Kerala IAS officers Divya and Prasanth feel full blast from their social media posts

Indians have a fascination with the IAS (Indian Administrative Service), the absolute top layer when it comes to cushy government jobs. The admiration also extends to IAS officers, whose ranks expand each year with intakes of some of the best and brightest talents from around the country. It doesn’t matter what social background these individuals come from – if they have that educational background and that indefinable extra, they get to be IAS officers.  

But right now, politicians in Kerala are having an issue with two from their ranks.

There is Divya S. Iyer, whose stints include being Managing Director of the prestigious Vizhinjam International Seaport in Thiruvananthapuram, and Prasanth N., quite the maverick and currently serving a suspension.

One common factor uniting these two quite brilliant individuals – Divya is also a doctor by qualification having passed out from Vellore Medical College – is their recent activity on social media. And that’s been enough to have them come under fire from politicians, and in Prasanth’s case, from within his IAS fraternity.

The ‘charge’ against Divya is that she has gone out of her way via her social media posts to praise Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and some senior personnel in his government. The language is high-flowing, in keeping with Divya’s undoubted intellect. (Shashi Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP and quite comfortable in his way with words, would have approved)

The criticism is that as a government ‘servant’, Divya should have better sense and not praise her political ‘masters’. What makes matters worse is that Divya is married to a politician from the Congress, which heads the opposition UDF bloc in the state.

At least, Divya still has work to do.

When it comes to Prasanth, he is finding that having a mind of his own can mean extended periods of suspension, which will put a blight on his chances of going up the career ladder. Prasanth also has a penchant to make his views vocal on social media at the slightest provocation, which too has not endeared him to many of the people who matter in Kerala. Now, the very same social media posts continue to add to his litany of issues.  

It’s tragic, because Prasanth during his stint in Covid times showed what genuine commitment can do to actually help the wider public in the most testing of times. Going by where it stands right now, there will not be many placing bets on a smooth return for Prasanth to service.

These are not just about two individuals who are caught up in the worst kind of public scrutiny. The sorry state of affairs suggests there is indeed something quite rotten within the inner layers of Kerala’s public administration.

Now, this is the same Kerala IAS universe where top officials have landed up in jail for alleged involvement in gold smuggling. It is also the place where an IAS officer involved in a hit and run accident managed to evade all rules. Because he had the right sort of ‘connections’’.

And what of K.M. Abraham, the former Chief Secretary, who is facing a CBI probe after a Kerala High Court ruling? He says he will continue to serve as CEO of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. Connections do help…

And here you have the likes of Divya and Prasanth getting caught up for having minds of their own. And for whom public service still remains the reason why they joined the IAS.

Are they starting to think they would have been better off in any other career choice?