THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V D Satheesan launched The Kerala Club: Keepers of the Flame, a unique anthology featuring essays from 29 of the country’s top former bureaucrats, during an event held in the state capital on Wednesday.
Speaking at the launch, Satheesan emphasised on the need to collectively tackle the administrative and structural challenges Kerala is facing. The chief minister voiced his deep concerns regarding Kerala’s dwindling demographic dividend.
To counter this shifting demographic, he advocated for the development of a “silver economy” designed to actively utilise the immense expertise of senior citizens, alongside projects like the Kerala Knowledge Valley to bring in legacy educational institutions as an antidote to prevent student migration.
The chief minister also highlighted the immense, untapped potential of health tourism, noting that Kerala is uniquely poised to lead the sector due to its high-quality human resources.
In a personal reflection, Satheesan shared that reading Salman Rushdie’s memoir Knife inspired him to think deeply about establishing better rehabilitation centres in the state, noting how quality care enabled the author to recover and write two more books. Turning to economic growth, he stressed on the importance of boosting employability by making public sector units more productive.
He further shared his vision for channelling expatriate remittances into income-generating projects, building major aviation hubs, and pursuing port-led development, which he described as his dream project.
Reassuring the state’s administrative machinery, Satheesan affirmed that the Chief Minister’s Office would always remain open for bureaucrats to discuss their operational issues and challenges.
The event also featured insights from NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Ashok Lahiri, who praised Kerala’s rich tradition of pluralism while urging the state to find innovative ways to tackle the brain drain caused by the migration of educated youth abroad.
Former Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, who co-edited the book, said the work represents a monumental collective brain trust, with its 28 writers boasting a combined administrative experience of over 800 years in India and abroad.
All revenue generated from the sales of the book will be donated to Anuyathra, a charitable initiative spearheaded by the former civil servants, he said. The essayists include prominent figures such as Shivshankar Menon, Vinod Rai, Amitabh Kant, E K Bharat Bhushan, T P Sreenivasan, S M Vijayanand, T Balakrishnan, K Mohandas, Alphons Kannanthanam, K B Valsalakumar, B Sandhya and Brandson Corrie.