Poonam Malakondaiah, IAS
It is not a common phenomenon to come across an IAS officer strongly rooted in spiritualism. Yes, it does raise many a brow to see a tough, committed, diligently-working-towards-goal kind of a government servant. Talk of service and you find some people an embodiment of it.
Poonam Malakondaiah is one such remarkable official who fought her way through nepotism, chauvinism and many lackadaisical set-ups. It is no mean task that this simple, strong woman was honoured as India’s Third Honest IAS officer in the recent India Today survey. Ironically, we all know about another IAS officer from the same batch as her, who landed behind the bars for yielding to corruption. And here is this lady, who, come what may, stood steadfast on the strong foundation of her honesty and went by rules-not bending or breaking them.
Where and how did her journey towards Indian Administrative Services begin?
her maternal grandfather was a police officer and they used to listen to many anecdotes from her mother recounting acts of his bravery. In fact her mother used to say that he was known as the Tiger of Bundelkhand and he was always posted to trouble-prone areas which usually other officers would shy away from. Those times British Officers used all tactics to put pressure on the Indians. Those days’ people who fought for freedom were considered traitors.
she heard all this from her mother who used to narrate these tales with a lot of zest and pride; she guess that was when the seed was sown in her! By the time she saw him he had retired from service and they actually never saw him in action as it was the pre-independence era. But they were thrilled to hear his heroic deeds.
Whose lives impacted her as a child? about her parents?
POONAM mother being a deeply religious person would make sure all the family members prayed and celebrated all the festivals together, including the domestic helpers. Being religious does not mean just the prayers but develop great love towards humanity which helps you embrace the race with a compassionate oneness. You do not bother much about trivial matters –especially you are out of ‘consumerism’. For her it was a heady mix of bravery, religious strength from her mother, and patriotism from poonam grandfather. This wasn’t from any story book but drinking straight from their life experiences. Poonam grandfather was a very humble person who used to echo poonam mom’s ideals always. poonam father’s father was an agriculturist, who always lived for the poor and fought for their rights. poonam father was the first generation literate, who went on to become a scientist. Since he was serving for the government they used to relocate once in every three years. This was a boon for poonam as she got to see the varied diverse nature of this culture. This kaleidoscope was mind-boggling, as a child she used to fantasise a lot about nature, culture and celebrations!
poonam was fortunate enough to have a family that made it a point to travel across the length and breadth of this beautiful country, spend some time in the rural areas which used to be their summer resorts.
So she learnt a lot in travelling?
Certainly, she used to travel by train for three days to go to our village in UP from Coimbatore. Whenever the train stopped at every station poonam dad would educate them about the place, they would experience the place, see the people, eat food thus getting the authentic taste of the culture. To her Andhra Pradesh in those days would mean Vijaywada idlis and wadas and Khazipet for piping hot lunch and Nagpur - lovely oranges, as kids we would eagerly wait for all these places! As they were always shuttling between North and South we developed a deep understanding and bond for both the halves.
they observed that superficially the cultures may look different in both the hemispheres but at the core it’s just the same, a grandmother in Coimbatore would tell same stories about Krishna or Rama as her counterpart would in a remote village in UP. Yes, dresses are different but celebrations are same—so it is truly unity in diversity.
Where was poonam schooling?
Most of POONAM schooling was in Coimbatore as her father’s posting there was for a long stretch. hers was a missionary school which inculcated a strong value system in them. she can proudly say it was the place where she picked up love for extracurricular activities and had the zeal to excel in everything. she don’t see such a school now, which trains students into holistic humans, not just insisting on academics. When schooling happens at a place you do not hail from learning is multi-fold, unknowingly you tend to pick up and imbibe a lot. Discipline was very important aspect of her school and had excellent sports facilities too. she was good in athletics. Apart from this she used to take part in essay writing, poetry, quiz, etc which won her over 200 certificates.
