Obituary | Keshav Desiraju was known for his keen engagement with public health and clean governance
The Hindu
Former Union Health Secretary’s colleagues and successors remember him as a man whose “silent courage and his ability to carry his team with him” made him a valued mentor and leader
Former Union Health Secretary Keshav Desiraju was known for his keen engagement with public health and clean governance. His colleagues and successors remember him as a man whose “silent courage and ability to carry his team with him” made him a valued mentor and leader. “Keshav Desiraju, grandson of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was loved and appreciated for his honesty and decency. This set him apart. He was a pillar of strength to many,’’ said K. Sujatha Rao, who served as Union Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for the government of India until 2010. Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh in his tweet on Sunday morning said: “My dear, dear friend for 57 years, Keshav Desiraju, a most outstanding civil servant has just passed away. What a tragic irony that he left us on the day the country marks the birthday of his grandfather. Keshav has written the definitive biography of M.S. Subbulakshmi.’’![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20250217064624.jpg)
When fed into Latin, pusilla comes out denoting “very small”. The Baillon’s crake can be missed in the field, when it is at a distance, as the magnification of the human eye is woefully short of what it takes to pick up this tiny creature. The other factor is the Baillon’s crake’s predisposition to present less of itself: it moves about furtively and slides into the reeds at the slightest suspicion of being noticed. But if you are keen on observing the Baillon’s crake or the ruddy breasted crake in the field, in Chennai, this would be the best time to put in efforts towards that end. These birds live amidst reeds, the bulrushes, which are likely to lose their density now as they would shrivel and go brown, leaving wide gaps, thereby reducing the cover for these tiddly birds to stay inscrutable.