save the Silent Valley, a tropical rain forest in the Western ghats in southern India, when a planned hydroelectric plant threatened to flood and devastate the flora and fauna of Silent Valley. He initially wrote about the project's impacts in Sastragathi, a scientific journal published by KSSP, in 1977. He later led efforts, working with engineers, economists, and scientists, to draw attention to the environmental impact of the project. These efforts were followed by ground level activism including organization of street plays and other forms of protest across the state. The protests were called off in the early 1980s when the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, ceding to the protests, promised that the forests would be preserved. Prasad also contributed to efforts at KSSP towards the spread of literacy as a part of the national literacy mission. He was actively engaged in actions that resulted in Ernakulam being declared the first fully literate district in India in 1990. He also set up KSSP’s Integrated Rural technology Centre in Mundur, Palakkad district, Kerala and served as the centre's director for three years. Prasad was a member of the United Nations’ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board for a five-year tenure. He was also a life member and active participant in the activities of the World Wide Fund of Nature (WWF) – India and of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN-CEC). In India, he chaired the Programme Advisory Committee of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation's (MSSRF) Agro Biodiversity Centre, in Wayanad, Kerala and served as a member of the Governing Council of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board. He authored numerous books and monographs in Malayalam on environmental issues and popular science and co-authored a techno-economic and socio-political assessment of the Silent Valley Hydro Electric project in 1979. Prasad also served as the vice chancellor of the University of Calicut, the principal of the Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, the executive vice chairman of the Kerala Government's Information Kerala Mission, and the president of the KSSP. Personal life Prasad was married to Sherly Prasad, who retired as a professor from Maharaja's College, Ernakulam. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. He was a native of Kochi. Prasad died at a private hospital in Kochi on 17 January 2022, while being treated for complications of COVID-19. See also Save Silent Valley Sugathakumari Explanatory notes References