Nettur P. Damodaran was an eminent freedom fighter of Malabar. He was an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi and spear headed the freedom struggle against British rule in Malabar. Born in a small hamlet called Nettur within the present Tellicherry municipality as the eldest among two sons of the couple K.P.Kunhikkannan and Thalu, he had his early education in middle school at Nettur .This school on the hilltop of Illicoon ,was founded by the legendary philanthropist and visionary Dr Herman Gundert as a charitable institution. He learnt at the feet of teachers of great vision, Benjamin master and Murkoth Kumaran and passed his school final in flying colours from BEMP High school Tellicherry, the almamator of many other illustrious personalities of the era –late A.K.Gopalan, K.Kelappan, Anandan Nambiar and C.H.Kanaran. Interestingly ,four of them, including Nettur P Damodaran, were members of the first Lok Sabha between 1952 and 1957. Nettur P, as he was popularly known, had established his own image and individuality as a good Parliamentarian, journalist, philanthropist, reformer and writer. Strongly wedded to Gandhian principles and ideologies, he worked for the up-liftment of the oppressed and downtrodden through out his life. . He did his graduation in Physics from Madras Christian College. It was at MCC where he started his public life. He was elected as the first Student Union Chairman of the college council in late thirties. Soonafter finishing his studies he jumped into freedom struggle heeding to the clarion call made by Mahatma Gandhi to all Indians at that time. Took part in Quit India movement in Malabar, exhorting people to boycott the British by organizing public meetings at unscheduled venues and giving a slip to the police at will. However, he gave himself up at a preannounced public meeting, appearing on the stage in the disguise of a burkha clad muslim lady. sneaking through the police cordon. He was immediately arrested. His arrest created a major upheaval in Tellicherry, raising the national spirits to soaring heights. He was quickly tried for waging war against the State and sentenced to two years imprisonment at Alipur Central Jail in Bellary. This was in 1942 in the prime of his youth. After coming back from jail he again actively involved himself in freedom struggle till freedom was attained. For a brief period he worked as a journalist, first in Free Press Journal, and later in Mathrubhumi in Bombay and associated with Bombay Malayali Samajam. Unexpectedly, Nettur P was chosen by Andhra kesari T.Prakasam, then Chief minister of Madras state, as one of the first two Firka Development Officers, as a part of an all India experimentation on Firka (present Block) development. The zeal, vision and commitment with which he went about this pioneering mission, Tellicherry firka became a roaring success and a role model for the whole country in developmental activities. .. In 1948, he married Smt A.V.Leela, who was an educationalist who went on to become the District Educational Officer, Cannanore.

His hard work, with the whole hearted involvement of people, changed the contours of Tellicherry and surrounding villages. This was achieved by creating motorable roads out of umpteen lanes and by lanes, laying bridges, linking water ways, founding local library authority etc, all by public contribution and minimal public funding. It was this heady success and his immense popularity that, perhaps, prompted him to plunge into electoral politics by quitting a cosy Government job. Contesting on a Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party ticket he was elected to the first Lok Sabha with a thumping majority from the then Tellicherry constituency along with AKG from Kannur and K.Kelappan from Ponnani. Nettur P made his own mark in the first Parliament by actively participating in debates, particularly the ones concerning development of Malabar. His vociferous support for the Mahe liberation struggle in Parliament caught the attention of Panditji, who in turn provided the much needed political and logistic support for the struggle. This helped in liberating Mahe without much bloodshed. The need for an airport in Calicut was raised first by Nettur P in the Parliament, as remembered by V.K.Madhavankutty in one of his articles during the inauguration of Calicut airport. His simplicity of commuting to Parliament on a bicycle had prompted Panditji to make a special mention of it in Parliament. Later, at the behest of the then Union Home Minister Pandit Vallabhai Pant, he switched over to the field of social welfare and worked among the downtrodden, the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, in various capacities under Union Home Ministry. In 1967, he was appointed by the then Kerala Chief Minister EMS Namboothiripad as the Chairman of Backward Classes Reservation Commission, which subsequently attained fame as `Nettur Commission’ report and went on to became the subject of a major political issue for decades.. Late C.Achuthamenon, Late Alexander Parambithara, and Sri.TM.Savan kutty, were the members of that Commission. Nettur P Damaodaran died of heart attack in New Delhi on 11th Oct 1978.At that point of time he was being tipped to become a member of the now famous Mandal commission. His body was cremated at Nigambodh Ghat, New Delhi. He has two daughters and two sons .Nettur P Damodaran contributed numerous articles for different well-known newspapers, magazines and journals, which too proved to be of immense value to generations to come. His literary works include(1)’ Naramdayude Nattil’ - a travelogue (2) Adivasikalute Keralam, an authoritative work on Tribals of Kerala (3) ‘Anubhavachurulukal', autobiographical sketches encompassing the freedom struggle and early years of freedom. He was a recipient of “Thamrapatra”. He had also contributed in promoting the martial art of Kalarippayattu, other folklores of North Malabar like Theyyam, Thira and Circus, the sole preserve of Tellicherry once upon a time. Nettur P’s sacrifice and hard work had contributed a great deal in shaping the post independent surge of the country in general and Malabar in particular.