All this happened because of the school. These competitions were held by Rotary Club, Lion’s Clubs etc. she used to go for excursions. Another most important aspect of poonam school days is that neither of poonam parents ever said that education is a tool to earn, like many parents today do, nowadays it is learn to earn, but ideally it must be learn to learn. she was never told you should become this or that, but give your best to everything you do.
People usually don’t understand the difference between North and South. she saw this as kids and we used to patiently explain to our people South doesn’t mean Chennai only!
How about poonam children?
They also studied in many schools like her, getting transferred along with poonam. But their High School education was from hyderabad only. POONAM daughter is pursuing medicine in Osmania and son is studying Law in NALSAR.
What was the next step after school?
After school, like everyone else she was busy looking for a good college. she dreamt of becoming a doctor and serve the poor like Florence Nightingale. But she did not get a medical seat. Throughout schooling, she was a topper in her class in academics and co-curricular activities and not having acquired admission into medicine was a real blow that hit poonam hard. In fact, she was way down in her own class when she saw the 12th results. she had no clue as to where things went wrong, questioning evaluation was unheard of in those days. poonam Botany teacher, Sister Marialla was in tears to see her hopes on poonam just crash.
poonam parents were deeply disappointed at the face of it but later accepted things as they were and put her in ‘normal’ college. That was the first time she realised experientially, whatever you may do, the result is not in your hand and her mom reiterated the same. She just said study this well.
Also another important and valuable lesson poonam learnt through this experience is when sister Marialla said God has something better and bigger in store for you. All poonam friends went off to top medical institutes, except her. And here she was in place where not-so-brilliant students are rubbing shoulders with her! she took BSc Botany and embarked on a new phase of her journey. It took almost three months for poonam to get back on tracks. she topped Madras University and got Govt of India, Ministry of HRD’s merit scholarship. It was during this period when poonam befriended a Microbiology graduate who was deeply passionate about the subject.
poonam applied for scholarship with ICAR for Microbiology as her father was also a scientist, to guide her. she got IARI and ICAR fellowships and went to University as Research Scholar. Dr. Subba Rao was poonam guide for PhD. she wanted to do a project which would benefit the ecology/ environment. Hence took Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (VAM): a potential biofertilizer as project in M.Sc. Impact of pesticide on this bacterium. If it is mutated and brought into rice genome it would do Rhizobium’s job. she won a gold medal in MSc and went on to do PhD, as her ultimate aim was to do something about nif (The nif genes are genes encoding enzymes involved in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen)genes. Dr Chopra who is considered as father of plant Biotechnology was her rolemodel.
The best part is that she got this idea because her mother used to talk about harms of plastic, how to protect our environment. Education in their family was looked as a wonderful tool to expand your thinking horizons but not an earning machine.
How did poonam develop this love for Civil Services?
poonam was in Delhi, sharing room with a junior and a good friend of her in the hostel. poonam used to see her prepare for civil services; she would get the study material, forms to be filled etc, in which poonam used to help her. She got the forms and asked poonam to apply too, as poonam didn’t even know what IAS was poonam wasn’t too keen, but she did it. poonam would observe the study material closely and found the subject, approach very interesting.
poonm got through the preliminary round along with her. By then, she was totally sold out to the Administrative Services! When it came to subject selection it was Botany and Zoology, Botany honours from Madras University wasn’t really valued there. Many people discouraged poonam about the combination of the two which take me nowhere. But at that point her research was very valuable for poonam, so in the day time, poonam would go for research and at nights, would prepare for IAS.
poonam guide wasn’t very happy with her decision as it would affect her research. But, it didn’t deter her much and poonam took the exam too, with Botany and Zoology combo, she got through. she went for the interview as she got a call after that, in which they suggested poonam to attend coaching classes. she said she don’t have the money and time as research was her first priority. With her own preparation poonam took the exam and got selected.This was most difficult moment for poonam because she had to choose between IAS and Research. He advised poonam to go for civil services.
Which year did poonam start this new phase?
