Offtrack: Chennai: Firm Conviction

A bank-employee enables children of life prisoners to overcome social biases.

Palanisamy provides food shelter and education to 260 children. He also set up an industrial training institute to impart vocational skills.

Palanisamy provides food shelter and education to 260 children. He also set up an industrial training institute to impart vocational skills.

Unlike him, Some of his batchmates have now become senior managers in the Canara Bank in Chennai. But making it to the top echelons of the banking hierarchy is far from Arasangudi Ramasamy Palanisamy's mind because of an unusual calling that frequently takes him to prisons in Tamil Nadu. He believes he has to help poor children, especially those of life-term convicts, lead good lives. A special assistant at the bank, 48-year-old Palanisamy is so committed to social work that he even refused a promotion to the officer grade as he would then have been left with little time to pursue his goals. He knows the plight of these children only too well, having himself grown up in an impoverished family. Neither of his parents was a convict but he empathises with the youngsters who have to contend with social ostracism in addition to poverty. "It is a traumatic experience to be children of convicts serving life terms," he says, "and my humble effort is to make them useful citizens."

The efforts in this direction began in 1982 when Palanisamy established the Society for Educational and Employment Development (SEED), which currently caters to the needs of 260 children at its three centres at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. seed provides food, shelter, education and vocational training to the children. The criteria for selection: one of the child's parents should have been sentenced to life imprisonment and the child should have no property or immediate relative to look after him. "We need a minimum of 15 years of education and moral and emotional support to make the children grow up into responsible citizens," says Palanisamy who runs the centres with a dedicated staff. The rules are sometimes relaxed to accommodate orphans and children of poor people suffering diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy.

Life, of course, needn't have been this way for Palanisamy. Along with his wife who's working in an insurance company and his two children, he could have led a comfortable middle-class life. But his conscience would not let him. "I have come up in life with the help of many good people and I wish to repay my debt in a small way," he says. Fortunately, his efforts have received recognition from the state Government which is extending financial help to seed besides permitting the organisation to set up an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in 1997 to impart vocational skills.

By a special order, the Government also authorised Palanisamy to visit the Central jails in the state to meet convicts serving life terms and enquire if their children need ed help. "My aim is to keep the children and their parents in the social mainstream," explains Palanisamy, who has postgraduate degrees in sociology, political science, public administration and education besides a degree in law. "If these children are left at the mercy of a hostile society, they might grow up to be vengeful people out to settle scores with a system that treated them shabbily," he warns. But with him around to shower affection of them that's not likely.

As would be expected, the gratitude of those who grow up here is touching. Take the case of 21-year-old Gopalakrishnan, son of a life-term convict, who joined the administrative wing of the army as a clerk. He promptly sent his first month's salary to seed as a token of his love for the institution that groomed him. Says Selvam, who is undergoing training in mechanical engineering (motor vehicles) at iti: "I still cannot believe a rustic like me could ever get the opportunity to dismantle and assemble a car and test-drive it."

The good work notwithstanding, seed has its share of problems. Though it gets financial aid from the government and a few ngos, clearly this is not enough. "I keep running from pillar to post," says Palanisamy, adding, "With more funds and sponsors for children, we can do wonders." Impressed by his contributions, the governments of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have requested him to start similar ventures in their states. Palanisamy is only too willing to share his expertise with others. There is only one hitch. He cannot think of leaving behind his beloved children and travelling to other states even for short durations.