C. P. John

Cheruvathoor Poulose John is a politician,^[1] activist and writer from Kunnamkulam, Kerala. He is currently the General Secretary of the Communist Marxist Party (CMP), which he co founded in 1987, and Member of the Kerala State Planning Board with responsibility for agriculture, labour, SC/ST/OBC welfare and decentralised planning.

CP John was born in 1957 and raised and schooled in Kunnamkulam. His father, CI Poulose was an Assistant Director of the Department of Agriculture in Central Province (now Madhya Pradesh) and his mother, Rosa Poulose, was the Headmistress of Kunnamkulam Girls’ High School and Pazhani Girls High School. His mother bequeathed him a strong sense of social justice and he became a student activist at school in Kunnamkulam. Galvanised by the Emergency (1975–77) he became a prominent student leader whilst studying for his undergraduate degree in Physics and Bachelor of Laws at Calicut University, rising to the positions of Kerala State President (1980–85) and then All India Vice President of the Student Federation of India (1983-1986).

From 1987 onwards, CP John combined his role as Secretary of the CMP with various administrative positions that gave him the opportunity to contribute towards social justice in Kerala,^[2] particularly in his priority areas of women’s empowerment (as Director of the Kudumbashree Mission from 2001-2006), labour rights and trade unions (Chairman of the Labour Welfare Board, Kerala from 1993-1996 and National Working Committee member, HMS (Hind Mazdoor Sabha) from 2010 onwards) rural economic development (e.g. as Vice President of the Kerala State Agricultural and Rural Development Bank), and consumer rights (director of Kerala State Consumer Cooperative Federation).^[3]

He has served two terms on the Kerala State Planning Board (2001-2006; 2011-2016).^[4] Some of the key achievements in the current tenure that he has played a pivotal role in have been: • The simplification of decentralised planning processes, with a focus on direct democracy and the introduction of jana sabhas at ward and community level • The introduction of e-tendering at Panchayat level, a culmination of a lifetime mission to reduce corruption in the public sector • The introduction of high quality undergraduate Honours courses in four Government Colleges in Kerala • Redefining the SC Special Component Plan of the 12th Plan to allow SC households direct control over the allocation of funds for the first time CP John has also continued his political activism, as a Member of the UDF Liaison Committee since 1990 and as the successful campaign organiser for veteran leaders such as K. Karunakaran and M. V. Raghavan He has continued to publish widely on the socio-economic issues facing Kerala, particular in the domains of planning and public finance, including a regular weekly column in the Indian Express.

CP John married Aruna Varkey, a Law Officer at Kerala State Cooperative Bank in 1985, daughter of Kerala State Drugs Controller PM Varkey and social worker and political activist Padmini Varkey. CP and Aruna have two daughters; Aparna John (PhD student at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex) and Anjana John (MPhil student in Development Practice at Ambedkar University).

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