Rama Reddy Mamidi

Rama Reddy Mamidi believed cooperatives work best when their members, not the government, run them, and he spent his life writing that idea into law. He was named posthumously for the Padma Shri in 2026, from Telangana ^[1].

Early life

Mamidi was born on 8 July 1943 into a farming family in Shamshabad, Ranga Reddy district ^[2]. He studied at Nizam College and Osmania University in Hyderabad, at Delhi University, and at Princeton University in the US, where he studied local government and economic development ^[2]. He served as sarpanch of Shamshabad and president of the Rajendranagar panchayat samiti ^[2].

A new cooperative law

He played a key role in drafting the Andhra Pradesh Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act of 1995, a “parallel law” that let cooperatives govern themselves ^[2]. He then helped eight other states pass similar laws, and contributed to the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act of 2002 ^[2]. Through the organisation Sahavikasa, which he helped found, he ran more than 100 national workshops on cooperative law ^[2].

In Telangana he helped set up 585 thrift and credit cooperatives with more than 2.69 lakh members ^[2]. He also promoted the women-owned dairy cooperative at Mulukanoor, which his citation describes as India’s first, handling about a lakh litres of milk a day ^[2].

He was also active in the Lok Satta movement for electoral and governance reform, and from 1991 with the Sangam Laxmibai Vidyapeet, which runs colleges for young women ^[2]. He died on 26 October 2025 ^[2].