Administrator par excellence
Aug 8, 2018, 01.45 AM ISTA
senior bureaucrat recalls the time when, as a callow young collector, he sent a letter to Karunanidhi for permission to tax amusement parks which were flourishing. In a few days, he was surprised to see a government order levying entertainment tax on amusement parks across the state.
It was this democratic and approachable style of administration that endeared Karunanidhi to bureaucrats, besides his attention to detail. Bureaucrats who served with him recall that he’d drop into the Secretariat on weekends too.
Former home secretary R Poornalingam remembers him as "the taskmaster who wanted tomorrow’s work executed yesterday". His expectations pushed people around him to work harder and match his energy, says Poornalingam. His welfare schemes carried names in chaste Tamil, all of which he picked, putting to good use a turn of phrase and mastery of Tamil. But suggestions for the schemes could come from any minister or bureaucrat — they could walk into his chamber or call him late at night.
A school dropout who educated himself at the feet of leaders like Periyar and Anna as well as in the rich theatre tradition of the 1930s and 40s, Karunanidhi learned finance and administration on his own. Cabinet meetings rarely ended within two hours as Karunanidhi would discuss each subject threadbare. "Ennaya solra?" (what are you saying) was his question to every person in the room before a proposal was cleared.
Karunanidhi vetted all letters and notes from secretaries to the Centre. "Why use harsh words when nuances will work better," he often says. When five senior bureaucrats drafted a letter in English on the UPA’s GST proposal, Karunanidhi got one of them to read it to him. "He made corrections at every stage and a highly improved version reached PM Manmohan Singh," says an officer. Government press releases and advertisements needed his stamp of approval. Part of this tight control was also a strategic move to centralize administration and decision-making.
He was known for his early morning phone calls to bureaucrats after he had read the newspapers, which he says held a mirror to what concerned people. He would question officers across the state on everything, from a report about a badly-maintained local park to a clash between communities.
"If you get a call at 5.30am, it must be the chief minister," says an officer. When one civic official tried arguing that clearing a garbage dump at Chennai Central was out of his jurisdiction, Karunanidhi shot back, "Isn’t Chennai Central station located in Chennai?" It was not uncommon to see him travelling by train with files in huge boxes, as he was keen to clear them on time. To match his pace, his staff would wait at railway junctions en route to collect the files.
Much of Karunanidhi’s energy was directed towards administering his many and sometimes excessively munificent welfare schemes. Anna Marumalarchi, Namakku Namme, Uzhavar Sandhais and Varumun Kappoom were some of them. He set up separate departments for the welfare of the differently-abled, backward classes and minorities.
Karunanidhi's commitment to resolving inter-state water issues was well-known. In November 2006, when the Supreme Court directed Kerala and Tamil Nadu to hold talks between chief ministers to resolve the issue of raising Mullaperiyar dam water storage to 142ft, Karunanidhi, who arrived at Tamil Nadu House in Delhi, woke up officials at midnight to discuss and draft the opening remarks for a meeting the following day. "The midnight-meet went on for three hours. He recalled the work of social reformers like Periyar of Tamil Nadu and Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala to drive home the point about nurturing relations between the states, in the next day’s meeting," says an official who attended the meeting.
Aug 8, 2018, 01.45 AM ISTA
senior bureaucrat recalls the time when, as a callow young collector, he sent a letter to Karunanidhi for permission to tax amusement parks which were flourishing. In a few days, he was surprised to see a government order levying entertainment tax on amusement parks across the state.
It was this democratic and approachable style of administration that endeared Karunanidhi to bureaucrats, besides his attention to detail. Bureaucrats who served with him recall that he’d drop into the Secretariat on weekends too.
Former home secretary R Poornalingam remembers him as "the taskmaster who wanted tomorrow’s work executed yesterday". His expectations pushed people around him to work harder and match his energy, says Poornalingam. His welfare schemes carried names in chaste Tamil, all of which he picked, putting to good use a turn of phrase and mastery of Tamil. But suggestions for the schemes could come from any minister or bureaucrat — they could walk into his chamber or call him late at night.
A school dropout who educated himself at the feet of leaders like Periyar and Anna as well as in the rich theatre tradition of the 1930s and 40s, Karunanidhi learned finance and administration on his own. Cabinet meetings rarely ended within two hours as Karunanidhi would discuss each subject threadbare. "Ennaya solra?" (what are you saying) was his question to every person in the room before a proposal was cleared.
Karunanidhi vetted all letters and notes from secretaries to the Centre. "Why use harsh words when nuances will work better," he often says. When five senior bureaucrats drafted a letter in English on the UPA’s GST proposal, Karunanidhi got one of them to read it to him. "He made corrections at every stage and a highly improved version reached PM Manmohan Singh," says an officer. Government press releases and advertisements needed his stamp of approval. Part of this tight control was also a strategic move to centralize administration and decision-making.
He was known for his early morning phone calls to bureaucrats after he had read the newspapers, which he says held a mirror to what concerned people. He would question officers across the state on everything, from a report about a badly-maintained local park to a clash between communities.
"If you get a call at 5.30am, it must be the chief minister," says an officer. When one civic official tried arguing that clearing a garbage dump at Chennai Central was out of his jurisdiction, Karunanidhi shot back, "Isn’t Chennai Central station located in Chennai?" It was not uncommon to see him travelling by train with files in huge boxes, as he was keen to clear them on time. To match his pace, his staff would wait at railway junctions en route to collect the files.
Much of Karunanidhi’s energy was directed towards administering his many and sometimes excessively munificent welfare schemes. Anna Marumalarchi, Namakku Namme, Uzhavar Sandhais and Varumun Kappoom were some of them. He set up separate departments for the welfare of the differently-abled, backward classes and minorities.
Karunanidhi's commitment to resolving inter-state water issues was well-known. In November 2006, when the Supreme Court directed Kerala and Tamil Nadu to hold talks between chief ministers to resolve the issue of raising Mullaperiyar dam water storage to 142ft, Karunanidhi, who arrived at Tamil Nadu House in Delhi, woke up officials at midnight to discuss and draft the opening remarks for a meeting the following day. "The midnight-meet went on for three hours. He recalled the work of social reformers like Periyar of Tamil Nadu and Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala to drive home the point about nurturing relations between the states, in the next day’s meeting," says an official who attended the meeting.
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