'I am not going back into IAS', says Kannan Gopinathan on government asking him to rejoin the civil services

Piyush Pal | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Updated: Apr 16, 2020, 13:20 IST

Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan. (File photo)

In an exclusive chat with Timesofindia.com, ex-IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan tells us why he doesn’t like the idea of a national lockdown and why he won't rejoin the civil services.
Was India a little late or was it little early in implementing the national lockdown?
I think the lockdown, to come out with its full results, should have been done earlier before the actual travelling across the country happened. The day before and after the 'Junta curfew' , there was tremendous movement of migrants from the cities to their villages. I also feel the lockdown decision, ideally, should have been taken by the states. Without the testing and identification of hotspots and isolation, the lockdown in itself may delay the process but is not going to help us tackle or solve it.
We don't have a vaccine for coronavirus right now. So the lockdown is delaying the pressure on the hospitals. Is that what you mean to say?
Yeah, that is what I am saying.
So you're of the view that we should not have gone ahead with the national lockdown?
India should have locked down all the airports and international travel a little early. The state governments could have been allowed to go ahead with their own processes. Now we've centralised everything. The response to the threat of the virus dawned slightly late on the central government. Either the right kind of inputs were not given to the political leadership at that point of time or the priorities were different.
Is the national lockdown extension a good idea?
A 21-day lockdown is in itself not going to achieve anything except maybe delay the curve.
We haven't upscaled our testing to the desired levels during this time. So we can't know whether the number of cases are limited by our testing capacity or have we brought down the infection rate.
We are also unable to reliably use any other indicators, like death rate, ILI/SARI rate etc by any other agency. There is no data available in the public domain for a transparent analysis.
So right now, in most states, we are as blind as we were 21 days ago. And thus a logical thing at this time would be to extend the lockdown.
My only request to the government is that please specify the criteria and parameters for extending the lockdown.
More transparency in the decision-making process?
Yes, that transparency should be there. We need to know why only till these many days? What is the rationale? You see, when you are shutting down an entire country, there should be some data analysis behind it. If you are doing it out of intuition, that's a big thing.
Agreed. So what about the exit strategy from this lockdown?
We need to move away from the whitelisting thing to blacklisting things. So you can say IT industry can work from home, malls are not allowed etc. Right now, in India it is both - the lockdown is on the individual as well as the institutions. We should also allow states to go with their strategies.
More decentralization of the decision?
We have put all our eggs in one basket. What if we're wrong? Allow some variation of lockdown or strategy to happen according to the different needs of the states. There would be some decisions that would turn out to be better, some would be bad but at least we will understand.
We have also somehow, sort of criminalised the patient. This is very dangerous as it means the disease is going the leprosy way wherein you would be ostracized and the entire family would be ostracized. Right now most of the communication is: don't spread the disease.
So you would want a change in the communication strategy around the coronavirus?
It should be like - you should not get the disease. That should be the basic aspect of it. If you get it, it is in your best interests to get it tested and treated. In many cases in Maharashtra, the person has come to the hospital and has died the next day. People are coming to the hospital at the very last moment. It's a very small sample to draw a large inference from but it needs to be looked into whether people are having a reluctance to tell the administration.
People are scared and that's why they are not coming out?
I am just saying that it is something that needs to be really looked into. The messaging should be if you have the symptoms, come for your own safety and get treated. The communication should also say that the chances of recovering increases tremendously if you get tested at an early stage.
About the migrant crisis, do you think the government didn't see it coming?
It is very difficult to not think of it. Many, including me, had written about this before the lockdown that migration is going to be an issue. And this is also the season for migration because it is the Rabi harvesting time. So it is not like it couldn't have been foreseen. Would the construction workers stay back in the tin shed during the lockdown? Is it even a good thing for them to stay there in a highly congested environment?
Do you think the migrants could not be assured of their safety and security? That maybe the government couldn't bring them in confidence?
We are not able to take care of them even during normal times. So to expect that suddenly the state would start taking care of everybody in every possible way, it's slightly unrealistic.
What we should have done is at least allow them to take care of them themselves. At some point of time, you will have to allow them to travel back. The day you allow them to go back now, the same scenario would come then.
Every person would have the feeling of wanting to be with their family during this crisis because that is the strength. No government, no state can replace what a community or a family can provide to any individual. We took that right of theirs away too. I am just, I am just upset. It was very bad to see.
Regarding your resignation, in one of your interviews, you said you wanted to be the voice of the voiceless but you were left with no voice of your own when you were in the IAS...
At that point of time, things were quite different. The government removed Article 370 and then did a complete lockdown of J&K. I had hoped people would come out and say this is not done. But slowly, I felt we as a nation were not being true to our constitution or our own principles. I was equally disturbed with what the government did and how the nation responded to it. I was, I don't know, I will agree that it was a highly emotional decision. A lot of people called me and said that nobody would even bother about your resignation after half an hour.
How difficult do the CCS(Conduct) Rules make the job for an IAS officer?
Whether the Conduct Rules are in sync with the constitution, we don't know because it has not been challenged yet on the human rights aspect.
I am saying do you see it as a hindrance for people who try to come into the system to do some good?
There are a few aspects to being a bureaucrat. You want to stop a lot of wrong things or say openly about now that you are in a position to stop it. Another part is to do whatever little you can do in your capacity. When you're in the bureaucracy, the opportunity to do the right things, in whatever little capacity, is always there. However, we don't seem to be an Indian citizen the moment we become a bureaucrat even though we are still a citizen of this country.
Many people in my generation are like ‘We don't want to get into this because it is basically a slap on our freedom of expression and how do we deal with that’...
That needs to be looked at. Because you continue to be a citizen and have your opinion about things that are happening.. It becomes a little stifling. At some point of time, you would have to review it. Criticizing a government policy shouldn't be a conduct rules violation. If you want to criticize, criticize or praise, praise then. Why should it be a Conduct Rules violation? We then feel like we are just a tool in the hands of the governments.
The government recently sent you a letter, asking you to join back. What really happened there?
I was very clear, I have given the resignation. So whatever they do with the resignation, it is their prerogative. They expect the officer to go to the courts and fight a battle and make them accept it. I don't have the resources or the time for it. But sending a letter now to join back, referring to the Covid-19 and the Disaster Management Act, it's very curious. Now that could mean 'You are an officer refusing to go on duty during a disaster. It can be used to further prosecute you'. I was very surprised to see it.
If the government feels that I should man a control room or I should be working as a frontline worker, in any which way across the country I will be ready to do it, honestly. But I am not going back in the service. I did not find the government's letter in good faith.
This might be a little weird to ask right now as we are right now not even sure of our world's future but where do you see yourself in the future?
I have not thought of it, to be honest. I don't know. Sometimes I am learning Python and PHP to get into the IT sector( laughs). Sometimes I feel learning another language would be good as it might help in effective communication. But one thing is sure, crisis or not, an elected government has to be kept on its toes. And I hope I can play a part there.