Turlapaty Kutumba Rao (August 10, 1933 – 11 January 2021)[1] was an Indian journalist and orator,[2] known for his service to journalism in Telugu language.

[3] Kutumba Rao was born in 1933 at Vijayawada in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

[3][4] He was a secretary to T. Prakasham, former Chief Minister of the state and was known to have mooted the idea of demarcating states on the basis of language in 1947, when India became independent.

[9] He was a recipient of the Pratibha Puraskar from the Telugu University, Kalaprapoorna title from Andhra University and the title of Guardian of Telugu from C. Rajagopalachari, then Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

[4] He was honored by the Government of India, in 2002, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri[10] making him the first journalist from the state of Andhra Pradesh to receive the award.