N. S. Ramaswamy

N. Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy (1926–2012), popularly known as Cartman Ramaswamy, was an Indian engineer, educationist, management academic and writer, and the founder director of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He was the founder of Centre for Action, Research and Technology for Man, Animal and Nature (CARTMAN), a non governmental organization working for region-relevant and appropriate technology transfer to rural areas and Indian Heritage Academy, an organization involved in propagating Indian cultural traditions. He was also the founder chairman of the Adarsh Vidya Kendra (AVK) Group of educational institutions. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 2006, for his contributions to society.

Biography

Ramaswamy was born in a Tamil brahmin family on 2 March 1926 in Puthur, in Thrissur district of the south Indian state of Kerala to N. R. Srinivasa Iyer, an Indian Police Service officer and the former Inspector-General of Police of Kerala. He did his college studies at Maharaja's College, Kochi, affiliated to the University of Madras during those days, from where he secured a graduate degree in science (BSc) and moved to College of Engineering, Chennai to secure a graduate degree in engineering (BE). He was known to have been active in student politics; he held various positions such as the secretary and president of the College Union and the president of the Students Association at Maharaja's College and was the secretary of the Students Association at Chennai college. His next assignment was at the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) and he served there as its director till 1972 during which time the institution introduced the first post graduate program in industrial engineering in India. When the Government of Karnataka decided to establish a national institute of management, he was appointed as the director of the institution and in a span of one year, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) was inaugurated; the first academic program was started a year later in 1974. He stayed at IIMB till 2011, from 1972 to 1983 as the director and as a member of its Board of Governors till 2011.

When he retired from the academic duties of IIMB in 1983, Ramaswamy founded a non governmental organization, Centre for Action Research Technology for Man, Animal and Nature (CARTMAN) for promoting environmental and ecological issues and for introducing appropriate technologies to the rural areas. The organization is known to be active in animal welfare, technology and environmental education and runs a two-acre eco-park in Koramangala in Bangalore which houses an animal welfare centre, a herbarium with medicinal and endangered plants and a crèche for the children of financially compromised families. and introduced a modified bullock cart with redesigned wheels and pneumatic tyres, which earned him the moniker, Bullock Cart Ramaswamy. It was during this time, he started the Indian Heritage Academy, an organization for the promotion of Indian culture through programs on Yoga, lectures on Indian philosophy and classes in music and dance. When the AVK Group of Educational institutions was started in 2000, he served as its founder chairman. and two books, Management for Rural Development and The Management of Political Systems.

Ramaswamy, a National Professor of Management of the Government of India,