G. Sukumaran Nair
NSS Headquarters Main Gate, Perunna
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| Abbreviation | NSS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 31 October 1914 |
| Founder | Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai |
| Type | Caste based organization |
| Headquarters | Perunna, Changanassery |
| Location | |
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Official language
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Malayalam |
| Website | nss.org.in |
The Nair Service Society (NSS) is an organisation created for the social advancement and welfare of the Nair community that is found primarily in the state of Kerala in South India. It was established under the leadership of Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai. The NSS is a three-tier organisation with Karayogams at the base level, Taluk Unions at the intermediate level and a central headquarters operating from Perunna in Kerala.
The Society owns and manages a large number of educational institutions and hospitals.
The Nair Service Society was formed on 31 October 1914 as a reaction to perceived communal slights in the princely state of Travancore in south India, which now forms a part of the state of Kerala. The Nairs were the most economically and socially dominant community, as well as the most numerous, in what was traditionally a staunchly Hindu theocracy that rigorously and officially enforced distinctions between castes. Some Nairs had felt provoked by the rise to prominence of the Syrian Christian community, who held a status on a par with Brahmins and whose members were being elected as chairs of various official bodies during a period when the political systems were being modified.
The Nairs believed Travancore to be a Hindu state and the founders of the NSS believed that their own community could only counter the changing socio-political situation if it presented a united front and did away with its internal social subdivisions. The first caste association of this type to have been formed in the region was the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP), established in 1903 to work for the benefit of the Ezhava caste.
Frederick Bailey has said that associations such as the NSS and SNDP had three primary functions:
Expatriate Nairs both in other states of India as well as in countries other than India have formed Nair Service Societies in their states and countries of domicile. Examples are Karnataka Nair Service Society with 30 karayogams and the Kanyakumari Nair Service Society with 27 karayogams NSS Vidharbha, which unites Nairs living in the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra, is having branches in Nagpur , Chandrapur. and NSS of North America (NSSONA) with many Karayogams in North America.
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