In an unprecedented development, senior IPS officer and Secretary of Telangana Social and Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions (TSWREIS) RS Praveen Kumar announced his voluntary retirement from the service. He took to social media to make the announcement. While thanking everybody who helped him during his tenure in the Indian administration, Praveen said he would now engage in social justice services. The senior officer, who served in Indian Police Service (IPS) for 26 years, said that he has mailed his request to the Chief Secretary of Telangana.
“It was not easy to arrive at this life-changing decision, given my humble beginnings and the arduous journey to become an IPS officer. However, the pure pleasure of following my passion hereafter has helped me overcome this uncertainty,” wrote Praveen Kumar, a Telangana cadre IPS officer in the rank of Additional Director General of Police (Addl DGP), who has been serving as the Secretary of state-run Social Welfare educational institutions.
Praveen Kumar thanked his family, teachers, colleagues, students, public representatives, media, NGOs and people in general for moulding him as a responsible human being. He also thanked both governments of erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for their trust in him. He said that his heart is filled with gratitude towards the police department for encouraging him to give his best to the nation.
In an emotional note, he said, "Words are also not enough to describe the unwavering support of both welfare departments for helping me to serve the most marginalised, despite countless conspiracies. Future generations will judge my contribution to society."
Praveen is known for his contributions to the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in combating the Naxalite movement as a police officer, and later, as an educator, who groomed the welfare institutions under his supervision. Welfare institutions saw their alumni scaling new heights in the last 10 years in terms of securing admissions in premier educational institutions in India and as well as abroad.
Praveen established Swaeroes, a social transformation movement with the alumni of the welfare institutions. In the note, he thanked the staff of welfare residential institutions and hailed them for their patience, hard work and commitment to transform lives. He urged the students of the welfare institutions to strive to be the best wherever they go and to never give up till the end, while urging them to remember that they are the creators and protectors of our new identity, the Swaero and its self-liberating ideology.
Earlier this year in March, Hindu Right-wing groups and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked him, accusing him of "promoting teachings against Hinduism among students" in an event as part of the Swaero Holy Month. At the event this year, members of a local Buddhist family recited the ‘Buddha Vandanam’ or the vows taken by BR Ambedkar on the historic day of his conversion to Buddhism in October 1956. The vows included denouncing the faith in certain Hindu gods, as well as striving for equality and refraining from committing sins. Praveen had issued a clarification, stating that Swaeroism subscribes to an inclusive ideology, and people from all religious faiths work for the liberation of the poor from poverty.
"I shall use the rest of his life to fulfil the unfinished dreams of ‘doyens of social justice’, the Mahatma Phule couple, BR Ambedkar, Kanshiram and many more torchbearers of our country," he wrote.
After 26 years of serving the motherland as an IPS officer, I have applied today for voluntary retirement to pursue my passion for social justice and equality with more vigour at my own pace. I thank you all for standing by me throughout my career. pic.twitter.com/IZM9Jztimd
— Dr. RS Praveen Kumar (@RSPraveenSwaero) July 19, 2021