Kannan Gopinathan (IAS)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kannan Gopinathan

• Kannan Gopinathan was an Indian IAS officer. He came into the limelight when he resigned from his post and said that he was disturbed over the restrictions imposed upon the people of J&K after the revocation of Article 370.

• Before joining the civil services, Kannan worked for a company named “Freescale Semiconductors” as a design engineer. He quit and started working for a non-profit organization, and he also used to give free tuition classes to underprivileged students.

• He met his wife, Himani, while working for the non-profit organization.

  

• During the 2018 Kerala floods, he volunteered for flood relief work. He kept his identity a secret; as he did not want anyone to know about his post. The Ernakulam District Collector recognized him during his visit, and he posted a picture of him on social media. The image went viral, and he was lauded for his noble efforts.

  

• Once, in an interview, he said that after his return from the relief camp in Kerala, he was issued a memo by the authorities directing him to provide a summary of his activities while volunteering for the flood relief work in Kerala.

• As the official representative of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli administration, he also handed over a cheque of 1 Crore INR to the Kerala CM Disaster Relief Fund.

  

• When he was posted in Mizoram as a Collector, he met Pullela Gopichand and encouraged him to start 30 badminton training centres for children and open a “high-altitude centre of excellence for sports.”

  

• On 21 August 2019, Kanan submitted his resignation. He said that he is resigning as he no longer had the freedom of expression while doing his job. He also said that denying the fundamental rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir was a reason for him to resign, and he was disturbed that for over 20 days the people of J&K have been suffering.

• Several people from the bureaucracy said that he was a brilliant officer, and they were shocked to hear that he had resigned.
  

• On 26 August 2019, Priyanka Gandhi took a jibe at the BJP by quoting a Polish poet & writer and tagging the news about Kannan’s resignation in a tweet.

• On 6 November 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs filed a charge sheet against him and accused him of insubordination. When he received the charge sheet, he tweeted-