Newly appointed Minister Of State for Tourism Mr Alphon’s Kannanthanam life is nothing short of a miracle. Having passed his high school with 42% from a non electrified village Malayalam medium school, he became one of the toppers of the 1979 batch of the IAS. For 27 years he was the voice of the helpless citizens running pitched battles against the corrupt system. He was rated to be one of the most competent officers in the history of the civil service. He is an inspirational orator and has spoken to over three million people, mostly students, in the past 35 years. In 2006, he quit IAS, contested as an independent from Kanjirappally constituency and got elected as an MLA with huge majority, spending less than Rs. 10 lakh. He decided that he wanted to be different kind of an MLA. He drove his own car and lived in a tiny room in the rest house and got allocated Rs. 350 crores for the constituency and won the best MLA award.
