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'''Painganadu Venkataraman Gopalan''' (1911 – February 1998)<ref name=LATimes1/> was an Indian Central Secretariat Services Officer who served as Director of Relief Measures and Refugees in the government of [[Zambia]], especially the exodus of refugees from [[Southern Rhodesia]] (now [[Zimbabwe]]).<ref name="Harris Family fighter">{{cite web|title=How Kamala Harris's 'Family of Fighters' Influenced Her Campaign Message|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-kamala-harriss-family-of-fighters-influenced-her-campaign-message-11572429601|access-date=26 April 2020|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref><ref name="Harris mother">{{cite news|title=Kamala Harris says inspired by her super hero Indian-American mother|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/nris-in-news/kamala-harris-says-inspired-by-her-super-hero-indian-american-mother/articleshow/67482957.cms|access-date=15 August 2020|date=11 January 2019|agency=PTI|newspaper=[[The Economic Times]]}}</ref> While in [[Zambia]], he later served as Advisor to [[president of Zambia]] [[Kenneth Kaunda]].<ref name="Kamala rights">{{cite web |title=Kamala takes a strong stand on rights, but not dogmatic: uncle|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/she-has-her-head-on-her-shoulders-says-uncle-on-kamala-harris/article32332093.ece|work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=17 August 2020}}</ref> He served as [[Joint Secretary to the Government of India]] in 1960s. He is the grandfather of U.S. Vice President [[Kamala Harris]].<ref name=LATimes1/><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Ganapathy|first=Nirmala|date=2020-08-16|title=Kamala Harris' Indian roots remain in focus back home|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/kamala-harris-indian-roots-remain-in-focus-back-home|access-date=2020-11-18|website=The Straits Times|language=en}}</ref>
'''Painganadu Venkataraman Gopalan''' (1911 – February 1998)<ref name=LATimes1/> was an Indian Central Secretariat Services officer who served as Director of Relief Measures and Refugees in the government of [[Zambia]], especially the exodus of refugees from [[Southern Rhodesia]] (now [[Zimbabwe]]).<ref name="Harris Family fighter">{{cite web|title=How Kamala Harris's 'Family of Fighters' Influenced Her Campaign Message|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-kamala-harriss-family-of-fighters-influenced-her-campaign-message-11572429601|access-date=26 April 2020|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref><ref name="Harris mother">{{cite news|title=Kamala Harris says inspired by her super hero Indian-American mother|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/nris-in-news/kamala-harris-says-inspired-by-her-super-hero-indian-american-mother/articleshow/67482957.cms|access-date=15 August 2020|date=11 January 2019|agency=PTI|newspaper=[[The Economic Times]]}}</ref> While in [[Zambia]], he later served as Advisor to [[president of Zambia]] [[Kenneth Kaunda]].<ref name="Kamala rights">{{cite web |title=Kamala takes a strong stand on rights, but not dogmatic: uncle|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/she-has-her-head-on-her-shoulders-says-uncle-on-kamala-harris/article32332093.ece|work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=17 August 2020}}</ref> He served as [[Joint Secretary to the Government of India]] in 1960s. He is the grandfather of U.S. Vice President [[Kamala Harris]].<ref name=LATimes1/><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Ganapathy|first=Nirmala|date=2020-08-16|title=Kamala Harris' Indian roots remain in focus back home|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/kamala-harris-indian-roots-remain-in-focus-back-home|access-date=2020-11-18|website=The Straits Times|language=en}}</ref>


Gopalan was a member of the [[Imperial Secretariat Service]] and later a [[Central Secretariat Service]] [[Civil Services of India|officer]].<ref name="Gazette 34 1956"/><ref name="Indian American Harris">{{cite web |title='Losing out': Indian Americans say Kamala Harris needs to do more to win them over|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/losing-out-indian-americans-say-kamala-harris-needs-to-do-more-to-win-them-over|work=[[Washington Examiner]] |access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="Interview Harris">{{cite web |title=The New Face of Politics…An Interview with Kamala Harris|url=http://www.desiclub.com/community/culture/culture_article.cfm?id=467|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211152014/http://www.desiclub.com/community/culture/culture_article.cfm?id=467|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 December 2010|access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref>
Gopalan was a member of the [[Imperial Secretariat Service]] and later a [[Central Secretariat Service]] [[Civil Services of India|officer]].<ref name="Gazette 34 1956"/><ref name="Indian American Harris">{{cite web |title='Losing out': Indian Americans say Kamala Harris needs to do more to win them over|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/losing-out-indian-americans-say-kamala-harris-needs-to-do-more-to-win-them-over|work=[[Washington Examiner]] |access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="Interview Harris">{{cite web |title=The New Face of Politics…An Interview with Kamala Harris|url=http://www.desiclub.com/community/culture/culture_article.cfm?id=467|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211152014/http://www.desiclub.com/community/culture/culture_article.cfm?id=467|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 December 2010|access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref>

