CHENNAI: Former Union Health Secretary Keshav Desiraju passed away in Chennai at the age of 66 on Sunday. He was a retired IAS officer and grandson of former President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, whose birth anniversary is celebrated as Teachers Day.
Desiraju was an IAS officer from the 1978 batch of Uttarakhand cadre. He had a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a Masters degree in Public Administration from the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
He has held many positions with the governments of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and the Government of India and retired as the Union Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs. After he retired, he was appointed as the chairperson of the governing board of the Population Foundation of India.
Condoling his death, Chief Minister MK Stalin in a message said, “I am deeply saddened to hear that Keshav Desiraju passed away due to a heart attack. He was also a humanitarian educator with personal interest in the well-being of those with mental health issues.”
Desiraju’s friends and colleagues remember him as a valued leader and one who always strived for rights of people with mental health conditions. Mrinalini Ravi, deputy director-partnerships at The Banyan (where Desiraju was a trustee) said, “He was the architect of India’s first national Mental Health Policy.
He was also instrumental in putting together India’s Mental Healthcare Act of 2017. He was an extremely kind, straight forward and honourable civil servant.” Keshav Desiraju authored the book, ‘Of Gifted Voice’.