3 ex-IAS get Padma awards: Gopalaswami, Vasudevan (posthumous), Rajaraman; but all belong to Tamil Nadu

Gopalaswami (File photo)

THE names of three former civil servants -- ex-Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, former GoI secretary R Vasudevan (posthumous) and former secretary to Tamil Nadu government PV Rajaraman – have figured in the list of Padma award winners this year, as announced by the government on the eve of the Republic Day. Incidentally, all the three former officers happen to be from Tamil Nadu. Among them, Gopalaswami was…
awarded Padma Vibhushan whereas R Vasudevan and PV Rajaraman were chosen for Padma Shri.

Gopalaswami
He is a 1966 batch Gujarat cadre IAS who moved up the ladder to become Union home secretary before becoming Chief Election Commissioner of India. He is now the president of Vivekananda Educational Society running a number of schools in Tamil Nadu. A post-graduate in chemistry, and also a gold medallist, from Delhi University, Gopalaswami is also a diploma holder in urban development planning from the University of London. As a bureaucrat, he served as district magistrate in the districts of Kutch and Kheda and was municipal commissioner of Surat.
Gopalaswami has keen interests in astrology and played a pivotal role in obtaining a Rs 5-crore grant from UNESCO for the preservation of Vedas. As Union culture secretary, he was instrumental in getting incorporation of ‘Vedic Chanting’ as one of UNESCO’s World Oral Heritage.
He used to represent in his college cricket team. He plays tennis well.

PV Rajaraman
Also a former IAS from Tamil Nadu, Rajaraman has been selected for Padma Shri. As an IAS, he worked for more than 37 years. Some of his postings include managing director of India Cements, chairman and managing director of Tamil Nadu Housing Board, CMD of Tamil Nadu Sugar Corporation, secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu in the commercial taxes, home and finance departments, and chairman of Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation.
At the Centre, he was a director in the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers.

R Vasudevan
And then, R Vasudevan, another former IAS officer gets Padma Shri posthumously. Vasudevan was a former union secretary of power and steel. An MA in economic statistics from the University of Delhi, he also has a masters degree in public administration from Harvard University.
When Vasudevan passed away in October last year, this is what former CEC SY Quraishi, also an IAS, described him: “Soft spoken, kind, polite to a fault”.