The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to promote Additional Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar as Chief Secretary.
Mr. Jayakumar is currently holding charge of Home, Vigilance, Dewaswom, Inter-State Waters, and Agriculture Production Commissioner. He is also functioning as chairman of the high-power committee for implementation of the Sabarimala master plan.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the media after the weekly Cabinet meeting that the government would take a decision on relieving Mr. Jayakumar of some of his current responsibilities as he assumed charge as Chief Secretary in place of P. Prabakaran who was retiring on March 31. The Cabinet commended the service of Mr. Prabakaran.
Mr. Jayakumar began his career as a lecturer in Kerala University. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1978 and served as Collector, Director of Tourism, Secretary (Tourism), Secretary (Culture), and Secretary (General Education). He worked as Managing Director of the Kerala Film Development Corporation and Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University. Between 2002 and 2007, he had been on deputation to the Centre as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Culture.
Apart from being a civil servant, Mr. Jayakumar is a distinguished author, poet, translator, lyricist, artist, scriptwriter, and film-maker. He has published 18 books, including four anthologies of poems, five translations into Malayalam, and two anthologies of poems in English. His translations include that of Gitanjali of Rabrindranath Tagore, Prophet of Khalil Gibran, poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, and Gita Govinds by Jayadeva. He has written an authentic book on Kerala titled ‘Kerala: a poem in green and gold,' besides lyrics for more than 80 films.
He has held art exhibitions in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Chennai and directed a children's film, Varnachirakukal . He is winner of the Asianet Award and the Film Critics Award for best lyrics, Mahakavi Kuttamath Award for poetry, K.P.S. Menon Award for excellence in public life, and the Kunjunni Master Award.
