May 24 2023 to May 24 2023 6:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

V Balasubramanian joined the IAS in 1965. Having graduated from the Rangoon University, he was influenced by Marxian philosophy. He held various interesting posts such as Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate for six years, even in the Bangalore district during the Emergency. He worked under different Chief Ministers such as Veerendra Patil, Devaraj Urs, Gundu Rao and Ramakrishna Hegde, whose Secretary he was for three years. After his retirement in 2001, he was the Chairman of the Task Force for Prevention of Land Grabbing in Karnataka. When the government refused to print his report ‘Greed and Connivance’, he published and distributed it at his own cost. Before his adieu from public service in 2013, he was hauled up by the Privileges Committee of the Karnataka Legislature for contempt, but it was dropped due to media criticism. He has narrated incisively, his fall from grace of political leadership and bureaucracy in the last five decades in his new memoir Fall From Grace: Memoirs of a Rebel IAS Officer. The themes of the book include the role of the bureaucracy, the nature of administration in India, Karnataka’s governance during his tenure, and the role of leaders like Devraj Urs, Ramakrishna Hegde, J. H. Patel and Devegowda. In this session, he will make a small presentation which will be followed by a discussion with Tara Kishnaswamy and D Umapathy.