Holenarasipur Yoganarasimham Sharada Prasad (15 April 1924 – 2 September 2008) was an Indian civil servant, journalist and writer, best known as the media adviser to
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
, former Prime Minister of India.
He also served as the media adviser to Rajiv Gandhi, during his tenure as the Indian Prime Minister.
Background and personal life
Born in
Bangalore on 15 April 1924, he was given the personal name "Sharada Prasad" by his parents.
His family hailed from the town of
Holenarasipura in
Hassan district
Hassan is one of the districts of Karnataka, 31 districts of Karnataka, India. The district headquarter is Hassan, Karnataka, Hassan. It was carved out from Mysore district in the year 1866, during the Commissioner's Rule of Mysore (1831-81).
...
of present-day Karnataka state, and his father's name was Yoganarasimham. Therefore, according to the naming convention prevalent in Karnataka, his full name became "Holenarasipura Yoganarasimham Sharada Prasad" or "H.Y. Sharada Prasad."
Sharada Prasad was born into an educated south Indian
Mulukanadu Brahmin
The Mulukanadu Brahmins are a sub-group of Telugu language, Telugu-speaking Vaidiki Brahmins, Vaidiki Smartha Brahmins. Variations of the name of the community include: Murikinadu, Muluknadu, Mulukanadu, Mulakanadu, Moolakanadu and Mulikinadu.
E ...
family whose mother-tongue is
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
but who have been settled in
Holenarasipura in the
Kingdom of Mysore
The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in South India, southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary allia ...
for at least a couple of centuries. His father, Holenarasipura Yoganarasimham, was a school master, while his mother Saraswathy, was a home-maker. Sharada Prasad was the eldest of their nine children.
Among his brothers was the noted botanist, the late Professor
H.Y. Mohan Ram, who was the father of
Indian Ocean's
Rahul Ram.
Career
Sharada Prasad was educated mainly in Bangalore. He then started his career as a journalist at the
Indian Express Group and later joined the Publications Division of the Government of India as an assistant editor. Later, he served as the editor of ''Yojana'', the official journal of 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 ...
. His stint as the editor of the journal was reported to have brought him to Indira Gandhi's notice, and she invited him to join her staff as the media adviser.
During his tenure with Indira Gandhi, Sharada Prasad was known to have assisted in the establishment of two notable institutions, the
Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the
National Institute of Design.
The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the
Padma Bhushan, in 1999, for his contributions to society.
Sharada Prasad died, aged 84, on 2 September 2008, due to age related illnesses, survived by his wife and two sons.
His life has been documented in his memoirs, ''A Window on the Wall''
and a series of newspaper articles under the title, ''The Book I Won't Be Writing''.
See also
*
Indian Institute of Mass Communication
*
National Institute of Design
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prasad, H. Y. Sharada
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education
1924 births
2008 deaths
Writers from Bangalore
Journalists from Karnataka
Indian civil servants
20th-century Indian journalists