The All-India Padmasali Sangham and many other weavers' associations across the State are busy making plans for the 96th birth anniversary of Prajabandhu Pragada Kotaiah on July 27.
Born at Nidubrolu in 1915, Kotaiah completed higher secondary education at Ponnuru and underwent teacher's training to maintain his family of 10 members. Later, he joined Madras Textiles Institute at the advice of N.G. Ranga and passed the textile technology course in first class.
While working as inspector of cooperative societies, he studied the problems of weavers and causes of failure of cooperatives. He organised handloom weavers' conferences across the State and encouraged them to organise more cooperative societies. In 1939, Mr, Kotaiah was elected president of the erstwhile Madras Cooperative Society. On the occasion of his 70th birth anniversary at Chirala in 1985, B. Gopala Reddy, the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh, conferred on Kotaiah the title of Praja Bandhu.
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