SKM Maeilanandhan selected for Padma Bhushan 2026

SKM Maeilanandhan, Executive Chairman of the Erode-based SKM Group of Companies, has been selected for the Padma Bhushan 2026 for his contributions to spiritual education, public health, and social welfare.

Born on June 18, 1945, into a poor agricultural family in Erode district, Mr. Maeilanandhan completed his education up to the school final level. In 1983, he founded the Poultry Farmers Welfare Association and served as its founder-president. He pioneered a modern rural marketing barter system that continues to be followed by traders and played a significant role in promoting self-employment among educated and uneducated people in rural areas, providing year-round job opportunities.

He organised over 150 seminars and farmers’ meets to study marketing and pricing issues, prevent emerging poultry diseases, and educate poultry farmers. He was also instrumental in inclusion of eggs in the State government’s noon meal scheme to address malnutrition among children.

An eminent entrepreneur and social and consumer activist, Mr. Maeilanandhan received the Padma Shri for social work in 2013. He has served as president of the Erode Consumer Protection Centre (CPC) for the past 33 years. The CPC has sub-centres in all 299 village panchayats in the district and consumer clubs in schools and colleges. In 1993, the Government of India conferred the National Best Consumer Protection Council Award on the CPC.

In 1999, he adopted two Dalit villages at Saminathapuram, providing food, clothing, shelter, and free medical facilities to the elderly and children, along with assistance for marriages, childbirth, and funerals.

Mr. Maeilanandhan has been president of the World Community Service Centre (WCSC) for 37 years, spreading value-based cultural education. About 2.51 lakh students have undergone various courses. Under the WCSC’s “Village Service Project,” 389 villages have been adopted across the State to promote peace through free education in yoga, meditation, and moral values, benefiting around 1.50 lakh people. He has received several national and state-level awards and honours.