AFVOA Newletters of Year 2002

Page 61 of 84 Development, and then Controller of Vehicle Development in the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Promotion to the rank of colonel followed in 1959, with a posting as commandant of the Army Base Workshop at Meerut, where he remained till 1961, when, on promotion to brigadier, he took over as Brig i/c Vehicles and Tractor Production in the MoD with HQ along with the DGOF at Calcutta. During a long posting from 1961-1967, Brig Poduval was instrumental in leading the production of vehicles and tractors for defence applications. The brigadier was also instrumental in establishing two new factories, viz., The Vehicle Factory at Jabalpore (which produces the Shaktiman vehicles, among others), as also the earthmover division of the BEML, at Kolar, near Bangalore (BEML is one of the navratnas in the defence oriented PSUs). Promotion to Maj Gen in 1970 was followed by a posting to Army HQ, as Commander, Technical Group, EME, followed by a well-earned retirement in 1974. Not one to rest on his laurels, the General officer has remained active till today. Between 1974-75, he was the Chief Executive of Stone & Co (India), at Calcutta. Then, till 1981, he was the Chief Executive of the Toshiba Anand Group at Cochin. Between 1981-1989, he was MD of MICAUTO Ltd., Bangalore. He also held a directorship of the Nedungadi Bank for a period of eight years. Maj Gen Poduval is presently a part time advisor to the UPSC, New Delhi. He is the Chairman of Industrial Management Consultants (Madras). During his long working career in the Army and thereafter, Maj Gen Poduval has served on various policy making bodies of the GOI, notably the Development Council for Automobiles and their ancillary industry, and the Car Quality Committee, both of which functioned under the Ministry for Industrial Development. He has served on various tank production committees, which led to the establishment of the Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) at Avadi. The Major General is a fellow of the Institution of Production Engineers, Institution of Electrical Engineers, and of the British Institute of Management, all in the UK. Gen Poduval stays at T-8/1, 4 th Main Road, Annanagar, Chennai – 600040. His telephone No is 6213082. His email id is: poduval@reddifmail.com c) Maj Gen S Venkataraman, VSM, AMC: He was born on 27 May 1921 When in the final year of his MBBS, as he was (he says) attracted by the princely monthly stipend of Rs 100, he volunteered to join the Indian Army. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the IMS on 18 Aug 1944. Lt Venkataraman underwent a 3-month spell of intensive basic military training at Deolali and Kirkee involving PT, parades, route marches, weaponry, map reading etc., followed by a like period in the local MHs at Poona and Kirkee. It was ‘westward ho’ and overseas to the central Mediterranean theatre by sea on 21 Apr 45, to serve in Italy and Greece. He was just in time to experience a tinge of the Second World War and its immediate after effects. Repatriated to India from Athens in mid 1946, service in various MHs and non- medical units followed. Came October in 1947, and the first aggression in Jammu & Kashmir by our unreliable and cowardly neighbour. The doctor was flown in with his unit in the thick of fighting, serving in the snowbound areas of Baramulla, Handwara and Uri. He and his unit continued in J&K till June 1948, when they were moved to join up with the forces committed to the Hyderabad Police Action. Facing them was the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad, a large component of which was manned by soldiers of African origin. The Indian forces, under the late Gen Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, launched a three-pronged attack converging on Hyderabad, from Sholapur, Bezwada, and Sirpur Kagaz Nagar. The doctor’s unit moved with the Bezwada column. The resistance by the Nizam was short lived, with surrender to the Indian Forces coming about within a fortnight. “Major Mama”, as he is popularly, but not quite accurately, commanded the MH at Kamptee during 1952-54, followed by a second tenure in J&K between 1954-57 when he served in the Kupwara, Dras and Kargil sectors (incidentally, Dras is the second coldest inhabited spot in the world). Maj Gen Venkataraman then raised a Field Medical Unit between May 1963-mid 1964, and moved it to Ahmedabad.