In a significant move, the Telangana government has finally credited Pydimarri Venkatasubba Rao, the authour of national pledge, for his work by giving his name in text books. The recognition comes 51 years after it was first published in textbooks.

Poets, writers, family members of Venkatasubba Rao hailed the government’s decision for acknowledging his work.

Born on June 10, 1916 at Anneparthy village near Nalgonda town, Rao had flair for writing since his childhood. One of his works appeared in ‘Golkonda Kavulu’ published by noted writer Suravaram Prathap Reddy in 1934, when Venkatasubba Rao was just 18 years-old.

Cultivating patriotism

Later, he joined Treasury Department and worked in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh until he retired in 1971. When he was working in Visakhapatnam in 1960s, India was at war with China in 1962.

With an aim to put the nation together and cultivate patriotism among the younger generation at the crucial juncture, the writer penned ‘National Pledge’ in Telugu which appeared for the first time in textbooks of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 1964, but the government did not give him credit for reasons unknown. Later, it was translated to English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and many other Indian languages and included in textbooks by many States.

Shockingly, he was not even informed about the inclusion of Pledge in school books. He came to know about inclusion after his retirement when his granddaughter read it aloud.

Speaking to The Hindu , member of Text Book review committee and noted poet from Nalgonda, Venu Sankoju said all the members of the committee had pressed for credit for Venkatasubba Rao and Telangana government accepted it.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by T.Karnakar Reddy / Nalgonda – June 30th, 2015