Valluri Kameswara Rao (15 July 1914 – 27 November 2018) was an

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

officer and Chief Secretary of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, and the oldest living officer of the

at the time of his death. He served in the civil service of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

as a collector and magistrate. After Independence Rao joined the Indian government's finance department and transferred into the newly founded

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

. He transferred to

Andhra State Andhra State (IAST: ; ) was a Administrative divisions of India#States and union territories, state in India created in 1953 from the Telugu language, Telugu-speaking northern List of districts in India, districts of Madras State. The state was ...

after it was founded in 1953. After the founding of

in 1956 Rao became that state's first secretary of public works. He later served the central government on the Planning Commission before returning to Andhra Pradesh as its chief secretary. Rao was principal secretary to the President of India

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (; 19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the independence ...

from 1981 to 1982.

Early life and career

Rao was born in a small village in the Godavari District of the Madras Presidency, the present-day

East Godavari District East Godavari is a district in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Its district headquarters is at Rajahmundry. As of census 2011, it became the most populous district of the state with a population of 5,151,549. In the Madras Pre ...

. He had five siblings, three brothers and two sisters. His oldest brother Valluri Parthasarathi was a judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court. He got married at the age of 18 to Nidamarthi Prabhavathi in the year 1932. Rao's son Valluri Narayan is a retired IAS officer, he retired as member secretary, Expenditure Reform Commission. After completing high school in Razole, he took a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Sidney Sussex College at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. At his father's insistence, he then sat the Indian Civil Service examinations in London, succeeding on his second attempt. He was appointed to the ICS (on probation) on 29 September 1937, and was confirmed in his appointment on 9 September 1938 (gazetted 1 September 1938). Arriving in India in October 1938, Rao was initially posted to

Midnapore Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...

in the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

(now in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

) as an assistant collector and magistrate, and was promoted to joint magistrate and deputy collector in May 1941, receiving an appointment as under-secretary to the Finance Department in August. He witnessed the Bengal famine of 1943, and was appointed deputy controller (procurement and purchase) in May 1944, with a subsequent appointment as deputy director of supply. He was in Bengal on the

Direct Action Day Direct Action Day (16 August 1946), also known as the 1946 Calcutta Killings, was a day of nationwide communal riots. It led to large-scale violence between Muslims and Hinduism in India, Hindus in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) ...

of 16 August 1946, which led to widespread communal riots, and was a joint magistrate and collector at the time of Indian independence.

Post-independence career

A month after Independence and Partition, on 27 September 1947, Rao was transferred to the Finance Department of the Madras Government as a deputy secretary, his final posting before the old ICS was converted into the new Indian Administrative Service. He was transferred to the Revenue Department on 28 February 1948, and was appointed district collector of

Visakhapatnam district Visakhapatnam district (formerly known as Vizagapatam district) is one of the six districts in the Uttarandhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, headquartered at Visakhapatnam. It is one of the twenty-six districts in Andhra Prad ...

on 29 April 1950. He received further appointments as a deputy secretary (public department) on 15 April 1953 and as deputy secretary (Andhra Affairs) on 12 August 1953. Ahead of the formation of the new state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, Rao was transferred to the

cadre of IAS officers on 1 October 1953, was promoted to secretary of the Finance Department of Andhra Pradesh from the same date, and was appointed the first secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Public Works Department upon the formation of the new state on 1 November 1956. Rao later entered the service of the central government, serving on the

Planning Commission of India The Planning Commission was an institution in the Government of India, which formulated India's Five-Year Plans, among other functions. In his first Independence Day speech in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his intention to diss ...

before returning to Andhra Pradesh and becoming the state's Chief Secretary, the highest-ranking civil servant in a state.

Retirement and death

Following his retirement he served as Vigilance Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh from 1974 to 1977, and then as Principal Secretary to the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

, N. Sanjiva Reddy, from 1981 to 1982. On 13 December 2016 he was present in Hyderabad for the release of a book on a former ICS colleague, C. S. Ramachandran. He continued to live in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

until his death in November 2018 at the age of 104.Obituary: Valluri Kameswara Rao, ICS
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, V. K. 1914 births 2018 deaths Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Indian Administrative Service officers Indian centenarians Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Men centenarians