The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : YSR family lends a helping hand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

YSR family lends a helping hand

By M. Malleswara Rao

HYDERABAD, MAY 17. As Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy assumed charge as Chief Minister on Saturday, priests of Society of Jesus who run a chain of 2,000-odd Loyola educational institutions all over the world, recalled an act of generosity by Dr. Reddy for the cause of the poor.

Two Jesuit fathers were part of a delegation of church leaders, who met the Chief Minister last night. The group was led by Rt. Rev. Marampudi Joji, Archbishop of Hyderabad, and Jetti A. Oliver, chairman, Churches Commission for National Affairs.

Dr. Reddy's family had set up a degree college and a polytechnic on 61 acres at Pulivendula in the name of his father, Y.S. Raja Reddy, to cater to the educational needs of the backward area. But for this act, hundreds of children belonging to poor families in Rayalaseema, especially in Pulivendula, would have missed out on higher education, the priests said. Still, the family felt that the poor were being marginalised and contacted the Jesuits from Loyola College, Vijayawada, where Dr. Reddy did his Intermediate. They expressed their desire to hand over the institutions to the Society "for better management and social justice".

As the priests expressed scepticism on whether the property would be taken back later, Dr. Reddy's family executed a title deed transferring all the assets to the Society. It also helped the Jesuits in beautifying the campus.

The Jesuits re-christened the institutions after their patron saint, Ignatius Loyola, suffixing the names with YSRR in memory of the Chief Minister's father.

Rev. Tarigopula Innaiah, said the institutions, with 2,500 students on their rolls, introduced a number of innovative and job-oriented courses for a minimal fee. The degree college achieved 83 per cent results last year and the polytechnic, 75 per cent. The Society runs half a dozen institutes in the State.

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