S. R. Sankaran

S. R. Sankaran (1934–2010) was an Indian Administrative Service officer of 1956 batch from Andhra Pradesh cadre and social worker who served as the Chief Secretary of the State of Tripura. He is known for his contributions for the enforcement of Abolition of Bonded Labour Act of 1976 which abolished bonded labor in India. One among the seven civil servants held hostage by the People's War Group in 1987, he was the chief negotiator of the state government in the negotiations of 2004 to end naxalite violence in Andhra Pradesh. He was a mentor to the Safai Karmachari Andolan, a social initiative propagated by Bezwada Wilson to eradicate manual scavenging in India. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 2005, for his contributions to society, but he declined the honor. His social welfare activities earned him the moniker, People's IAS officer.

Biography Sankaran was born on 22 October 1934 in Thanjavur, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu in a Tamil Brahmin family. He graduated in commerce with honours from American College, Madurai, coming first in the examination, and joined there as a lecturer when he was inducted into Indian Administrative Service in 1956. One of his earlier postings was as the Sub-collector of Nandyal in Kurnool district in 1959. Later, he served as the District Collector of Adilabad, Khammam and Nellore before moving to the Union Government as a special assistant to Mohan Kumaramangalam, the then Minister for Steel and Mines. While at this post, he assisted Kumaramangalam to push through the nationalization of coal mines during 1971–73. He returned to the state as the Principal Secretary for Social Welfare with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, a post he held for two different periods. During his first tenure as the Principal Secretary, he established Integrated Tribal Development Agencies for single-line administration of tribal areas and introduced Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub Plans to ensure adequate provision of budgetary resources to be earmarked for the financially weaker sections of the society. It is reported that Sankaran's efforts were disapproved by the ruling Chief Minister and he was asked to proceed on leave when Nripen Chakraborty, who was the chief minister of Tripura during that time, invited him to join Tripura state administration as the Chief Secretary, a post he held for six years. During this period, he worked for the rehabilitation of the victims of Karamchedu massacre of 1985 when 6 dalits were killed in clashes with the upper caste communities. Later, he was held captive by the People's War Group in 1987, after they abducted him and six of his colleagues while they were touring East Godavari District but was set free later, along with the others. On his return to Andhra Pradesh, the state government appointed him as the chief negotiator for negotiations with the militants in 2004. He mediated two rounds of talks between the government and the militants but the talks were not fruitful as the government insisted on total disarmament; After the failure of talks with Naxal groups, he was involved with the activities of Safai Karmachari Andolan, founded by Bezwada Wilson, and served as a mentor to the organization. Under his guidance, the initiative worked to free a majority of the manual laborers in the State handling human excreta till their number dwindled from 1.3 million to 300,000. died on 7 October 2010, at the age of 75 in Hyderabad, succumbing to a cardiac arrest.

Awards and honors The Government of India awarded Sankaran the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 2005, which detailed his contributions for the welfare of the marginalized communities. Vikrama Simhapuri University has instituted an annual award, S. R. Sankaran Gold Medal for the best outgoing student in the Department of Social Welfare, in his honor and the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad has a chair-professorship on rural labour, S. R. Sankaran Chair, named after him.

Trivia It was reported that Sankaran, on his appointment as the Chief Secretary of the Tripura, arrived Agartala with a small suitcase as his only piece of luggage and, instead of waiting for his official receivers, hailed a rickshaw to proceed to the Circuit House which housed his would-be office. He was a bachelor, reportedly by choice. Sankaran was once selected as the head of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussourie which trained Indian Administrative Service officers but the selection was subsequently cancelled, reportedly fearing he would propagate his ideals at the institution. As the Chief Secretary of Tripura, he once forced the retreat of Indian Armed Forces when they entered the State without approval from the State Government.