B P Acharya

Early life and background

Acharya completed his schooling and graduation at Bhubaneswar, Orissa, and topped the University in the Intermediate Examination, as well as in B A (Hons.) in Political Science and History. He was awarded the Chancellor's Cup as the Best Debater (English) of Utkal University in the year 1978, and was a National Scholarship holder from 1975. He did his M A in International Studies (Politics) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), which he topped, and has an M Phil from the Center for Diplomatic Studies, School of International Studies, JNU (New Delhi).

He also worked as Editor with internationally famous authors Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre (of Freedom at Midnight fame)[3] for editing the personal papers of Lord Mountbatten [4](Mountbatten and Partition of India).

Career

In 1983, Acharya was selected for the Indian Administrative Service. He was awarded the Director's Medal for the best term paper in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration as an IAS probationer. He worked as Secretary of the House Journal Society and Editor of the Journal 'Spectrum'. He underwent training as Assistant Collector in Chittoor District in 1984–85, and later served in Bhadrachalam and Warangal. He brought out important publications on the cultural heritage of the Kakatiyas, on behalf of INTACH. While he was Managing Director, AP Travel & Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) in 1993, he commissioned the Son-Et-Lumiere at the Golconda Fort.

He had also stints as Director, Marketing, as Special Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Dept., as Commissioner for Relief, as Managing Director, AP Dairy Development Coop. Federation, as Secretary, Industries & Commerce Dept, and as Managing Director, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

He was the Managing Director of APIIC from May 2005 (and was designated as Chairman & Managing Director of APIIC from 7 June 2007) till December 2009. During his tenure, many successful export-oriented clusters was facilitated by him in the combined State of AP. Of these, Sri City is the most successful SEZ in the country and the one of Brandix in Vizag is the largest apparel park in India. During his decade long stint in Industrial Sector in the State, He created at least 20 such clusters, viz, Genome Valley for Life Sciences near Hyderabad, Pharma city in Vizag, Apache foot wear cluster in Nellore Dist, Aerospace cluster in Adibatla near Hyd, Financial District in Gachibowli, Hyderabad knowledge city in Madhapur Formulations SEZ in Jadcherla to name a few. Each of these clusters provide employment to at least 30,000 persons directly and 1 lakh indirectly. These clusters have brought smiles to many faces, mostly poor women.[5] [6] He was later Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department.

Acharya's hobbies include painting, cartoons & caricatures and poetry. His cartoon series 'Obtuse Angle'[7], was published regularly in 'Money Life' in Mumbai. His poems have been published in Triveni and other journals.

As the District Collector of Warangal, according to his bio, he conducted a Kakatiya Festival, and also helped in bringing publications on the cultural heritage of the Kakatiyas, engineering & technical achievements of the Kakatiya period, and a Telugu publication on the literary treasures of the Kakatiya period. He was responsible for starting the Sound & Light show at the Thousand Pillar Temple and Fort at Warangal, and also for the completion of the construction of Pothana Memorial in the region.

As MD of the Tourism Development Corporation, he commissioned the Sound & Light show at Golconda fort, and conducted the Golconda festival. When he was the Commissioner, Information & Public Relations, he undertook initiatives for designing the trophy for the NTR National Award, as well as the logo for the Janmabhoomi programme.

He was a Member of the Jury for the International Cartoon competitions conducted by Cartoonists' Forum. As CMD, APIIC, he took steps for installing artistic sculptures titled "Technology for the Masses" in different Industrial Parks of the State. As a member of the Kalinga Cultural Trust, he coordinated the construction of the Jagannath Temple in Banjara Hills.

As the Tourism and Culture Principle Secretary of Telangana, he is responsible for bringing in huge investments(Rs 350 crore) to improve infrastructure to appeal to international tourists. He even participated in a road show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to woo travellers to destinations in Telangana