Kotha Raghuramaiah

Kotha Raghuramaiah M.A., L.L.B. (Telugu: కొత్త రఘురామయ్య) (b: 6 August 1912 - d: 6 June 1979) was a famous Indian Politician and Member of Parliament.

Family

Raghuramaiah was born in 1912 to Kotha Jagannadham and Kotamma in Sangam Jagarlamudi in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, South India. His father was a great philanthropist who used to help the villagers during famines and floods. His elder brother Kotha Venkaiah was a chief engineer in Kakinada. His younger brother Dr. Venkata Krishna Rao was a well known doctor in Tenali. He had two brothers and six sisters. One of his sisters Annapurnamma was married to Koneru Basavaiah, a great philanthropist. He was married to Suguna Jampala in 1936. Later, he was married to Lakshmi Raghuramaiah on July 3, 1937.

Education

Raghuramaiah was educated at Andhra Christian College, Guntur and Lucknow University. He studied Bar-at-Law from Middle Temple in United Kingdom. He was awarded Gold Medal in the All India Inter-University Oratorical Contest (English) held at Lucknow, 1932-33. He was conferred Doctorate Degrees by Andhra University in 1975 and by Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati in January, 1977.

Career

Raghuramaiah joined Government of India service as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Law. He relinquished the job to enter active politics in 1949. He was elected to the Indian Parliament from Tenali and Guntur. He served as a Union cabinet minister of Defense, Civil Supplies, Petroleum and Chemicals and Parliamentary Affairs.^[1][2][3][4]

• Practiced Law in Madras High Court, 1937—1941
• Joined Provincial Judicial Service in 1941; between 1941 and 1951, held various posts like:
• Assistant Secretary, Legal Department, Government of Madras - 1941.
• Assistant Director of Employment and Regional Publicity Officer (Madras) in the Resettlement Directorate of the Ministry of Labour, Government of India.
• Assistant Solicitor to the Government of India, Ministry of Law.
• Deputy Secretary and Joint Secretary, Legal Department, Government of Madras
• Legal Secretary and Legal Remembrancer to the Government of Madras.
• Reesignation from Government service in 1951.
• Enrolled as an Advocate of the Supreme Court.
• Editor, 'Asian Recorder', 1955.
• Member, AICC, 1955-59.
• Legal Advisory Committee, AICC, 1956.
• Secretary, Harijan Sevak Sangh, Madras.
• Vice-President, Madras Corporation Labour Union prior to 1942.
• Member, Executive Committee, Indian Institute of Public Administration, 1954.
• Member, Railway Corruption Enquiry Committee, 1954.
• President, P.& T. Workers' Union (Andhra Circle), 1954.
• President, Andhra Pradesh Life Insurance Salaried Officers Association, 1954.
• President, All-India Postal Employees' Union, Class III, Andhra Circle, 1956.
• President, All-India R.M.S. Employees Union, Class IV, Andhra Circle, 1956.
• Member, First Lok Sabha, 1952—57, Second Lok Sabha, 1957—62, Third Lok Sabha, 1962—67, Fourth Lok Sabha 1967—70 and Fifth Lok Sabha 1971—77.
• Member, Executive Committee, Congress Party in Parliament - 1954.
• Secretary, Executive Committee, Congress Party in Parliament - 1955.
• Convener, External Affairs Standing Committee, 1952—57.
• Member, Estimates Committee 1954.
• Member, General Purposes Committee and Rules Committee, 1955—57.
• Chairman, Petitions Committee, 1955—57.
• Deputy Minister of Defence, May 1957.
• Minister of State for Defence on April 16, 1962.
• Minister of Defence Production on November 14, 1962.
• Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour & Employment on June 9, 1964.
• Minister of Supply in the Ministry of; Industry and Supply on June 13, 1964.
• Minister of Supply and Technical Development on October 3, 1964.
• Minister of State in the Ministry of Law on March 13, 1967.
• Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals and of Planning and Social Welfare on March 13, 1967.
• Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals and of Social Welfare on September 5, 1967.
• Minister of Petroleum and Chemicals on August 23, 1968.
• Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Shipping and Transport on February 14, 1969.
• Cabinet Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Shipping and Transport June 26, 1970—March 1971.
• Cabinet Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in February 1973.
• Additional charge of Ministry of Works and Housing in October 1974.
• Minister of Works & Housing and Parliamentary Affairs.
• Minister of Tourism & Civil Aviation and Parliamentary Affairs in December, 1976.
• Chairman, Government of India Tobacco Delegation to Far East, 1954 and Tobacco Export Committee, 1956-57.
• Member, Indian Central Tobacco Committee, 1953—57.
• Vice-President from 1955–56; Alternate Delegate to the Trusteeship Committee of the United Nations, 1956.
• India's Representative in the U.N. Committee on Information from, Non-Self Governing Territories, 1956.
• Alternate Delegate to the U.N. General Assembly, 1956.
• Member, Executive Committee of the Indian Parliamentary Group, 1955—57.
• Member, "Law of the Sea" Conference, Geneva, April 1960.
• delegate to the International Parliamentary Council Meeting at Nice (France) in 1957 and at Dubrovnik (Yugoslavia) in 1966.
• Represented Government of India at the function, of the assumption of office by the President of Philippines in December, 1969.
• Leader of the Indian delegation at the International Highway Conference held at Montreal in 1970.
• Member, Indian Parliamentary delegation to USA in 1970.
• Attended Colombo Housing Ministers Conference at Sri Lanka in 1975.
• Leader of Indian Delegation to the 21st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in New Delhi in 1975.
• Leader of the Indian Delegation to the U.N. Conference on Habitat held in Vancouver in June 1976.
• Leader of the Indian Delegation to the 22nd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in Mauritius in September, 1976.

Honours

• Andhra University conferred Doctorate Degree in 1975.
• Sri Venkateswara University conferred Doctorate Degree in 1977.
• Two colleges in the towns of Narasaraopeta and Duggirala in Guntur district were named in his honour.

References

1. ^ http://164.100.24.209/newls/lokprev.aspx Lok Sabha
2. ^ The Hindu : Metro Plus Vijayawada / Columns : Society that built values
3. ^ Council Of Ministers
4. ^ Council Of Ministers

External links

• Biodata of Kotha Raghuramaiah at Lok Sabha website.