Turlapaty Kutumba Rao (August 10, 1933 – 11 January 2021)[1] was an Indian journalist and orator,[2] known for his service to journalism in Telugu language.[3][4] He is reported to have written over 4000 biographies and delivered over 16000 public speeches which has been recorded by the Telugu Book of Records[5][6] as a world record.[3]

Turlapaty Kutumba Rao
BornAugust 10, 1933
Died11 January 2021(2021-01-11) (aged 87)
Vijayawada, India
Occupation(s)Journalist, Orator
ChildrenJawahar Lal
AwardsPadma Shri
Pratibha Puraskar
Kalaprapoorna title
Guardian of Telugu
International Man of the Year
World Lifetime Achievement Award
National Citizen Award
President's Gold Medal

Biography

edit

Kutumba Rao was born in 1933 at Vijayawada in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.[3][4] He was a secretary to T. Prakasham, former Chief Minister of the state and was known to have mooted the idea of demarcating states on the basis of language in 1947, when India became independent.[4] He was also a chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Grandhayala Parishad,[7] a policy making body of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.[8] The journey of his life is recorded in his autobiography, Naa Kalam - Naa Galam, released in 2012.[9]

He was a recipient of the Pratibha Puraskar from the Telugu University, Kalaprapoorna title from Andhra University and the title of Guardian of Telugu from C. Rajagopalachari, then Governor of Andhra Pradesh.[4] Rao received the President's Gold Medal.[4] He was honored by the Government of India, in 2002, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri[10] making him the first journalist from the state of Andhra Pradesh to receive the award.[4] He was also a nominee for Padma Bhushan for the year 2014.[11][12]

References

edit
  1. ^ Padma Awardee Turlapati Kutumba Rao passes away
  2. ^ "Turlapaty Kutumba Rao". YouTube video. Chaitanya Kurada. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Telugu Times". Telugu Times. 2014. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Vivid Bharati". Google Blog. Vivid Bharati. 23 September 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  5. ^ "Telugu Book of Records to be released". The Hindu. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  6. ^ "TBR". TBR. 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  7. ^ "The Hindu". The Hindu. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  8. ^ "AP Public Libraries". AP Public Libraries. 2014. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Web India". Web India. 6 April 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Padma Awards. 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Deccan Chronicle". Deccan Chronicle. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  12. ^ "One India". One India. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
edit