Ravipudi Venkatadri

In 1945, Ravipudi Venkatadri joined the Radical Democratic Party founded by M. N. Roy. He contested the combined Madras State elections in 1946 from Bapatta-Ongole constituency but was defeated. He was unanimously elected as Nagandla village president and continued in the post for 40 years from 1956 to 1996. He brought about radical changes in the village on rationalist and humanist lines while he was holding this position. ==Personal life and death==

Venkatadri turned 100 in February 2022. Even at the advanced age of 100 he continued writing, proof reading, editing and publishing Hetuvadi and Rationalist-Humanist literature on behalf of the organizations he was a part of. Venkatadri died on 21 January 2023. ==Awards==

In 2021 he received Dr A T Kovoor National Award instituted by Bharatheeya Yukthivadi Sangham on his 100th birthday. The award was to appreciate his activism and achievement, spreading free-thought and rationalism. One of the previous recipients of Dr A T Kovoor Award was superstar Kamal Haasan. A prolific rationalist author Ravipudi Venkatadri has also received the Kondaveeti Venkatakavi Sahitya Peetham Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. He received "Modern Charwaka National Award" from Charvaka Kala Peetham, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh in 2021. He received Tripuraneni Ramaswamy National Award from Kaviraju Trust, Hyderabad which was presented through the hands of K. R. Narayanan, then Vice President of India. He was also given the "Bharateeyudu" Award from Bharateeyam, Ongole. ==Radical Humanist Centre==

Radical Humanist Centre at Inkollu, Andhra Pradesh was founded by Ravipudi. It constructed a building on the land donated by Ravi Subbarao, a retired post master. This building houses a conference hall, rooms for guests including amenities for them and a well stocked library with back issues of the monthly magazine Hetuvadi, books on rationalism, humanism and atheism – mostly written by Ravipudi Venkatadri himself. ==Hetuvadi==

Hetuvadi – a monthly journal, meaning of the title in English The Rationalist – is devoted to Science, Rationalism and Humanism was being edited by Ravipudi Venkatadri. This periodical in Telugu was started in the year 1982. ==Quote of Ravipudi==

"If we hang on to the concept of Godhood, that has been drowning mankind in the deep waters of ignorance for thousands of years – in spite of the fact that it is unfounded, useless and unproven – evidently it shows that we do not accept evolution of ideas." ==Books by Ravipudi==

Books authored by Ravipudi Venkatadri ==References==