Turlapaty Kutumba Rao | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 10, 1933 Vijayawada,Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Died | 11 January 2021(2021-01-11) (aged 87) Vijayawada, India |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, Orator |
| Children | Jawahar Lal |
| Awards | Padma Shri Pratibha Puraskar Kalaprapoorna title Guardian of Telugu International Man of the Year World Lifetime Achievement Award National Citizen Award President's Gold Medal |
Turlapaty Kutumba Rao (August 10, 1933 – 11 January 2021)[1] was an Indian journalist and orator,[2] known for his service to journalism inTelugu 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]
Kutumba Rao was born in 1933 atVijayawada in the South Indian state ofAndhra Pradesh.[3][4] He was a secretary toT. 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 theGovernment 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 thePratibha Puraskar from theTelugu University,Kalaprapoorna title fromAndhra University and the title ofGuardian of Telugu fromC. Rajagopalachari, thenGovernor of Andhra Pradesh.[4] Rao received thePresident's Gold Medal.[4] He was honored by theGovernment of India, in 2002, with the fourth highestIndian civilian award ofPadma Shri[10] making him the first journalist from the state ofAndhra Pradesh to receive the award.[4] He was also a nominee forPadma Bhushan for the year 2014.[11][12]
