The Hindu Business Line : Maran - a campaigner for trade concessions

Nephew of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President, Mr M. Karunanidhi, the Commerce Minister underwent an emergency Mitral Valve replacement surgery on September 25, 2002 and has been in hospital since then. He had earlier undergone a valve replacement on July 22, 2002 at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, but had to undergo another surgery because of fungal endocarditis that had developed in the earlier valve that was replaced.

In October 2000, Mr Maran had been hospitalised for a serious heart ailment and was discharged after more than a month.

His tenure as the Commerce Minister was marked by a major opening up of trade and investment as India dismantled a number of barriers to fall in line with WTO requirements.

A vocal campaigner for trade concessions from rich countries, Mr Maran is widely credited at ensuring that the developing nations were heard too, at the WTO meeting in Doha.

Mr Maran was vociferous in demanding that the WTO limit non-tariff barriers to trade, such as anti-dumping laws and European subsidies on agricultural products. He was also credited with having won more time for the developing nations to conform to WTO rules on patents and foreign investment.

At the Doha meeting, Mr Maran also emphasised that development strategy had to be related to country specific situations and that the "one size fits all approach" had failed to deliver. He was firmly opposed to any linkage between trade and labour standards, as also the use of environmental measures for protectionist purposes and to the imposition of unilateral trade restrictive measures.

Those who have worked and interacted with him, describe Mr Maran as a voracious reader, especially of international business magazines and publications from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Mr Maran also liked to pepper his speeches at seminars and conferences with quotes and references from the material he had read. He was also quite well prepared at internal meetings.

Widely considered an ideologue in the DMK and known for his political acumen, Mr Maran brought the DMK close to the BJP, two parties with totally differing ideologies, when the previous Vajpayee Government faced a motion of confidence in Parliament. In the general elections that followed, Mr Maran brought the DMK and BJP even closer when the DMK fought the elections as a member of a multi-party coalition headed by the BJP. After the elections, Mr Maran was made Commerce and Industry Minister in the NDA Government, a post which he held from October 1999 to November 2002, after which he was made Minister without portfolio.

Mr Maran represented the Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency in the 1999 election and was a member of the Lok Sabha for a total of five terms. He had also been a member of the Rajya Sabha for three terms - from 1977 to 1995 - and it was as a Rajya Sabha member that Mr Maran first became a Union Minister, holding the Urban Development portfolio in the National Front Government headed by Mr V.P. Singh in 1989-90.

He was Industries Minister in the Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral governments during 1996-98.

Born on August 17, 1934 at Thirukkuvalai village in the present Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu, Mr Maran was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967. He has been a member of various parliamentary committees and was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee that probed the securities scam in 1992-93.

He has published a number of books and short story collections in Tamil, besides books on Centre-State relations and on the genesis and growth of the Dravidian movement. A journalist, author and playwright, Mr Maran has provided the screen-play and dialogues for more than 20 films in Tamil, and produced five films and directed two.

He was arrested in 1965 during the anti-Hindi agitation and also detained during the Emergency. He joined the Dravidian movement as a youth and was a member of the DMK's executive committee and general council.

As Commerce Minister, Mr Maran is credited with having come out with a number of measures to facilitate exports - also involving the States through the setting up of agri-export zones. He was instrumental in announcing special economic zones, modelled on the lines of those in China, one of which is coming up in the private sector in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Maran was a firm believer that the States had a major role to play in promoting exports.

Mr Maran's sons - Mr Kalanidhi Maran and Mr Dayanidhi Maran - own and manage the Sun network of satellite television channels and a cable television business.

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Maran - a campaigner for trade concessions