Kotha Raghuramaiah (1912–1979) was a veteran Indian politician and barrister who served as the Union Cabinet minister of Defence, Civil Aviation, Petroleum & Chemicals, Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs. He is one of the
longest-serving cabinet minister in the History of India.[1][2][3][4] The Members of Parliament from the
Lok sabha and
Rajya Sabha participate in a friendly Cricket competition annually for the honor of lifting the Raghuramaiah Trophy named after him.[5]
Family
Raghuramaiah was born on 6 August 1912 to Kotha Jagannadham and Kotamma in
Sangam Jagarlamudi in
Guntur district of
Andhra Pradesh,
South India. He had two brothers and six sisters. He married Suguna Jampala in 1936. Later, he was married to Lakshmi Raghuramaiah, a prominent scholar-activist in the cause of women upliftment in India on 3 July 1937.[6]
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.[6]
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 Defence, Civil Supplies, Petroleum and Chemicals and Parliamentary Affairs.[7][8][9][10]
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.