EVENT
REPORT — FELICITATION ADDRESS
Click to watch the address on Youtube
"From Tailor's Son to IAS Officer":
Mr. Parikipandla Narahari - IAS Officer's Address on Personal Journey, OBC
Representation, and a Call for Political Mobilisation of the Padmashali
Community
This report translates
and summarises a felicitation-event speech delivered by Mr. Parikipandla Narahari a senior IAS officer
(currently holding Additional Secretary rank in the Government of India) at a
community event organised in honour of the Padmashali Backward Class (BC/OBC)
community, apparently timed around Jai Markandeya observances. The officer,
originally from Basanth Nagar in Peddapalli district, Telangana, used the
occasion to narrate his personal journey from a tailor's family to the highest
levels of the civil services, and to issue a call for the community — including
the assembled sarpanches (village council heads) — to pursue political
representation, up to and including the office of Chief Minister of Telangana.
1.
Event Context
•
Occasion:
A felicitation ceremony linked to Jai Markandeya observances, organised in part
by the Janadhikara Samithi, a political/social organisation, along with
community leaders including Sangam Suryarao and others.
•
Attendance:
Of 165 invitees, 70 sarpanches from the Padmashali community were reported
present.
•
Speaker: A
native of Basanth Nagar, Peddapalli district, Telangana, who cleared the UPSC
Civil Services Examination (IAS) with an All-India Rank of 78 under the OBC
(Other Backward Classes) reservation category.
2.
The Speaker's Personal and Professional Journey
The speaker recounted
that his father was a tailor by profession. While preparing for the Civil
Services Examination during his engineering studies, he informed his father of
his intent to attempt the IAS exam. His father's response — that he too could "sit
for the exam," given the increased opportunities opened up by OBC
reservation following the Mandal Commission — is presented as a formative
moment. The speaker recalled being told by his father not to overreach, and to
accept outcomes calmly, whether success or failure, rather than being told to
resort to force or aggression to get ahead.
Career trajectory cited
by the speaker:
|
Stage |
Detail |
|
Selection |
Selected to
the IAS; cadre allotted: Madhya Pradesh |
|
District-level
service |
Approximately
10 years as a District Collector in Madhya Pradesh |
|
State-level
service |
Served as
Secretary, Commissioner, and Principal Secretary |
|
Current
position |
Additional
Secretary, Government of India — one promotion (Chief Secretary rank) short
of the apex civil-service rank |
|
Recent
milestone |
First visit to
the new Parliament building, seated in the officials' gallery |
"An
officer as senior as I am does not typically claim credit for personal
achievement alone; my goal has been to help produce a hundred more IAS officers
like myself."
3.
The 'Cement Factory' Anecdote: On Caste, Reservation, and Merit
The speaker related an
anecdote from his home village, where a cement factory's manager — from a
different (non-Padmashali) community — reacted to news of the speaker's IAS
selection by first asking his rank, rather than offering congratulations. On
learning the rank was 78, the manager calculated that combined with the number
of IAS (55) and IPS (40) vacancies that year (a total of 95), a rank of 78
would have secured even an IPS post on general (unreserved) merit — implying
that reservation was not decisive in this case.
The speaker used this
exchange to argue that OBC candidates should focus on competing effectively
rather than being measured by others' assumptions about reservation, framing
his own selection as having withstood scrutiny on rank even when compared against
general-category cut-offs.
4.
Central Themes of the Address
4.1 Personal effort and
competitive spirit
The speaker repeatedly
emphasised the need for a 'burning ambition' or 'hunger to win' (a phrase he
used colloquially, roughly 'fire in the belly') and a competitive mindset,
urging listeners to know clearly whom they are competing against and to pursue success
single-mindedly, whether in examinations or in elections.
4.2 Political
under-representation of BCs/OBCs
The speaker's stated
goal, pursued since 2023, is to increase political representation for
backward-class communities, particularly the Padmashali community, given what
he described as an absence of adequate political representation despite their
numbers.
4.3 Legal setbacks to OBC
reservation in local bodies
The speaker cited the
Telangana state government's 2024 push to introduce 42% OBC reservation in
local body elections, noting that this was struck down by the High Court and
Supreme Court. He further stated that over the past decade, roughly ten states
have attempted to expand OBC reservation in local bodies, employment, and
higher education through legislation, only for such laws to be invalidated by
the judiciary — arguing that this underscores the need for greater OBC presence
within legislatures themselves, since laws are made by elected representatives
in assemblies and Parliament, not administrators.
4.4 Proposed
constitutional and structural remedies
•
A
constitutional amendment, referencing the Indra Sawhney case, to raise the 50%
ceiling on reservations specifically to accommodate increased OBC reservation.
•
In the
context of the ongoing delimitation exercise, a proposal that either one-third
of seats be reserved for BCs/OBCs, or a 'dual-member constituency' formula be
adopted — under which each constituency would elect two representatives, one
general and one BC/OBC — citing that BCs (specifically Hindu BCs) constitute an
estimated 52% of Telangana's population.
•
Extension
of a similar dual-representation formula to Parliamentary constituencies,
citing that with 17 Lok Sabha seats from Telangana, a proportion matching the
52% BC population share should be reflected in representation.
5.
Call to Action
Addressing the
sarpanches present, the speaker urged them to see their current position not as
a terminus but as the first rung of a longer political ladder, citing that many
chief ministers and Union ministers began their public life as sarpanches. He described
the sarpanch election as, in his experience as a former District Collector who
oversaw numerous elections, the most fiercely contested level of election in
Indian democracy, urging attendees not to underestimate themselves.
•
Invited
sarpanches interested in contesting for the state legislature or Parliament to
submit their names to the Janadhikara Samithi.
•
Committed
the organisation to backing and mentoring such candidates over a two-year
period, beginning from the upcoming Dasara festival, with the stated aim of
helping them reach the legislature.
•
Declared
an aspiration for a Chief Minister from the BC community in Telangana,
describing the moment for this as having arrived.
The speaker closed by
invoking social reformers Jyotiba Phule and B.R. Ambedkar, framing their
historical advocacy for the education of women and backward classes, and for
political power for oppressed communities respectively, as unfinished ideas
that the present generation is obliged to carry forward. He thanked those
associated with organising the event, including Sangam Suryarao and Narayana of
the Janadhikara Samithi, and closed the event with the slogan 'Jai Padmashali.'
6.
Summary Assessment
The address blends a personal success narrative (from a tailor's household to near-apex civil service rank) with a political mobilisation pitch aimed at a specific backward-caste community (Padmashali) and the broader OBC/BC population of Telangana. Its central policy argument is that administrative careers alone cannot secure lasting representation for backward classes; legislative presence is required to make and defend reservation policy, given that OBC reservation measures introduced by several state governments over the past decade have repeatedly been struck down by courts. The speech functions simultaneously as a felicitation address, a motivational talk on competitive examinations, and a recruitment pitch for a political mobilisation drive (Janadhikara Samithi) targeting sarpanches as future legislative candidates.
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