Tribute to CS Ramachandran former ICS officer : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Tribute to CS Ramachandran An ICS officer
Par Excellence

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao
Tribute to CSR, a legendary ICS officer
The New Indian Express (13-12-2016)

The oldest ICS (Indian Civil Service) officer alive, of 1937 batch, 102 years old VK Rao will release a book on his colleague, also a former ICS Officer late CS Ramachandran on his birth centenary in Hyderabad on 13^th December 2016, making it a rare occasion to anyone to be present and listen to the legendary personality addressing them.

Late CS Subramanian of Tamil Nadu, who too would have been an ICS officer but for his fascination to the left wing ideologies, when involved in the freedom movement despite a ban on communist party, was arrested on orders issued by none other than his own younger brother, late CS Ramachandran, who was the then Home Secretary. That might have been an odd coincidence, but, it did take place. Thus the elder brother CS Subramanian though was sent to England for ICS left the studies half way and returned to India to play a key role in the formation of the organizational structure of Communist Party of India in Madras. On the other hand the younger brother CS Ramachandran after passing his B. Sc Honors in Physics appeared for Civil Services examinations in 1940 and cleared not only the Indian Civil Service but also the Financial Civil Service examination simultaneously.

            On the birth centenary of CS Ramachandran which falls on 13^th December 2016, 102+ year’s old Valluri Kameshwara Rao popularly known as VK Rao will be releasing a book on CSR published by his daughter, Ms Gayatri Ramachandran, a former IAS officer at the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad and will speak remembering CSR. VK Rao as many Telugu people are aware worked as district collector Vizag, Chief Secretary of AP, Governor advisor when President’s rule was imposed in AP in 1973 and later after his retirement as Vigilance Commissioner to AP and finally as Principal Secretary to the President N Sanjeeva Reddy during 1981-82. Former IAS officers M Gopalakrishna, S Parthasarathy, TL Shankar and eminent doctor AP Ranga Rao will also speak on the occasion.

            Coming to CS Ramachandran, after his selection to ICS he was allotted to the Central Provinces and Berar cadre in 1942 which was also called as Madhya Bharat then. From 1942  to  1948   he  worked  in  Central Provinces  before opting to  change  his Cadre  to  Madras  Presidency. Among others the 1942 ICS officers included Bengal cadre Leslie Power, Madras Presidency cadre DD Sathe, Punjab cadre HB Williams, Assam cadre AN Kidwai, UP cadre BK Kaul, Bengal cadre Alexander and UP cadre Satish Chandra etc. Some of them opted for Pakistan after partition. Kudrat Ullah Shahab of his batch went to Pakistan in 1947 and became the principal aide to the then President Ayub Khan. 

            If we go through the list of some of the Indian members of the ICS officers who were seniors to CSR, we find such great personalities like Sir Sarat Kumar Ghosh (Who finally became a Chief Justice), Sir Bengal Narsinga Rau (Who became Prime Minister of Kashmir), Sir Bengal Rama Rau (Who became Reserve Bank Governor), Sir Akbar Hydari, Sir NR Pillai (First Cabinet Secretary of India), Subhas Chandra Bose, KPS Menon (First Foreign Secretary of India) and many more.

The Indian Civil Service, officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the elite higher civil service of the British Empire in British India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. At first almost all the top thousand members of the ICS, known as "Civilians", were British, and had been educated in the best British schools. By 1905, five per cent were from Bengal. In 1947 there were 322 Indians and 688 British members. Nirmal Kumar Mukherjee, who retired as Cabinet Secretary in April 1980, was the last ICS (in 1944) officer to retire, while the last ICS officer to retire in Pakistan was Agha Shahi, also of 1944 batch, who retired as foreign advisor to president in 1982. The last recruited batch of the ICS was in October 1944.

CS Ramachandran also went on deputation to the Government of India in the Ministry of Defense and in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He worked under Lal Bahadur Shastri who became his model in his simplicity, great vision and capacity to look at development of the country as well as in shaping the industrial revolution of the country. Even today, people remember CSR contribution as the one that laid the foundations of the industrial India and to have given the momentum for the industrialization of the country. In  1961  Ramachandran  was  chosen  for  the Nuffield Foundation  Fellowship to England where  he  studied  and  updated  his  Physics particularly developments in Nuclear and Astro Physics in Oxford and  Cambridge  universities.

In later days Ramachandran went on to hold several distinguished positions in the Government of India-Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Advisor, Planning Commission and Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Planning. In recognition of his administrative capability and statesmanship in steering the country, he held several international positions with United Nations Organization and was Chairman of several committees of the UN and FAO.  He was also associated with WHO when he was Secretary in the Ministry of Health.

Ramachandran was a deeply religious person, who believed in the scriptures, the Vedas and the Upanishads and a great devotee of the Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham-the Paramacharya as he was known. He valued the great heritage of India and devoted time and energy for the traditions laid down in the Vedas. He was associated with preserving the Vedas in the various trusts set up by the Kanchi Mutt. He was associated with building several temples. Ramachandran was appointed in 1977 as the Chairman of the Badrinath and Kedarnath Temple committee by the Uttar Pradesh Government. The Journey of the Renovation to the Badrinath Kedarnath commenced with his appointment. Thanks to CS Ramachandran, today Badrinath stands as a monument to the glorious traditions of the Adisankara and our great heritage.

CS was President of South Indian Samaj which was a cultural organization for all the South Indians in Delhi irrespective of which southern states they belonged. It was the first south Indian organization and Ramachandran tried to integrate all the south Indian cultures from Kerala to Andhra in the functioning of the organization. South Indian Samaj was a wonderful organization with traditions from each state and gave a feeling of belonging in the south Indian community in Delhi. His wonderful organizational capacities made it possible in bringing together people from all walks of life into single vibrant community of south Indians.

CS Ramachandran contributions to the country both as an outstanding civil servant and as a spiritualist are well known, in spite of his humility and unassuming personality. End