Bhavaraju Sarveswara Rao

Prof. B. S. Rao, the name by which he is well known, did his B.A.(Hons.)/M.A. economics degree in Andhra University during 1935–39. He graduated with honors with a first rank. Prof. B. S. Rao began his career at the Andhra University as a researcher and then became a faculty member, a tutor, on the same campus working for Dr. V.S. Krishna who later became his mentor.

During the years 1950–53, Prof. B. S. Rao traveled to England (as British Council Scholar) where he worked on the subject of India's balance of payments under the guidance of Austin Robinson, in Cambridge University for his doctoral degree. Prof. B. S. Rao earned his doctorate in economics in 1953 and returned to his alma mater. Prof. B. S. Rao was made Head of the Department of Economics at Andhra University, soon after his return from England. He led the department of economics as a Head until his retirement in 1975.

During his long tenure at the Andhra University Prof. B. S. Rao held several other positions in the University. He was the first Principal of the College of Arts, Commerce and Law during 1966–69. Later, he was a member of the Academic Council, chairman of the arts faculty, member of the Andhra University Senate, and member of the Syndicate. Prof. B. S. Rao was the founder-director of the Agro-Economic Research Centre on the campus, established by the Union Government. The AERC flourished under his guidance and the reports brought out by the centre were adjudged the best in the country. During the early stages of the University he was also instrumental in starting and sustaining academic activity in most of the social science departments at AU. He was a member of the Andhra Pradesh state planning board for several years. Andhra University and Nagarjuna University have both awarded the Honorary degree D. Litt.

His contributions outside the India, though for short spans of time, were equally rewarding to the countries and institutions he served. He worked in 1964 as a senior general economist at the UN Asian Institute for Economic Development and Planning at Bangkok and as economic adviser to the Government of East Nigeria for two years, at the instance of the Ministry of External Affairs.

After his retirement in 1975, Prof. B. S. Rao continued as an Emeritus Professor until 1979. During the 1976–78 period he worked also as a Senior ICSSR Fellow at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS). He served as Vice-Chancellor of Nagarjuna University during 1979–81. For an extended span 1983–96, he worked as the founder-director of the Institute of Development and Planning Studies (IDPS) and as chairman of IDPS.

Apart from building institutions related to his profession Prof. B. S. Rao help start other institutions. He was the president of the Gayatri Vidya Parishad since 1989 providing value-based and quality education in the City of Destiny (Visakhapatnam). His contributions to both inter-disciplinary and action research have helped agencies like Bhagavathula Charitable Trust, Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority and the district administration to get correct inputs at the right time to resolve crucial problems such as slums, illiteracy, and urban pollution.

One of his several well accomplished students, Dr. K. C. Reddy wrote in The Hindu in 2003 about Prof. Rao, "A Gandhian and a liberal in economic philosophy and institution management, he is a rare combination of tradition and modernity in both thought and action. His intellectual inspiration drawn from Dr. Krishna, combined with a legacy of institution building he inherited from his teacher, V.K.R.V. Rao, ably supported by the multi-disciplinary approach that he has cultivated through a very deep intellectual association with MIDS and in particular with Malcom Adiseshaiah made Prof. Sarveswara Rao not only an outstanding economist but a social scientist of extreme concern for contemporary society and people."