Alphons Joseph Kannanthanam or K. J. Alphons (born 8 August 1953) is an Indian civil servant, advocate, and politician from Kerala. He was

Union Minister of State The Union Council of Ministers is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India'' It is chaired by th ...

for

Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, and

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

during

first Modi ministry The First Narendra Modi ministry is the Council of Ministers headed by Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2014 general election which was held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May in 2014. The results of the election were announced on ...

under Government of

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. He also held charge for Electronics and Information Technology. Alphons Kannanthanam belongs to the 1979 batch of the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

(I.A.S.), Kerala cadre. He served as Commissioner of the

Delhi Development Authority The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is a statutory body established under the Delhi Development Act, 1957, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India to "promote and secure the development of Del ...

. He joined the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

in 2012. Before that, he was a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and served as an MLA in Government of Kerala representing that party.

Early life and education

Alphons was born in Manimala,

Kottayam District Kottayam () is one of List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Kerala, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettu ...

, to K. V Joseph & Brijith Joseph. His father was a World War II

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

who became a school teacher after the war. His parents had nine children; they adopted two more from the orphanage. Alphons received his early education in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

medium village schools near his place of birth. He passed SSLC with 42% marks. He completed his

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

's in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and was one of the toppers of the

Civil Services Examination The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a standardized test in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of India, civil services in the Government of India, such as the All India Service ...

in the year 1979. He also completed his LLB while he was the Commissioner for Delhi Development Authority DDA.

Career

Navjot Singh Sidhu meeting Alphons Kannanthanam

Alphons was recruited to the

in 1979 and served a civil servant for 27 years. In the 1980s Kannanthanam was a district collector in Kottayam. His national profile rose as the Commissioner of the

, he commissioned demolition of 14,310 illegal buildings and reclaimed land worth more than Rs. 10,000 crores. These actions earned him the epithet 'The Demolition Man'. He is also a practicing advocate in the High Court of Kerała at

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

and the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

. In 2006, he resigned from the IAS to enter politics. He was elected a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

, from

Kanjirappally Kanjirappally is a taluk and a town in Kottayam district situated about away from the district capital, in the state of Kerala, in southwestern India. Etymology Climate Kanjirappally has the highest number of rainy days in Kerala. It receiv ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

as an independent candidate with the support of

Left Democratic Front The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of Left-wing politics, left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the current List of current Indian ruling and opposition parties, r ...

and served from 2006 to 2011. On 24 March 2011, Alphons joined the BJP in the presence of erstwhile party president

Nitin Gadkari Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician who serves as the 40th Minister of Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India since 2014. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways, current ...

, after having resigned from his assembly seat a couple of hours prior. Minister K J Alphons with Dr Edmond Fernandes

He was appointed a Member of Committee constituted by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

on 26 June 2017 to prepare the final draft of National Education Policy. In a cabinet reshuffle on 3 September 2017, he was appointed minister of state in the

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) is an executive agency of the Government of India, Union Government of the India, Republic of India. It was carved out of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (I ...

and minister of State (independent charge) of the Ministry of Tourism. On 9 November 2017, Alphons was elected unopposed as Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan. He is the second BJP Central Minister from

after O. Rajagopal.

2019 Indian general election

Alphons Kannanthanam contested as NDA candidate from Ernakulam constituency for

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

and came third.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kannanthanam, Alphons 1953 births Living people Indian Christians North-Eastern Hill University alumni Faculty of Law, University of Delhi alumni Malayali politicians Politicians from Kottayam Independent politicians in India Kerala MLAs 2006–2011 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Kerala Narendra Modi ministry Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan Indian Administrative Service officers District magistrate