P.V. Karunanithi
The IAF man who had Telecom on his radar
-by Ramani .VB.
“Everything is same for everyone - except the confidence, which makes all the difference “ asserts Mr. PONNAPPUR VAITHIALINGAM KARUNANITHI, Regional Director, Telecommunications Consultants of India Limited, Kuwait..
Telecommunications Consultants India limited, widely known as TCIL, is a wholly owned public sector undertaking of Government of India, actively engaged in various turnkey telecommunications projects world over. TCIL Kuwait is an important profit centre for this state owned Telecom Company. It is currently serving for Ministry of Communications Kuwait for the maintenance of networks. It also implements Optical Fibre Telecom Networks for other clients in Kuwait.
TCIL Kuwait branch , in 2010-11, has made the highest turnover of the last five years. The man behind this achievement is Mr. P.V.Karunanithi, a senior level officer of Government of India, belonging to Indian Telecom Service (ITS). Currently he is on deputation to TCIL Kuwait from Department of Telecom (DoT), Govt of India. He has reached this position from a humble beginning with sheer determination and focused hard work.
Born in a simple agricultural family in Ponnapur, a rural village of Thanjavur District ,Tamil Nadu, he did his schooling from a nearby Government High School at MelaUlur. He had to discontinue his BSc studies to join Indian Air force as Radar Technician in 1980. Amidst his new Job, he ambitiously pursued the engineering degree in Electronics and Communication and qualified as graduate engineer in the year 1986.
Even the selection of Electronics and communication field for his engineering degree showed astuteness and foresight, as India embarked on an explosive growth in Telecommunication technology under the leadership of Shri Rajiv Gandhi, with Sam Pitroda piloting the telecom revolution.
Mr.P.V.Karunanithi joined the Indian Telecom Service through the Engineering Services Examination conducted by UPSC in 1986. He simply surged ahead with confidence to a trail-blazing career in Telecom Industry. Mr.P.V.Karunanithi is a fellow member of Institution of Engineers ( India) and also holds an MBA degree in Financial Management from IGNOU.
During the past 23 years, Mr P.V.Karunanithi served in various vital and senior level positions from Divisional Engineer to General Manager and acquired wide range of experience in Planning, Installation and Maintenance of various types of telecommunication networks. His 6+ years of overseas project execution included projects at Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Kuwait.
More than his overseas assignments, he treasures memories of his posting to Thanjavur, his home district, from 1998 to 2000 as Deputy General Manager, Telecommunications. During this period the district witnessed an amazing threefold expansion of telecom network and a tremendous improvement in the quality of services. In recognition of his contribution to the development of telecom infrastructure in Thanjavur district, he was honored with an award for the best performance by then District Collector in the Independence day function in the year 2000.
Mr Karunanithi is married to Mrs Indira, who is also an engineer from the same discipline. They are blessed with two daughters Ishwarya and Vaishnavi. Ishwarya is doing her Electrical Engineering in Chennai and Vaishnavi is in the 12th standard. Both are aspiring to become successful, brilliant engineers in life.
Mr.Karunanithi maintains a passion for reading and writing. He has written a few short stories in Tamil, mainly for the children, revolving around science and scientific fictions. His short stories have been published in leading weeklies like Kumudam , Anada Vikadan and one in All India Radio. Two compilations of short stories and a book on self development in Tamil are to his credit.
Mr Karunanithi has a keen interest and involvement in upliftment of the downtrodden people in the society. “Only few in the society are blessed to seize the opportunities. It is their bounden duty and social responsibility to serve back and add value to the society at large. That is the right way to express the gratitude to the society”. In recognition of his social welfare activities, he was conferred with the Pulavar Thangabalan Award for Social Outlook in Chennai in year 2009.
Mere passage of time should not be counted as experience. One should develop the aptitude to take responsibility in order to grow and become strong in life. According to P.V.Karunanithi, “Success is not all that difficult to those who know the art of overcoming the starting trouble. Faith brings success and absolute faith brings absolute success”
