Yathish Chandra – IPS Officer from Kerala Cadre

Yathish Chandra is an Indian Police Service Officer of 2011 Kerala Cadre, currently serving as Commissioner of Police, Thrissur. This young IPS officer based in Davangere, Karnataka came to limelight for the first time with Sabarimala row in 2018. He was posted as special officer in charge at Nilakkal region, when he had a rift with Union minister of state for finance, Pon Radhakrishnan at the base camp. The video footage of the conversation and related events went viral over net. Following the controversy he had a strong fan base, particularly from the youth of Kerala. He is quite popular for his ‘Dabangg’ style. He has been appointed as District Police Superintendent of Kannur now, and he spearheads Corona fight in the district in year 2020.

GH Yathish Chandra, a native of Karnataka was born in 1986. He is the single to his father – a government servant and his mother – a homemaker. Initially he was interested in a white collar job which could earn him good salary. He also completed his Engineering studies in Electronics and Communication and pursued a career in this field. He worked for 2 years in Bangalore, and to go to abroad, he pursued his MBA as well. Then only he got attracted to civil services after one of his friends asked him to try it once.

As he had no idea about IAS, he sought the help of internet and online articles to know more about the field. He didn’t attend any coaching classes or quit his job for his preparation classes, and solely depended on YouTube and internet for studies. Finally he got through the civil services exams in his third attempt with 211^th rank in general merit. Throughout his career he has been a newsmaker for various reasons, and known to be a rough and strict officer.

He came to limelight soon after he was posted at Sabarimala. He detained BJP state general secretary K. Surendran during the violent law and order issues of Sabarimala. His stand against BJP has irked many politicians of the party, though loved by other party followers. Now he is one of the popular young IAS officers who work in Kerala, and his working style is often compared to film star Suresh Gopi in his cop films like Commissioner.

Yathish Chandra – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Initially he didn’t want to join civil services, and had only brief knowledge about its studies and official ranks. He was more interested in good salaried job then.

2. Geography was the main subject for civil services.

3. When he joined civil services, he also got selected to Karnataka police. He had applied to a job of deputy superintendent which he got. But he chose IPS.

4. He is also known to be a fitness freak, and is strict about regular exercises. He does daily exercises for 1 hour.

5. He participated in PM Narendra Modi’s fitness challenge and posted a video, which went viral.

6. He is a strict vegetarian, and loves Kerala traditional sadya with payasam. But he is not fond of coconut oil for cooking purposes.

7. He is a foodie and drinks 1 litre of milk every day. He drinks about 1 litre of buttermilk every day, a large bowl of yogurt three times a day and loves loads of ghee in his food.

8. His wife Shyamala is his friend during Engineering days, and their marriage happened with the blessings from both families. His son’s name is Visrut.

9. He was into IT sector before joining IPS.

10. He has been into civil service for the past 6-7 years or so. Though the salary is not equal to his IT job which he earned earlier from Cognizant Technologies, he is more satisfied with his new role because of the love and respect he earned through it.

11. His non-compromising attitude made him a charismatic administrator among present-generation officers.