In just a year, the page had successfully connected community members and enabled them to work on a number of social impact projects. He utilized the newly created Facebook page Collector Kozhikode to mobilize his community to help. When Prasanth Nair saw the pitiable conditions of his local mental health center, he decided to take action. Nair has served as Managing Director of the government-owned KTDC Hotels and Resorts, Managing Director of Beverages Corporation of Kerala, Private Secretary to the Home Minister, District Collector and District Magistrate. He is a 2007 batch Kerala Cadre Indian Administrative Service officer. It is also flooded with people voicing complaints in their residential areas and at many times, their appreciation for Prashanth’s work.
Prasanth Nair graduated from the Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram in 2005. A Facebook page called ‘Collector Kozhikode’, that Prashanth personally handles, has amassed 1,07,000 followers at last count and is replete with photographs of popular and quirky campaigns. Under Compassionate Kozhikode, the district administration uses social media and technology and works with civic bodies, government agencies and volunteers to address various issues that need attention. Prasanth Nair is the former District Collector of Kozhikode and the founder of the Compassionate Kozhikode initiative, which is one of the largest civic engagement projects by a district administration in Kerala. Social media as a platform makes administration more transparent, seamless, fast, publicly accountable. The people are out there in social media, so we need to be there. Since Prasanth Nair took charge as Kozhikode collector in February this year, he has been considered a hero among bureaucrats by the public not just because of his easily accessibility through Facebook, but also because he introduced unique projects like Operation Sulaimani, that gave food for the needy.