In 1988, poonam went to Mussorie, did her training, and came back to Warangal as a trainee. After that she joined as a sub-collector in Bhadrachalam.
In 1990-91, she took off as a collector, when Bhadrachalam was going through terrible floods. she plunged straight into action. Since then, there has been no looking back.
poonam known as India’s third most honest, forth-right and sincere IAS officer by the India Today Group.
Everything about the job including the cadre allotments was new to her,she landed in Bhadrachalam. It was the first time when she actually saw and experienced what holding the court was. she saw the tribals there being exploited and their land was occupied by selfish outsiders, who wanted to acquire their land by force. When poonam saw the situation, on hand the helpless tribals were forced to come from their villages on foot to fight their case. They had no clue what was happening, as they got terrified with the lawyers and the serious ambience there. poonam saw their helplessness and the greed of the miscreants and said the court will be conducted in their village only; they need not come to the town.
This created a flurry, but Constitution was in poonam favour, as there was no rule that courts should not be conducted in village. Thus she began a controversial move, to benefit the needy.
What are poonam most coveted achievements?
To poonam it was 24X7 non-stop excitements; every day of her service was fast-paced and thrilling. Being a public servant for 24 years is an honour. poonam think her most talked about project was the Monsanto Seeds – where the corporate was banned from supplying BT cotton seeds to farmers. Reason: failure of the company’s seeds in previous crops and its refusal to pay compensation to farmers as decided by the agricultural commissioner of the state.
This is perhaps the first time that a state government has blacklisted a corporate entity from marketing its products. Akshar Deeksha was another much talked about project which brought tremendous satisfaction to her.
If you get involved in a particular job everything is challenging. To handle challenges with right attitude and cool-mind is what a job like this is all about. poonam can proudly say that she never gave in to nepotism, never had fear of any sort and never hesitated to go by what’s exactly there in law. she would advise all the aspirants to develop love towards their nation which will certainly take them a long way and help them contribute something meaningful to their mother-land.
It is not a common phenomenon to come across an IAS officer strongly rooted in spiritualism. Yes, it does raise many a brow to see a tough, committed, diligently-working-towards-goal kind of a government servant. Talk of service and you find some people an embodiment of it.
Poonam Malakondaiah is one such remarkable official who fought her way through nepotism, chauvinism and many lackadaisical set-ups. It is no mean task that this simple, strong woman was honoured as India’s Third Honest IAS officer in the recent India Today survey. Ironically, we all know about another IAS officer from the same batch as her, who landed behind the bars for yielding to corruption. And here is this lady, who, come what may, stood steadfast on the strong foundation of her honesty and went by rules-not bending or breaking them.
Where and how did her journey towards Indian Administrative Services begin?
her maternal grandfather was a police officer and they used to listen to many anecdotes from her mother recounting acts of his bravery. In fact her mother used to say that he was known as the Tiger of Bundelkhand and he was always posted to trouble-prone areas which usually other officers would shy away from. Those times British Officers used all tactics to put pressure on the Indians. Those days’ people who fought for freedom were considered traitors.
she heard all this from her mother who used to narrate these tales with a lot of zest and pride; she guess that was when the seed was sown in her! By the time she saw him he had retired from service and they actually never saw him in action as it was the pre-independence era. But they were thrilled to hear his heroic deeds.
Whose lives impacted her as a child? about her parents?
POONAM mother being a deeply religious person would make sure all the family members prayed and celebrated all the festivals together, including the domestic helpers. Being religious does not mean just the prayers but develop great love towards humanity which helps you embrace the race with a compassionate oneness. You do not bother much about trivial matters –especially you are out of ‘consumerism’. For her it was a heady mix of bravery, religious strength from her mother, and patriotism from poonam grandfather. This wasn’t from any story book but drinking straight from their life experiences. Poonam grandfather was a very humble person who used to echo poonam mom’s ideals always. poonam father’s father was an agriculturist, who always lived for the poor and fought for their rights. poonam father was the first generation literate, who went on to become a scientist. Since he was serving for the government they used to relocate once in every three years. This was a boon for poonam as she got to see the varied diverse nature of this culture. This kaleidoscope was mind-boggling, as a child she used to fantasise a lot about nature, culture and celebrations!
poonam was fortunate enough to have a family that made it a point to travel across the length and breadth of this beautiful country, spend some time in the rural areas which used to be their summer resorts.
