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through the nationalisation of the coal industry, which ultimately paved the way for introducing scientific practices in mining and bringing about a sea change in the working conditions of the coal miners. I had the benefit of working closely with Sankaran on an expert group constituted by the Planning Commission a couple of years ago on Development Challenges in the Extremist Affected Areas. The final report of the expert group carried Sankarans imprint. The recommendations contained in the report have farreaching implications for governance, not only for the extremist affected areas but also for the rest of the country. The central government is yet to act on the findings of the Expert Group.

Sankaran was deeply concerned at the diminishing space for democratic and human rights in the country. On more than one occasion, he voiced his distress at this emerging trend.

Ignored by the Government

Soon after the Congress government came to power in Andhra Pradesh, in a letter dated 18 August 2005, I proposed to the then chief minister a detailed action programme for enforcing the constitutional rights of the adivasis and for promoting their well being. In that letter, I suggested that the state government should take inputs from Sankaran on what I had proposed, as he was located conveniently in Hyderabad not far from the State

secretariat. I grossly underestimated the distance that existed in reality between Sankaran and the secretariat. The state government did not find much merit in what I said then. It did not care to seek inputs from Sankaran. I consider it an irreparable loss for the adivasis of Andhra Pradesh. Ironically, the same government accorded state honours to embellish Sankarans final journey. Sankaran himself would have disliked any such ritual! I hope that Sankarans ideas will shape the civil services of this country for a long time to come. I hope his vision will one day influence the minds of the rulers at Hyderabad and Delhi. For us, Sankaran will always remain alive.

An Extraordinary Public Servant

K Subramanian

R Sankaran was no ordinary person though he always wished to remain one. In his position and with his deep involvement in public affairs, especially those concerning rural poverty, tribal welfare and the uplift of weaker sections, it was an achievement for this extraordinary person to remain ordinary. He died on 7 October in his small apartment in Amrutha Hills, Hyderabad. He died in the same private way in which he had led his life while in service and, later, after retirement. What was extraordinary about this ordinary man? It is true that he had held several senior posts in the state and central governments and had also risen in the hierarchy. It is equally true that he was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. Truth to tell, among most officers of that category whom I have come across, there was none who was less bothered about the IAS badge than SR. For him, the opportunities offered by the service were more important than personal gains or status. And he did not hesitate to use them to achieve his objectives. It was not
K Subramanian (subrabhama@gmail.com) retired from the Union Ministry of Finance.

an easy journey and not many may be aware of the trials and tribulations he had to face.

Simplicity
SR was given to the utmost simplicity and lived with the barest minimum in life. When he came to Delhi in the early 1970s to take up the position of special assistant to Mohan Kumaramangalam (MK) who was the then union steel minister, he landed in our flat. His worldly possessions consisted of one attach case with a broken latch and a small box which contained his clothes. He used to buy books and give them away to friends after reading them. It was later in life, after retirement, that he started collecting books. His books and document collections in his apartment were always in a shambles! He was embarrassed by any show of ostentation and had the utmost disdain for consumerism. Even so, he did not wear his values on his sleeves and make his friends uneasy about their lifestyles. He could mingle with them with ease without being affected by their living styles. This is perhaps detachment in the truest sense. In his early days in North Block in the finance ministry, he was spotted as the

only officer going about in winter in a khadi bush shirt, while all of us used to shiver in our tweed coats. He was known to say that he would change over to woollens only after the poor in our country were provided with warm clothing. (He did change in later years with age and illness getting the better of him!) Nobody who had visited his apartment in Hyderabad would ever know, unless told by others, that he was a retired secretary to the Government of India. Many members of that tribe live in palatial bungalows or gated luxury condos in Noida or Gurgaon. Until a year prior to his retirement, SR did not have any place of his own where he could lead a retired life. Some of his friends compelled him to sign on a few documents and arranged for the ownership of the apartment and also for financing, through withdrawal from his own provident fund! SRs commitment to the causes of the poor and downtrodden was known from the earliest days in service. In Nellore where he was collector for two terms, the people continue to worship him. In Tripura where he was chief secretary for nearly six years, he became a legend. Along with Nripen Chakraborty as chief minister he worked for a form of humane socialism which would lift the tribal people to higher levels of welfare. Until SR went there, there was not one senior officer, forget a chief secretary, who had ever v isited the tribal people in their dwellings

