The doyen of India\'s civil servants V K Rao ICS is 104

V. K. Rao, ICS (1937 batch), the doyen of all of India’s civil servants has just turned 104 on July 15th. He is India’s senior-most living civil servant. He had seen service in the Bengal [1937-47], Madras [1947-53], Andhra [1953-56]; and Andhra Pradesh [1956-72] cadres.

A Cambridge Wrangler (1st class degree in mathematics), among his postings, he had held charge of crucial positions such as SDO Manikganj in Dacca district, while in pre-independence Bengal, Collector of Vishakapatnam, Andhra Separation Officer, PWD and Industries Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh. In the Government of India he was a Joint Secretary in the Planning Commission and later on was also the Principal Secretary to the President of India. Readers who may wish to felicitate him may do so via an email sent to the email address of his son Valluri Narayan:  narayan.valluri@gmail.com.