Background

The USM Thaipusam Thaneerpanthal was initiated by Mr. Kuppan from the USM Development Office, assisted by Mr. Arumugam, Mr. S. Sathu Raman from School of Social Sciences, Mr. Bob Veeriah from Registry, Mr. Sukumaran and Mr. Boominathan from the Development Office. Initially the contributions for the Thaneerpanthal were mainly from the Staff of the Development Office who had about 100 over Indian staff members and from some friends from other University departments. In the initial years, only iced syrup drinks were served to the public on Thaipusam Day. USM Students from the Indian Cultural Society, in various batches volunteered their time in serving the community on Thaipusam Day.

First Committee

Subsequently a Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Dr, Rajagopal from the School of Biological Sciences with Mr. Kuppan as the Secretary and Mr Sathu Raman as the Vice-Chairman. The Committee wrote to the Vice-Chancellor at that time, Tun Hj Hamdan Sheik Tahir seeking permission to collect donations from all the Indian staff members in particular and the campus community at large. In addition approval was sought for the usage of tables, chairs, electrical wiring and sound system from the University. This process of seeking approval continued till today for usage of University facilities and to display the USM name on the banners and face board.