Revision as of 20:41, 24 September 2021

P. V. Gopalan
Personal details
Born1911 (1911)
Thulasendrapuram, Madras Presidency, British India (present-day Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, India)
DiedFebruary 1998 (aged 86–87)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
SpouseRajam Gopalan
Children4 (including Shyamala)
RelativesKamala Harris (granddaughter)
Maya Harris (granddaughter)
Sharada Balachandran Orihuela (granddaughter)
Meena Harris (great-granddaughter)

Painganadu Venkataraman Gopalan (1911 – February 1998)[1] was an Indian Central Secretariat Services officer who served as Director of Relief Measures and Refugees in the government of Zambia, especially the exodus of refugees from Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).[2][3] While in Zambia, he later served as Advisor to president of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda.[4] He served as Joint Secretary to the Government of India in 1960s. He is the grandfather of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.[1][5]

Gopalan was a member of the Imperial Secretariat Service and later a Central Secretariat Service officer.[6][7][8]

Early life

Gopalan was born into a Tamil Brahmin family in 1911 in Thulasenthirapuram, Mannargudi a village in the erstwhile Tanjore District, Madras Presidency, in India.[1]

Career

Gopalan joined[when?] the Imperial Secretariat Service during British rule in India and later merged into Central Secretariat Service.[6] He served as Under Secretary to the government of India in the Ministry of Transport (Roads Wing).[6] In the 1950s, he was posted as a senior commercial officer in Bombay.[1] He worked on the rehabilitation of refugees from East Pakistan in India.[4]

Rising through the ranks, Gopalan was later empanelled and served as Joint Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation.[9] He was later deputed to the government of Zambia and lived in Lusaka as Director of Relief Measures and Refugees,[9] to help Zambia manage an influx of refugees from Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Personal life

P. V. Gopalan was married to Rajam Gopalan. They had four children: the oldest, a daughter, Shyamala, who earned a PhD in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to have an academic and research career in the US and Canada; a son, Balachandran, who received a PhD in economics and computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and returned to an academic career in India; a daughter, Sarala, an obstetrician who practised in Chennai; and the youngest, another daughter, Mahalakshmi, an information scientist, who worked for the Government of Ontario, Canada.[1] Gopalan was the grandfather of lawyer Maya Harris, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, and academic Sharada Balachandran Orihuela.[1][5] Shyamala and her daughters used to visit Gopalan every few years, and Kamala has said that she was strongly influenced by his progressive political views on democracy and women's rights, especially their right to education.[10] He later bought an apartment in Besant Nagar and lived in Chennai until his death.[11]

Further reading

  • Kamala Harris. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey (Publisher: Random House; ISBN 978-1473567863)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Bengali, Shashank; Mason, Melanie (25 October 2019). "The progressive Indian grandfather who inspired Kamala Harris". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  2. ^ "How Kamala Harris's 'Family of Fighters' Influenced Her Campaign Message". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Kamala Harris says inspired by her super hero Indian-American mother". The Economic Times. PTI. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Kamala takes a strong stand on rights, but not dogmatic: uncle". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b Ganapathy, Nirmala (16 August 2020). "Kamala Harris' Indian roots remain in focus back home". The Straits Times. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  6. ^ a b c "Gazette of India, 1956, No. 34 (Archived)". Government of India. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  7. ^ "'Losing out': Indian Americans say Kamala Harris needs to do more to win them over". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  8. ^ "The New Face of Politics…An Interview with Kamala Harris". Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Gazette of India, 1966, No. 423 (Archived)". Government of India. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  10. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey; Raj, Suhasini (16 August 2020). "How Kamala Harris's Family in India Helped Shape Her Values". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. ^ "Raising a Veep Candidate: Meet the Progressive Grandfather From TN Village Who Shaped Kamala Harris' Journey". CNN-News18. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Unknown
 Order of Precedence of India
as Joint Secretary to Government of India
1960's 		Succeeded by
Unknown
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