V. K. R. V. Rao

V. K. R. V. Rao
Born	Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao (1908-07-08)8 July 1908 Kancheepuram, Madras Presidency, British India
Died	25 July 1991(1991-07-25) (aged 83)
Occupation(s)	Economist, politician
Known for	Founder of the Delhi School of Economics
Awards	Padma Vibhushan (1974)

Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao (8 July 1908 – 25 July 1991) was an Indian economist, politician and educator.^[1]

Early life

Rao was born in a Kannada speaking Madhwa Brahmin family^[2] on 8 July 1908 at Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu to Kasturirangachar and Bharati Amma. He had his early schooling in Tindivanam and Madras (Chennai).^[3] He was a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan. He served as a Union Minister for the Education in 1971, elected as member for Bellary in 1967 and 1971. He obtained a B.A and M.A in economics from Bombay University before earning another B.A from Cambridge where he was a member of Gonville & Caius College. He was awarded the Ph.D. of Cambridge in 1937; the title of his doctoral thesis was "The national income of British India, 1931-1932". He studied with John Maynard Keynes.^{[citation needed]}

Institute builder

Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, an office of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is considered to be the brainchild of Rao.^[4]

Publications

Notable among his works are: Taxation of Income in India (1931), An essay on India’s National Income -1925-29 – (1936); The National Income of British India (1940); India and International Currency Plans (1945); Post-War Rupee (1948); Greater Delhi A Study in Urbanization 1940-1957 (1965); Gandhian Alternative to Western Socialism (1970); Values and Economic Development – The Indian Challenge (1971); the Nehru Legacy (1971); Swami Vivekananda – Prophet of Vedantic Socialism (1978); Many Languages and One Nation – the Problem of Integration (1979); India’s National Income 1950-80 (1983) Food, Nutrition and Poverty (1982); Indian socialism: Retrospect and Prospect (1982), etc.^[5] He was awarded Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 1974.

Positions held

• Adviser for Planning, Food Department (1945–46)
• Food and Economic Adviser, Government of India at Washington (1946–47)
• Director, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi (1948–57)
• Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi (1957–60)
• Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi (1960–63)
• Member, Planning Commission (1963–66)
• Union Cabinet Minister for Transport and Shipping (1967–69)
• Union Cabinet Minister for Education & Youth Services (1969–71)
• Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore (1972–77)
• National Professor, Government of India (1985-1990).

Legacy

He is commemorated by the VKRV Rao prizes in Social Science Research.^[6]

References

Further reading

• S. L. Rao (ed.) The Partial Memoirs of V.K.R.V. Rao Oxford University Press: USA, 2002 ISBN 0-19-565823-X reviewed in Tale of triumph — or disillusionment?, The Hindu, 20 January 2002 accessed at [1]^[usurped] 30 August 2006
• Rao, Jayaram,Rao, Nadkarni and Deshpande (ed)"A Passionate Humanitarian", Academic Foundation, New Delhi 2008.

This page was last edited on 11 December 2023, at 09:38