Hormis Tharakan

{{short description|Indian bureaucrat and intelligence officer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = P. K. Hormis Tharakan

| image =

| imagesize = 100px

| order = Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing

| term_start = 1 February 2005

| term_end = 31 January 2007

| predecessor = C. D. Sahay

| successor = Ashok Chaturvedi

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|01|31|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kerala, India

| service =

| allegiance = {{flag|India}}

| department =

| branch =

| serviceyears =

| status =

| rank =

}}

P. K. Hormis Tharakan is a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Kerala cadre (1968 batch) who served as the Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India's external intelligence agency, from 1 February 2005 to 31 January 2007.{{Cite web |title=TEDxXIMEKochi: Theme: Combating Resilience |url=https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/22397 |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=TED}}{{Cite web |last=Philip |first=Shaju |date=14 July 2019 |title=Former R&AW chief has a new mission: Paddy-shrimp farming in ancestral village |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/former-raw-chief-has-a-new-mission-paddy-shrimp-farming-in-ancestral-village-5828356/ |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=The Indian Express}} He is the former Director General of the Kerala Police.{{Cite web |last=Kutty |first=C. K. |date=2 February 2005 |title=A RAW hand |url=https://in.rediff.com/news/2005/feb/02spec3.htm |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Rediff}}

Tharakan succeeded C. D. Sahay, a 1967 batch officer of the IPS' Karnataka cadre on 31 January 2005 to take over as the Secretary of R&AW.{{Cite news |last=Pandit |first=Rajat |date=26 January 2005 |title=New RAW chief was an 'insider' |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/new-raw-chief-was-an-insider/articleshow/1001541.cms |access-date=20 April 2025 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}} After his retirement from R&AW in 2007, Tharakan moved to Bangalore, Karnataka.

He was one of the advisors to the Governor of Karnataka, when the state was brought under the President's rule prior to Assembly elections in the state in 2008. He was a member of the National Security Council and was also the Chief Advisor of Strategic Affairs.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=P K Hormis Tharakan, IPS (Retd) |url=https://www.cppr.in/member/p-k-hormis-tharakan-ips-retd |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Centre for Public Policy Research}}{{Cite web |last=Devasia |first=TK |date=24 November 2016 |title=Demonetisation in Kerala: Dismantling financial sources may have short-term effect, say experts |url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/demonetisation-in-kerala-dismantling-financial-sources-may-have-short-term-effect-say-experts-3122556.html |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Firstpost}}

In 2014, he moved to Olavaip, his ancestral village in Kerala. Tharakan and his family are from Olavip. In 2016, Tharakan began to experiment with paddy-shrimp farming in Olavaip and by 2019, he was a full time paddy-shrimp farmer.