Tadepalligudem (West Godavari District): A veteran journalist and former student leader D Somasundar have been unanimously elected as the National Secretary-General of the Indian Journalists Union (IJU). He was born on June 21, 1957 in Ravulaparru a remote agricultural village in the West Godavari district. His father, the late Virata Raju was a freedom fighter who was jailed three times, while his mother, the late Subbayamma was incarcerated in 1948 for her women’s rights activism.

Federation (AISF), and served as the General Secretary and later as the President of the West Godavari district unit and later as the State Vice-President.

During his college years, he entered journalism, starting as a correspondent for the Visalandhra daily in Tadepalligudem town. He worked there for 30 years. In 2005, he was appointed the working editor of ‘Jana Balam’ Telugu monthly. He is also associated with ‘Jatheeya Spoorthy’ and ‘Daari Deepam’ as an editorial board member.

Hewas first elected Secretary of the APUWJ West Godavari unit in 1987 and later became the District President in 2002. Elected State Vice-President in 2005 and State President in 2007, serving two consecutive terms until the bifurcation of AP in 2014.

He was instrumental in preparing memorandums on the working conditions of Moffussil journalists and the implementation of wage board recommendations. He attended the wage board hearings of Justice RK Manisana Singh and Justice GR Majithiya. In 2009, he played a crucial role in exposing the Paid News phenomenon during the general elections in Andhra Pradesh, collecting substantial evidence and presenting it to the Press Council of India (PCI) Sub Committee on the issue.

Somasundar has been a consistent presence at the national level, attending nearly all plenaries and council meetings of the IJU.

He was elected as an NEC member at the Amritsar Plenary and later as Secretary of the IJU at the Chennai Plenary, before his recent unanimous election as National Secretary-General.

He has served on numerous advisory committees for the Andhra Pradesh government, including the Governing Council of the Press Academy of Andhra Pradesh and the Andhra Pradesh Literacy Mission. He also served as a member of the Food Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee on Rural Water Supply, and the monitoring committee for the prevention of the PNDT act.

For two decades, he has been an active participant in the ASER initiative of the Pratham Education Foundation. From 2016 to 2021, he led a digital literacy training programme in his native area, which empowered nearly 3,000 individuals with digital skills.