Brother Krishna Kishore Jasthi is the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Govt of India.
In a career marked by honesty, hard work, diligence and compassion, Brother Krishna Kishore has served under numerous political leaders and government officials. His name is spoken in the hallways of power with a certain reverence reserved only for those who stood by their principles. He was named Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Karnataka in July 2023. With humility, Krishna Kishore attributes it all to Swami, having endeavoured to make his life exemplify Swami’s message.
It was thanks to Swami’s blessings that Krishna found himself at Sri Sathya Sai University (then Bangalore University), despite scoring only 49% in his 10th standard exams. He was determined to perform better and completed his college education with distinction scoring 71% and subsequently cleared his Chartered Accountancy in 3.5 years when the average course duration was close to 5 years.
When Krishna was working in a reputed CA firm in Chennai, he wanted to join the administrative service. He knew Swami often called on His students to join IAS but could not decide. One day, he went to his father’s office, picked up Sanatana Sarathi and opened it to the following lines from Swami, “My Students may do CA, etc. But I would like them to do IAS. If you turn IAS around, it becomes SAI. As an IAS, you will serve your country. If you serve your country, it is a service to Swami.” He got his answer.
Krishna took the civil services exams twice and was assigned to the Indian Revenue Service both times. He accepted that as Swami’s will. As a Tax Commissioner, Krishna came to be known for his honesty, compassion and value system. His stellar reputation meant that several departments requested that he be deputed to them. With his contributions across these departments over several projects, he was regarded as a valuable asset.
In 1997, when he was 33 years old, Krishna wrote an article titled ‘National Development Through Development of National Highways’. It highlighted that infrastructure spending was the surest way to drive economic growth. Poor road infrastructure was a major hurdle for efficient transportation, public safety and development of rural, remote and backward areas. His essay also proposed building a national network of four-lane highways – to be expanded into eight lanes in the long term. It was rich in details including the estimated expenditure, sources of investment and policy changes. Krishna shared it widely and it eventually reached Swaminathan Gurumurthy, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s economic advisor. The BJP Government added it to its election agenda and it became the Golden Quadrilateral project implemented during the Vajpayee government.
In 2014, Cyclone Hudhud hit the eastern coast of India, damaging the Vizag airport. The then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, requested Krishna, then deputed as the Private Secretary of the Civil Aviation Minister, to help restore the flight services as early as possible. Historically, such tasks took three months. Krishna realized that the solution was more human-related than system-related. He gave an inspiring speech, asking the staff to look at the situation not as a crisis but as an opportunity to demonstrate their competence. The team came up with several solutions ranging from handwritten boarding passes to waterproof tents for cracked/broken ceilings, and video cameras for security. Krishna convinced Air India to run the first flight on 17th October while also persuading the PM’s entourage to visit the airport on the same day. The staff worked day and night. Within five days of the landfall of Hudhud, the Vizag airport was operational again.
Krishna Kishore played a key role in the revival of SpiceJet. He identified the consequences of SpiceJet going bankrupt – loss of 20,000 jobs, increase in ticket prices of other airlines, burden of bad debts on airports and oil companies. He spent a significant time convincing senior government officials in the Aviation Sector to support the airline. He came up with the idea of a Strategic Investor (like Tech Mahindra bailing out Satyam Computers). His efforts paid off when the founder of SpiceJet, came to buy it back.
In 2015, seeing Krishna’s exceptional qualities, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh requested the Centre to depute him to Andhra Pradesh as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) that was set up to attract investments and double the state’s economic growth rate. Krishna handpicked his team and approached business leaders – building a network of more than 7000 stakeholders including 650 Fortune 1000 companies. It led to an inflow of 60,000 crores by January 2019 with the potential of adding 1,27,000 jobs. APEDB won the Gold Award for being the best organization in India for Investment promotion and Project Facilitation at the 55th SKOCH Summit.
In the early 2000s, he co-authored a book with his father, the renowned Justice Easwara Prasad, titled ‘Towards an Urban Revolution’. The book identified systemic issues that the government must address for an all-round urban development of the nation. It laid out comprehensive guidelines covering everything from sanitation to population management, both at policy and implementation levels. In July 2014, in a meeting he attended with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Krishna handed over an article from his book ‘National Campaign for Cleanliness’ to the Prime Minister. Three months later, on 2nd October, the Prime Minister launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This mission incorporated a lot of ideas from Krishna’s article and has become one of the trademark initiatives of the current government.
All through these projects, what has kept Krishna Kishore strong is the transformative years at Sri Sathya Sai University. Holding true to the teachings of Swami, discipline and dedication to his job, many sacrifices by him and his family, and an absolute faith in Swami, he has built a reputation as a man of integrity and honesty. Krishna has also participated in Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation activities. He recently led the launch of an environmental initiative in Odisha called Sri Sathya Sai Kalpa Tharu program that aims at planting 10 lakh trees over the next two years.
“I have never chased after any of these opportunities. By Swami’s grace, all these opportunities have come to me,” Krishna Kishore says.
