A tribute to Prof Jayashankar on his death anniversary

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Kothapalli Jayashankar popularly known as Professor Jayashankar [1] (6 August 1934 – 21 June 2011) was an Indian academic and Social Activist. He was the ideologue of Telangana Movement.[2] He has been fighting for a separate state since 1952.[3] He often stated that unequal distribution of river water was the root cause of separate Telangana movement.[4] He was the former Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University and an activist in the Separate Telangana Movement
K. Jayashankar was born in Akkampet village, Atmakur mandal, Warangal in erstwhile Hyderabad state to Lakshmikantha Rao and Mahalakshmi of the Vishwakarma community. He did his schooling in Hanamkonda, Warangal and his M.A. in Economics at Banaras Hindu University, M.A. in Economics at Aligarh University and PhD in Economics at Osmania University, and BEd at Osmania University.
Prof. Jayashanakar believed that Telangana can only be achieved through political process, at the same time, he always supported agitations run by all non-political organizations. He sacrificed whole his life for Telangana. It was Jayashankar who offered lime juice to the TRS president when the latter broke his famous fast for Telangana in December, 2009.

As a young student of intermediate, he walked out of his class in protest against state reorganisation in 1952. He also started in a bus to participate in 1952 Mulkhi Agitation. Then, in 1962, he was part of a campaign which rocked the region. He joined the movement for a separate Telangana state in 1952, when he was a student leader.

As a lecturer, in 1968, he participated in the revived the agitation. He carried out his struggle for Telangana through research and academic studies, and by educating people on the cause. He is known as the original Telangana ideologue. He led several agitations since 1962, transforming into a mass movement after 1969 agitation.

He was associated with the Telangana movement efforts to obtain statehood for Telangana since 1952, stating with Non-Mulki go back and Idli Sambar go back movement. He wanted the “Puri Mutton” to populate the lands of Telangana. In 1969 Jayashankar formed a team with ten members to fight for Telangana. He was the only survivor while the others were killed in police firing. He then started Telangana Janasabha. It was banned by the Indian government. He authored a large number of articles and research papers, in English and Telugu, on various aspects of the Telangana Problem.

He was instrumental in forming the Telangana Development Forum (TDF, USA) in 1999. He was invited by the American Telugu Association (ATA) USA, to speak about the Problems of regional disparities in Andhra Pradesh in July 2000 and July 2002. He was invited by the Telangana Development Forum (TDF) USA to give a series of lectures on various facets of the Telangana Movement in ten major cities of the United States during July/August 2000.

At the time of his death, he was the Chairman of Centre for Telangana Studies which is engaged in research and publication relating to problems of Telangana. He is the founder member of Telangana Aikya Vedika and was on its Executive Committee.

It was Jayashankar who offered lime juice to the TRS president when the latter broke his famous fast for Telangana in December 2009.

Teaching career

Professor Jayashankar was Registrar of the then Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL) before being appointed Vice-chancellor of Kakatiya University in 1991.[8][9]

(i) Taught Economics and supervised research at Doctoral Level.
(ii) Made in-depth studies on the problems emanating from regional disparities in the levels of development with special reference to A.P.
(iii)Has to his credit a large number of papers published in the areas of Economic Development and Educational Economics.

Death

He died on 21 June 2011 11.15 AM after battling stomach cancer. He did not marry and remained a bachelor all his life.

At the time of his death, he was the Chairman of Centre for Telangana Studies which is engaged in research and publication relating to problems of Telangana. He died on 21 June 2011 11.15 AM after battling stomach cancer. He remained a bachelor all his life. He sacrificed his life in pursuit of a separate Telangana State.