Velagapudi Ramakrishna

Velagapudi Ramakrishna was an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer, industrialist, and philanthropist. He started the KCP (Krishna Commercial Products [http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Numbers_or_not_these_guys_have_the_moolah/articleshow/msid-540863,curpg-2.cms] )group of companies in 1941 with a co-operative sugar factory in Andhra Pradesh [ [http://www.kcp.co.in/html/about_kcp.html KCP Web site] ] . His pioneering industrializing efforts in the Madras State are commendable.

Family

Ramakrishna was born in 1896 in the village Bellamvaripalem (Nagaram mandal, near Repalle ) in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India. He studied at Oxford University and acquired B.Sc. and M.A. degrees. His father (pre-adoption surname: Katragadda) originally came from Tellapadu, Maddipadu Mandal, in Prakasam District. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tellapadu] [http://wikimapia.org/#y=15661625&x=79949167&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2]

He was survived by two sons and a daughter: V. Maruthi Rao, V. Lakshmana Dutt, and Rajeshwari Ramakrishnan. [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2004083006950400.htm&date=2004/08/30/&prd=th&] .

Ramakrishna's second son, V.L. Dutt, a past chairman of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), [ [http://directorsdatabase.com/t_person.asp?per_code=P000005371 Directors Database ] ] is the current chairman and managing director of KCP Limited. [http://www.kcp.co.in/html/Chairman's%20Speech.pdf] His wife, Indira Dutt, is a daughter of the Raja of Muktyala and the President of the World Telugu Federation. [ [http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/06/stories/2007030615960200.htm The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : KCP's Indira Dutt is now looking to new horizons ] ]

Ramakrishna's daughter, Smt. Rajeswari Ramakrishnan, is the managing director of Jeypore Sugar Company Limited. Her son R. Prabhu is the Congress MP from the Nilgiris (Ooty), Tamil Nadu, a five-term Member of Parliament [http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/biodata.asp?mpsno=2846 Current Lok Sabha Members Biographical Sketch ] ] and a former Union minister in India.

Positions held

* District Collector
* Director, Department of Industries
* Commissioner, Labour
* Development Commissioner, Government of Madras
* Member of Parliament

Memorial institutions

The Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College, near Vijayawada has been posthumously named after him. [ [http://www.vrsiddhartha.ac.in/ Welcome,V R Siddhartha Engineering College ] ]

He also funded the VSR & NVR College [http://wikimapia.org/#y=16250337&x=80643634&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2] [http://gist.ap.nic.in/cgi-bin/edn/ednshow.cgi/?en=9403] in Tenali and the Sri Velagapudi Ramakrishna Memorial College [ [http://naacindia.org/Colleges.asp Accredited Colleges ] ] in Nagaram, Guntur district.

The Andhra Chamber of Commerce building in Chennai [ [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/08/29/stories/2004082910920300.htm The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : In Chennai Today ] ] has also been named after Velagapudi Ramakrishna.

Notes