About Raja Bahadur Venkat Rama Reddy
Raja Bahadur Venkat Rama Reddy was born on August 22, 1869, in a middle class family at Rayanpet in Wanaparthy. He lost his parents early in his childhood and was brought up by his uncle, William Wahab, who had a great influence on him. He had great passion for education which made him pursue further studies, in spite of opposition from his relatives.
At the age of 18, Venkat Rama Reddy entered the police service of the erstwhile Hyderabad State and rose to the position of Police Commissioner of Hyderabad City, the first Hindu to do so. The Nizam of Hyderabad honored Sri Venkat Rama Reddy with the title of “Raja Bahadur” in recognition of his services to the state.
King George of England conferred the title of “Order of British Empire’ for solving the Indian Labour problem. A statue has been installed in his memory in the city which is a unique feature for a police officer.
A pioneer in the field of education, he took several measures to spread literacy among the people of the Telangana region and to promote Telugu as the medium of instruction. The education of backward area of Telangana Girls, in particular, received powerful impetus from him. It is this pioneering spirit of his, which made him take the first step in establishing a college for women in the early days of 1949. The college is named after him.
It was the Raja Bahadur, who as the president of the managing committee of the Girl’s High School secured a centrally located land for this college building. This first step proved to be giant leap in the field of women’s education for generations to come. The Raja Bahadur Venkat Rama Reddy women’s college stand today as a proud testimony of his foresight and interest in the upliftment and education of women.
The other educational institution established by him or with his help and co-operation includes Madapati Hanumantha Rao Girls High School in the heart of the city to facilitate students from the districts to come Hyderabad to pursue education.
