V. K. R. V. Rao | |
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Born | Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao 8 July 1908 |
Died | 25 July 1991 | (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]
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]
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, an office of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is considered to be the brainchild of Rao. [4]
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.
He is commemorated by the VKRV Rao prizes in Social Science Research. [6]