Take part in social service, Venkaiah exhorts people

Visakhapatnam: Former Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu called upon people to take part in social service activities and extend a helping hand to the needy.

Venkaiah participated as the chief guest at the 90th birthday celebrations of Professor A Prasanna Kumar, former Rector of Andhra University, here on Sunday.

He said, “It is not important how long we lived but how we lived and served the society that matters the most.”

He said Prof Prasanna Kumar stands as a great role model for all and his services as a writer, professor, commentator of cricket and tennis and the Director of Centre for Policy Studies are highly commendable.

He said that Prasanna Kumar imparted wisdom and knowledge to the society.

The former Vice-President mentioned that he has been taking note of Prasanna Kumar’s remarkable contributions to society since his student days.

Venkaiah said that one who carries out social service activities would continue to live even after death.

Speaking on the occasion, Mizoram Governor K Haribabu said that Prasanna Kumar’s English lectures used to be very interesting and appealing. Drawing comparisons, the Mizoram Governor said that both Venkaiah Naidu and Professor Prasanna Kumar have similarities. Both of them had served as successful leaders of student associations. Haribabu hailed Prasanna Kumar for donning many roles successfully as a professor, commentator, writer and community servant.

Former Chief Secretary LV Subrahmanyam said that the retired professor had served the literary field immensely. He said that Prasanna Kumar played a key role in bringing recognition to Visakhapatnam city and taking it to the global map. If intellectuals and scholars become Vice-Chancellors of universities, it will be good for universities, he added. Noted dermatologist and president of Visakha Rasagna Vedika G Raghu Rama Rao said that even though he and his fellow doctors did not study

under the guidance of Professor Prasanna Kumar, they saw his greatness and mentioned that he is highly knowledgeable.

Guest of honour and former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V Balamohan Das informed that Professor Prasanna Kumar has authored 20 books, including two textbooks on international political relations.

Professor Kumar had close association with former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar.

Visakha Rasagna Vedika organised a programme under the banner of ‘Navathi Prasannam’ to recall Prasanna Kumar’s services to the society and a number of dignitaries lauded his services during the programme.

Former IAS officer YV Anuradha, former Additional SP TSR Prasad, noted gastroenterologist E Peda Veerraju, among others, were present.