Professor B. Ramakrishna Reddy – Recipient of Padma Shri 2023 for Linguistics

Professor B. Ramakrishna Reddy is a retired Professor of Linguistics from Osmania University (OU) and Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University. He belongs to South Indian state Telangana, and one among the three from the state to be conferred with Padma Shree awards in 2023. He was honoured for his immense contributions towards the fields of literature and education. His contribution for the preservation of nearly extinguished south Indian tribal languages like Kuvi, Manda and Kui is immensely huge.

Founder of Dravidian University in Kuppam of Andhra Pradesh

Founder – Registrar of Dravidian University in Kuppam, Professor B. Ramakrishna Reddy has also drafted Manda-English and Oriya-English dictionaries, apart from co-authoring five books towards the cause. Through his efforts he has always tried to keep vanishing tribal languages, their culture and literature alive. He has always tried to build a cultural bridge connecting tribal languages with other languages, and has been successful to great extent.

Ramakrishna Reddy started his career with AIR

Initially he worked with All India Radio, before joining education field. He left his permanent job to join as a professor at Osmania university, as he didn’t want to remain behind walls, doing an office job.

For his contributions towards the field of linguistics, he was conferred with fourth civilian award Padma Shri in 2023. He was 80 years old when Padma awards were announced.