So she learnt a lot in travelling?
Certainly, she used to travel by train for three days to go to our village in UP from Coimbatore. Whenever the train stopped at every station poonam dad would educate them about the place, they would experience the place, see the people, eat food thus getting the authentic taste of the culture. To her Andhra Pradesh in those days would mean Vijaywada idlis and wadas and Khazipet for piping hot lunch and Nagpur - lovely oranges, as kids we would eagerly wait for all these places! As they were always shuttling between North and South we developed a deep understanding and bond for both the halves.
they observed that superficially the cultures may look different in both the hemispheres but at the core it’s just the same, a grandmother in Coimbatore would tell same stories about Krishna or Rama as her counterpart would in a remote village in UP. Yes, dresses are different but celebrations are same—so it is truly unity in diversity.
Where was poonam schooling?
Most of POONAM schooling was in Coimbatore as her father’s posting there was for a long stretch. hers was a missionary school which inculcated a strong value system in them. she can proudly say it was the place where she picked up love for extracurricular activities and had the zeal to excel in everything. she don’t see such a school now, which trains students into holistic humans, not just insisting on academics. When schooling happens at a place you do not hail from learning is multi-fold, unknowingly you tend to pick up and imbibe a lot. Discipline was very important aspect of her school and had excellent sports facilities too. she was good in athletics. Apart from this she used to take part in essay writing, poetry, quiz, etc which won her over 200 certificates.
All this happened because of the school. These competitions were held by Rotary Club, Lion’s Clubs etc. she used to go for excursions. Another most important aspect of poonam school days is that neither of poonam parents ever said that education is a tool to earn, like many parents today do, nowadays it is learn to earn, but ideally it must be learn to learn. she was never told you should become this or that, but give your best to everything you do.
People usually don’t understand the difference between North and South. she saw this as kids and we used to patiently explain to our people South doesn’t mean Chennai only!
How about poonam children?
They also studied in many schools like her, getting transferred along with poonam. But their High School education was from hyderabad only. POONAM daughter is pursuing medicine in Osmania and son is studying Law in NALSAR.
What was the next step after school?
After school, like everyone else she was busy looking for a good college. she dreamt of becoming a doctor and serve the poor like Florence Nightingale. But she did not get a medical seat. Throughout schooling, she was a topper in her class in academics and co-curricular activities and not having acquired admission into medicine was a real blow that hit poonam hard. In fact, she was way down in her own class when she saw the 12th results. she had no clue as to where things went wrong, questioning evaluation was unheard of in those days. poonam Botany teacher, Sister Marialla was in tears to see her hopes on poonam just crash.
poonam parents were deeply disappointed at the face of it but later accepted things as they were and put her in ‘normal’ college. That was the first time she realised experientially, whatever you may do, the result is not in your hand and her mom reiterated the same. She just said study this well.
Also another important and valuable lesson poonam learnt through this experience is when sister Marialla said God has something better and bigger in store for you. All poonam friends went off to top medical institutes, except her. And here she was in place where not-so-brilliant students are rubbing shoulders with her! she took BSc Botany and embarked on a new phase of her journey. It took almost three months for poonam to get back on tracks. she topped Madras University and got Govt of India, Ministry of HRD’s merit scholarship. It was during this period when poonam befriended a Microbiology graduate who was deeply passionate about the subject.
poonam applied for scholarship with ICAR for Microbiology as her father was also a scientist, to guide her. she got IARI and ICAR fellowships and went to University as Research Scholar. Dr. Subba Rao was poonam guide for PhD. she wanted to do a project which would benefit the ecology/ environment. Hence took Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (VAM): a potential biofertilizer as project in M.Sc. Impact of pesticide on this bacterium. If it is mutated and brought into rice genome it would do Rhizobium’s job. she won a gold medal in MSc and went on to do PhD, as her ultimate aim was to do something about nif (The nif genes are genes encoding enzymes involved in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen)genes. Dr Chopra who is considered as father of plant Biotechnology was her rolemodel.
