THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — As the election heat intensifies in Kerala, the LDF government has been vigorously highlighting the ‘Unnathi’ Overseas Scholarship as one of its crowning achievements. With 1,160 SC/ST students successfully placed in prestigious foreign universities, the project is a centerpiece of the ruling front’s developmental narrative. However, behind the glossy campaign posters lies a turbulent saga of systemic reform, a fight against recruitment mafias, and the subsequent “witch-hunt” of the officer who made it all possible—Prasanth N. IAS.
The Order That Broke the Lobby
While political leaders now scramble to claim credit for the 1,160 success stories, the foundation of this achievement was laid by a revolutionary Government Order dated August 1, 2023. Sources reveal that before Prasanth IAS took charge, the overseas education sector for underprivileged students was a playground for private recruitment lobbies and middlemen.
Prasanth, known popularly as ‘Collector Bro’, reportedly dismantled this nexus by:
Centralizing Operations: Bringing admission, visa processing, and documentation under a single window.
Empowering ODEPEC: Bypassing private consultancies to entrust the mission to the government-run agency, ODEPEC.
Safety Nets: Introducing mandatory insurance and legal aid for students to prevent them from being stranded abroad—a first for such a state scheme.The Resistance from Within
The reforms did not come without a price. It is alleged that high-profile consultancy firms—some with alleged links to influential political circles—actively lobbied to stall the project. Internal resistance was equally fierce. Reports suggest that senior bureaucrats, including Dr. A. Jayathilak and K. Gopalakrishnan, frequently locked horns with Prasanth over the implementation of the project.
Insiders state that it was the unwavering support of the then Minister K. Radhakrishnan and the looming threat of judicial intervention that eventually allowed the file to move forward, turning the “Unnathi” dream into a reality for thousands.
Reward for Success: A Suspension Order?
The irony of the situation is stark. Today, as the government uses the 1,160-student milestone to woo voters, the man who engineered the system, Prasanth IAS, remains under suspension. His fallout with the bureaucratic top brass escalated when he publicly accused senior officials of “orchestrating fake reports” and “deliberately sabotaging” welfare files.
While the government maintains that the suspension is purely on disciplinary grounds regarding his social media conduct, supporters of the officer and even some pro-left secretariat staff argue that he is being punished for “cleaning the system.”
"It is a classic case of the system consuming its own reformers," said a senior Secretariat official on condition of anonymity. "The political leadership is happy to harvest the crop, but they have sidelined the person who tilled the soil and fought the locusts."As the ‘Unnathi’ success story echoes in election rallies, the continued sidelining of its primary architect remains a glaring contradiction in the government’s “pro-people” rhetoric.
