions) in July and Aug 2007 which also contained his own article “Nightmare Ship Salvage Operation if Sethu Samudram is aligned as a Mid Ocean Channel Passage” comparing the proposed project with the Suez Canal Shipping Channel project which had been implemented in the 1950’s.

He passed away on 9th March 2008 at the venerable age of 81 after a fulfilling life of achievements and accomplishments as a Naval Architect, Industrialist and Social Worker.

“If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children” - Confucius