Kerala’s future-forward upskilling ecosystem

Dr Usha Titus joined the Kerala cadre of the Indian Administrative Service in 1993 after completing her MBBS from CMC Vellore and MD in General Medicine. She served as the District Collector of Palakkad and Kozhikode where she was the first lady to hold charge. Dr Titus was also the Secretary-in-charge of the Departments of Medical Education, Social Welfare, Non-Resident Keralite Affairs, Environment and Education.

She has served as the Registrar of IIT Madras and as the Vice-Chancellor of Kerala Technological University. In 2010, she was deputed to the Government of India as the Joint Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance where she handled the Multilateral Relations Division and contributed to the G20 negotiations between 2010 and 2015. The negotiations led to the establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The Government of Kerala appointed her as the Chairperson and Managing Director of the newly incorporated company ASAP Kerala in February 2021.

Shri Anwar Hussain joined the Government service in 1990 in the Secretariat’s Finance Department. After taking charge as an Under Secretary in 2015 he served as the Finance Officer in the Excise Department. In 2017, he was appointed as the Finance Officer of the Kerala Government’s Karunya Benevolent Fund. At present, he serves as the Deputy Secretary of the Finance Department and has been deputed as the Head of Finance Division, ASAP Kerala.

Shri Vigil Kumar VV was deputed to ASAP Kerala in 2018. With 15 years of an expansive body of work in academia, industrial training and consultancy, Shri Vigil Kumar VV works as an Associate Professor in Information Technology at the Government Engineering College, Idukki. He completed his Bachelor of Technology from MS University and Masters in Computer Science and Engineering from Anna University.

Dr Anej Somaraj was deputed to ASAP Kerala in 2021. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the Christian College Chengannur. He received his PhD in English from the English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad. With 14 years of experience in academia, Dr Somaraj served as the Assistant Professor in The Faculty of Education in Misurata University, Libya, from 2009 to 2011.

He was the Foreign Language Consultant (English) at the King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between 2006 and 2009. Dr Somaraj is the Subject-Expert Consultant for HSTTP, an initiative of SCERT Kerala, and a Member of the Kerala State Panel of Translators in English and Hindi for Kerala Niyamasabha.

With 30 years of service in the Technical Education Department, Mr Francis has served as a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering, Project Officer at the State Institute of Technical Teachers' Training & Research, and Assistant Director at the Regional Directorate of Technical Education, Kothamangalam. Post his retirement in 2019, Mr Francis joined ASAP Kerala as the State Coordinator of Polytechnics.

In 2007, he was conferred with the ‘Best Polytechnic Teacher’ award by the state.

Mr Vinod TV joined ASAP Kerala in 2018 as the Head of the Business Development Division. Mr Vinod has over 20 years of experience behind him in managerial roles. He was the Managing Director of the Kerala Artisans Development Corporation Ltd (KADCO) from 2016 to 2018. Under his leadership, KADCO attained the status of an Accredited Agency since its incorporation in 1981.

He led multiple teams at firms like Nandana Overseas, Alleppey; Coir Tuft International Pvt. Ltd, Alleppey; Foam Mattings (India) Ltd, a Kerala Government PSU; and Charankattu Coir Manufacturing Company (Pvt) Ltd.

Commander Vinod Sankar joined ASAP Kerala in 2021. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1988. In his 21 years of naval career, Cdr Sankar held appointments associated with the design and fabrication of two famed projects of the Indian Navy – ATV Programme (First indigenous Nuclear Submarine) and ADS Programme (First indigenous Aircraft Carrier). He has also sailed onboard Naval Warships INS RANA and INS JAMUNA as a Chief Engineer Officer.

Consequent to his voluntary retirement from the Navy in 2009, he worked as an AGM (Commercial) at M/s Tebma Shipyards, Karnataka; General Manager (Operations) at M/s Brahmos Aerospace, Trivandrum; and Deputy Director of Indian Institute of Infrastructure and Construction (IIIC) in Kollam, Kerala. 

A Mechanical Engineer from NIT Calicut, Cdr Sankar completed his ME (Mechanical - Advanced Marine Engineering) from Poona University and MBA (International Business) from Pondicherry University. He has also undergone advanced submarine design training at “RUBIN’, St Petersburg, Russia; and training in Missile Canister manufacturing technology from 'Rafael’, Israel.

Lt Cdr Sajith Kumar EV (rtd) joined ASAP as a Consultant (Quality & Projects) after 10 years of service as a Short Service Commissioned Officer in the Indian Navy. He also served as a Group Head in KITCO Ltd for over eight years. His professional expertise is in design, engineering, and contract management responsibilities as part of India’s indigenous Submarine Programmes.

As a Group Head at KITCO, Lt Cdr Kumar was in charge of overseeing consultancy services for the commissioning of education, healthcare, industrial infrastructure projects and business development activities.

Shri IP Laiju joined ASAP as Consultant (Training), with an extensive body of work of 25 years in the Electric Power Industry, with specialisation in the fields of electricity, power system protection relays, substation automation and smart grid projects, to name a few, for the Governments of India and Kerala, apart from working in the Middle-East. He served in the capacity of an authorised Consultant for GE (General Electric Co)/ALSTOM Grid for digital substations, protection & automation; and Smart Grid solutions for KSEB Industries in Kerala. He was also a part-time Consultant to the Aluminium Industries Ltd., Relays division, Trivandrum, for leading R&D engineers in developing latest technology, Numerical IEDs and Smart Grid products for the Indian market.

Shri Laiju is currently an MIE member of The Institution of Engineers (IEI), and has contributed as an active member of the International GCC-CIGRE Committee and CIGRE India. He held the position of ‘AREVA T&D Technical Institute manager’ in Dubai, and has gained professional expertise with MNCs like GE (General Electric), ABB AUTOMATION CO, AVK-SEG, ALIND, Govt. of India Organisation - IISER (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research) and Kerala Govt. PSU - TRAVANCORE TITANIUM PRODUCTS Ltd etc. Shri Laiju is also well-versed with international standards of quality process methodologies under ISO 9001-2008.