The best part is that she got this idea because her mother used to talk about harms of plastic, how to protect our environment. Education in their family was looked as a wonderful tool to expand your thinking horizons but not an earning machine.
How did poonam develop this love for Civil Services?
poonam was in Delhi, sharing room with a junior and a good friend of her in the hostel. poonam used to see her prepare for civil services; she would get the study material, forms to be filled etc, in which poonam used to help her. She got the forms and asked poonam to apply too, as poonam didn’t even know what IAS was poonam wasn’t too keen, but she did it. poonam would observe the study material closely and found the subject, approach very interesting.
poonm got through the preliminary round along with her. By then, she was totally sold out to the Administrative Services! When it came to subject selection it was Botany and Zoology, Botany honours from Madras University wasn’t really valued there. Many people discouraged poonam about the combination of the two which take me nowhere. But at that point her research was very valuable for poonam, so in the day time, poonam would go for research and at nights, would prepare for IAS.
poonam guide wasn’t very happy with her decision as it would affect her research. But, it didn’t deter her much and poonam took the exam too, with Botany and Zoology combo, she got through. she went for the interview as she got a call after that, in which they suggested poonam to attend coaching classes. she said she don’t have the money and time as research was her first priority. With her own preparation poonam took the exam and got selected.This was most difficult moment for poonam because she had to choose between IAS and Research. He advised poonam to go for civil services.
Which year did poonam start this new phase?
In 1988, poonam went to Mussorie, did her training, and came back to Warangal as a trainee. After that she joined as a sub-collector in Bhadrachalam.
In 1990-91, she took off as a collector, when Bhadrachalam was going through terrible floods. she plunged straight into action. Since then, there has been no looking back.
poonam known as India’s third most honest, forth-right and sincere IAS officer by the India Today Group.
Everything about the job including the cadre allotments was new to her,she landed in Bhadrachalam. It was the first time when she actually saw and experienced what holding the court was. she saw the tribals there being exploited and their land was occupied by selfish outsiders, who wanted to acquire their land by force. When poonam saw the situation, on hand the helpless tribals were forced to come from their villages on foot to fight their case. They had no clue what was happening, as they got terrified with the lawyers and the serious ambience there. poonam saw their helplessness and the greed of the miscreants and said the court will be conducted in their village only; they need not come to the town.
This created a flurry, but Constitution was in poonam favour, as there was no rule that courts should not be conducted in village. Thus she began a controversial move, to benefit the needy.
What are poonam most coveted achievements?
To poonam it was 24X7 non-stop excitements; every day of her service was fast-paced and thrilling. Being a public servant for 24 years is an honour. poonam think her most talked about project was the Monsanto Seeds – where the corporate was banned from supplying BT cotton seeds to farmers. Reason: failure of the company’s seeds in previous crops and its refusal to pay compensation to farmers as decided by the agricultural commissioner of the state.
This is perhaps the first time that a state government has blacklisted a corporate entity from marketing its products. Akshar Deeksha was another much talked about project which brought tremendous satisfaction to her.
If you get involved in a particular job everything is challenging. To handle challenges with right attitude and cool-mind is what a job like this is all about. poonam can proudly say that she never gave in to nepotism, never had fear of any sort and never hesitated to go by what’s exactly there in law. she would advise all the aspirants to develop love towards their nation which will certainly take them a long way and help them contribute something meaningful to their mother-land.
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