History
SPANNING OVER FOUR DECADES
PRSI's Chennai Chapter has had a long and eventful history. Its forerunner, the Madras Chapter, born as early as 1968, was the brainchild of its Founder Chairman, the late Mr. Gyan Haksar. He had as his Secretary, Mr. M. Gopalakrishnan. The Chapter owed its successful debut as much to the organising ability of these two professionals, as to the unstinting generosity of its chief patron, the late Mr.K. Eswaran, Chairman of the Easun Group of Industries, Madras.
The Second All India PR Conference, with the challenging theme "To establish PR as a Management Tool" was successfully organised two years later in Madras, thanks to the support of Mr. Eswaran. It was the success of this conference that drew the cream of corporates in Madras to PRSI. It was a matter of great pride that the number of Corporate members of Madras Chapter, exceeded the sum total of the Corporate members of all the other chapters of PRSI put together.
Our chapter has the distinction of seeing two of its members elevated to the Presidentship of PRSI. Gyan Haksar in 1972-73 with R.K.Baratan, also of our Chapter as Secretary General. Pala Palaniappan in 1993-94 with R. Swaminathan (Coimbatore Chapter) as Secretary General.
The PRSI Chennai Chapter has taken the lead in organising several useful and relevant seminars. Among the All-India Seminars organised by the Madras Chapter are:
PR for Managerial Effectiveness (December 1972)
New Challenges in Public Relations (1979)
A Three-day Workshop on Printing (1980)
Media and Public Relations (1983)
Developing a positive Corporate Image through PR (1987)
Ushering in a new era - PR issues (December 1993)
One day seminar - 'Effective Communication: The Internet Way' (August 1999)
Workshop on Corporate Image Management (January 1999)
Half day workshop on the usage of Internet (August 2005)
One-day seminar on Public Relations in Healthcare (April 2006)
Two days seminar on Travel, Tourism & Hospitality PR (January 2007)
PR and Infrastructure Development in India (December 2007)
India-USA Global Business & PR Conference (June 2008)
PRSI-NLC 2-day National Conference on CSR (December 2013)
Other recent seminar programmes includes:
Recognising the need for a mode of communication with its members and the world outside, the PRSI Chennai Chapter's Newsletter "PRecis" was inaugurated when Pala Palaniappan was Chapter Chairman. It's a matter of pride that this publication was lauded by the then Union Finance Minister, Mr.P. Chidambaram.
Footnote: We are in the process of constantly updating our Archives. If you have an interesting input or anecdote or photograph to share on the history of the PRSI Chennai Chapter please contact us.