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or talked to them or their chiefs about their problems. The circumstances under which SR went to Tripura are not known to many. During his assignment in the steel ministry with MK, he was involved in the formulation of many major policies. MK was a close confidant of Indira Gandhi who leaned on him heavily. MK, in his turn, was assisted by SR. The abolition of bonded labour was one of the results of those endeavours. These endeavours greatly enhanced the political popularity and the rise of Indira Gandhi. Unfortunately, SRs term with the centre was cut short by the death of MK in an Indian Airlines accident of 1973. SR was jobless for some time and reverted to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. In the state government, he was appointed secretary of rural welfare, a position which included the job of abolishing bonded labour. For the kulaks running the Andhra Pradesh government, abolition of bonded labour was anathema. Except for paying lip service, the state government itself was not serious about it. However, SR went about the programme with his usual vigour and earned the wrath of the landed gentry. Complaints reached the then chief minister (M Channa Reddy). In one of the cabinet meetings in the late 1970s, the chief minister hauled up SR over his actions. SR hit back saying that he knew more about the intention of the programme than the landlords. SR left the meeting in a huff and landed in Delhi without any clue about his future. Fortunately, for Tripura and Nripenda, he finally ended up in Tripura.

Chasnala
Before his assignment in Tripura there was another side show to his career. SR was very close to Raghunatha Reddy who was union minister for labour. SR used to advise him on many labour-related issues and was his confidant. Raghunatha Reddy could also carry them through in consultation with Indira Gandhi. It was around this time that the major mining accident of 1975 occurred at Chasnala. Hundreds of labourers died and others were in suffering with serious injuries. SR volunteered to go to Chasnala and the labour minister agreed. He worked there for several months. During that period, he did not receive any formal orders about his status there, nor did he

draw any salary or allowances. If memory serves me right, no orders were issued to regularise that part of his service. Though SR was respected as an honest and efficient officer, the establishment tended to view him with suspicion as proNaxalite. In his own way, he could build bridges with many of those groups and was always hopeful that he could succeed through conciliation. Sadly, he had to pay a heavy price for those connections. In the late 1980s, P Chidam baram as minister in the department of personnel was developing programmes to train the civil service and to mould it as a modern machine for development. SRs reputation had reached his ears and Chidambaram picked him for appointment as the director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy for Training at Mussoorie. Chidambaram met SR and informed him that he would get the central governments approval for his appointment. I can say with conviction that SR was looking forward to it. He even had new clothes made to face the climate and the trainee officers there! Fate wished it otherwise. Prior to joining the academy, SR had taken leave. He decided to take a small group of young officers to the Naxal-affected areas. It was in 1987, a week before Christmas. The group was kidnapped by the Naxalites and the episode created a national sensation. The Naxal groups did not realise whom they had caught. Chidambaram threatened to send helicopters to shoot the group. Listening to the radio, a leader held a pistol close to SRs head and asked him to listen to Chidambarams message. The truth will never come about. Nobody knows why they hijacked SR or why they decided to release the officers finally. The report sent by the Intelligence Bureau on the episode seemed to have coloured Chidambarams views about SR. The orders for the posting in Mussoorie were not issued. If only SR had been sent to the Academy, he would have trained hundreds of officers and imbued them with his values and style of administration.

civilians like V C Pande that led to his appointment as secretary (rural development). He could continue later when Narasimha Rao became the prime minister. It was during this period that the 73rd and 74th amendments to our Constitution providing more powers and finance to local self-governments were put through. SR was personally happy over these developments and played a leading part. Fortunately, Narasimha Rao leaned on him more than on some other politicians who were keen to steal the show. After retirement in 1992, SR did not go to holiday homes like some of his service peers. He continued his programmes and activities with a deeper involvement and inspired many others to work for a number of causes. His apartment became a meeting place for many intellectuals and activists. He served in several committees including that formed by the Supreme Court to look into the adequacy and effectiveness of the public distribution system. SR wrote several articles in major journals/magazines like Mainstream, EPW, etc, on many of these issues. He had contributed to the EPW anonymously in the 1970s even when he was working with Mohan Kumaramangalam.

Padma Award
There was a need to demonstrate his commitment to the values which he cherished. The most telling example is that relating to his refusal to accept the Padma award. It was reported that earlier this decade the prime minister had chosen two persons, on his own, before the submission of the list to the president. SR was one of them, but he declined the offer. His plea, as he shared with some of us who were close to him, was that it would conflict with his role as a leader of the group negotiating with the Naxal groups. He did not make a drama about it. As I sat in the Amrutha apartment on 7 October, I could watch streams of silent visitors coming to pay their last respects to a friend and benefactor. They were silent mourners who could not articulate their grief in words. There were friends, relatives, tribals from far-off places, retired bureaucrats, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, young, old A requiem by Bach, if played, could have broken all our hearts. SR thou shalt not die your life, values will always inform us.

Rural Development
That SR ended again in the central government was another accident. If the Congress had continued at the centre with its own majority in the early 1990s, it would not have taken SR as secretary. It was the accident of coalition politics and the working of other

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october 23, 2010 vol xlv no 43 EPW Economic & Political Weekly