Annies Kanmani Joy is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2012 batch who is also a former nurse from Kerala and made headlines in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic by containing the transmission of the Coronavirus in her Kodagu district in Karnataka. She is serving as the deputy commissioner of the Kodagu district in Karnataka, India.
Wiki/Biography
Table of Contents
Annies Kanmani Joy was born on Tuesday, 23 April 1985 (age 36 years; as of 2020) in village Pampakuda in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India. [1]Supremo Her zodiac sign is Taurus. Annies received school education from Fathima Matha School and Mount Carmel School in Kottayam, Kerala, India. She did B.Sc. in Nursing along with a one-year internship, at the Trivandrum Medical College under the University of Kerala in 2009. She held the designation of Chief Executive Officer, Under Secretary, Panchayats Deptt Tumkur, Karnataka in 2017 and Assistant Commissioner, Junior Scale, Sub Division Bidar, Karnataka in 2014.
Physical Appearance
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Annies Kanmani Joy’s father is Parappalil Joy and he is a farmer. Her mother Leela is a farmer. Her sister Elsa Aswathy Joy is an MSc in nursing, in Belgaum, Karnataka, India)
Husband & Children
Annies Kanmani Joy is married to Stephen Mani (an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer posted as the first secretary to the Indian Embassy in Washington DC in USA). Her daughter’s name is Apoorva.
Career
During the initial working years as an IAS officer in the Kodagu district in Karnataka, India, Annies Kanmani Joy refused more than 500 applications of converting the local agricultural land for commercial purposes in her district, Kodagu. This denial was based on the recommendations given by an 18-member team of experts who visited the local area. The applications were made by the local business ventures in order to commercialize and expand the existing market.
In 2018, landslides hit and struck the southern Kodagu district of Karnataka due to heavy rainfalls and floods. Ten local villagers of the Kogadu district died due to these landslides. Annies Joy the DC of the district along with the then Superintendent of Police Suman D Penneker and the then Zilla Panchayat CEO Lakshmi Priya went on the ground to inspect and take care of the landslide-affected area in Thora. These ladies were honored for their on-ground visits and response. Annies along with her fellow colleagues was seen walking slowly and with heavy steps typically because of deteriorated conditions of the mud roads. She was inspecting the area in order to keep an eye on the search operations of the missing persons during the landslides.
Later on, in September 2019, Annies Kanmani Joy made an announcement in the Kodagu district of Karnataka that the spare Government land would be provided to the victims of the landslides, who had lost their homes. Consequently, the unnecessary encroachments were demolished by the order of Annies Joy.
In 2019, Annies was transferred and promoted as the deputy commissioner of the Kodagu district in Karnataka, India.
The COVID pandemic hit India in 2019. In March 2020, Joy announced and imposed an early lockdown in her Kodagu district when the cases of Coronavirus increased and spread in the states of India. COVID cases were started reporting in Kodagu district following which Annies joy ordered to shut down all the tourist places in the district amid lockdown. This imposition was much earlier than the national lockdown was declared in India. The Kodagu district of Karnataka followed strict containment protocols during the pandemic lockdown. There were no cases reported in her area for consecutive 28 days. Annies Kanmani Joy received national recognition for playing such a responsible role in the successful break-in transmission of corona cases in the district, Kodagu in Karnataka.
fThe journalists from Cauvery Times (a Kannada paper) wrote some articles against Annies and her work during the post-lockdown rules. The newspaper published the articles in the May and June editions of the newspaper in 2020. Annies filed an FIR against Vasanth, a reporter, and the editor of Cauvery Times (a Kannada paper) following which Annies was criticized for this step. Reportedly, it was supposed through an unidentified letter that the DC and the then SP of the district were misusing disaster relief funds.
Annies Kanmani Joy has also banned the cutting and transportation of timber. She battled against the notorious timber mafia in the district, Kodagu in Karnataka.
In 2021, Annies Kanmani Joy is on leave till the end of 2021. She said in an interview that she would resume work at the end of the year 2021 and she was on leave to spend some time with her daughter and husband in the US. She said,
I have had a successful two-year tenure in Kodagu as Deputy Commissioner. Thank you everyone for the support and warmth provided. The beautiful memories in Kodagu will be cherished forever. I made the request for a break. I am leaving to spend time with my family and my daughter Apoorva. I will be returning to service later this year in a new role.”
Facts/Trivia
- Annies Joy secured 65th rank within 85 candidates of the general category in the civil services exam, 2011.
- Since childhood, Annies Joy was a bright student who aspired to become a doctor but she belonged to a very poor family who did not have enough money to buy books for her education.
- Annies Kanmani Joy is the second nurse ever to become an IAS officer in India after Alice Vaz R, a 2005 batch West Bengal cadre IAS, is also a nurse-turned IAS.
- Annies Kanmani Joy scored rank 580 in the Civil Services Examination in 2010 on the first attempt. In an interview, she claimed that for the second attempt of the IAS examination, she referred to her notes from the previous year’s examination and thoroughly read the current affairs. Joy began the training for the Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) in Faridabad, Haryana.
- Annies gave an interview to a News channel after cracking the civil services examination in 2012. She said her parents motivated her to study hard and she got the inspiration to appear in the Indian civil services from them. She explained that in her first attempt at the exam, she got rank 580 as she gave it in a haphazard manner but she always wanted to become a civil servant. She told the media person that she already knew that she will do better on the second attempt and eventually, scored the rank 65 in 2012.
- After qualifying the second attempt with rank 65, Annies joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). She opted for psychology and Malayalam literature as her optional subjects, for these civil services examinations.
- Annies was on Training at Junior Scale at LBSNAA Mussoorie from 2012 to 2014.
- In October 2019, Annies was spotted wearing traditional dress and attending the Madikeri Dasara event in Banglore, India.
- In October 2020, Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy received WhatsApp videos and messages claiming that she was being appreciated by the people of the Kodagu district in Karnataka as she had helped and guided the local people to manage and prevent the COVID-19 pandemic crises in the district. However, Joy denied the claim and said-
That is not me in the video. Since yesterday (Monday), I am receiving endless messages about it but it’s not me! I was told the video was shared on a Facebook page and then it was downloaded and circulated on WhatsApp.”
- Reportedly, Annies qualified for the nursing exam but never joined and worked as a nurse.
- Annies Joy’s success story from being a nurse to an IAS officer and a poor village girl to a high profile administrator of an Indian district was covered by many renowned newspapers.