Diwan Bahadur Rayapuram Nallaveeran Arogyaswamy Mudaliar (18 April 1870 – 30 January 1933) was an Indian politician and civil engineer who served as the Minister of Excise, Medical Administration and six other departments in the Madras Presidency from 1926 to 1928.
As a student of Madras Christian College, he performed brilliantly standing topmost in his class. He went on to complete his Civil Engineering Degree in 1896 from Madras Engineering College (now named Guindy College of Engineering). After passing the exam at the top of his class, the Government of India offered Arogyaswamy Mudaliar the position of Executive Engineer overseeing nearly all districts in the present state of Tamil Nadu, Ganjam District in Orissa and entire Andhra Pradesh . He was hand picked to represent the country at the inauguration of the Panama Canal and at the opening on the Philadelphia Industrial Exhibition in the US. The study tour apart from visits to the United States and Panama included England, Spain, Portugal and Japan. It was on his return he miraculously escaped certain death as the ship he was originally slated to return was sunk by Germany during the hostilities in World War I In the post war years Arogyaswamy Mudaliar carried out improvements in the irrigation system of the River Krishna, was actively involved in the Mettur Dam, which became the largest dam in the world at the time of completion in 1934, Tungabhadra project, Pykara Project and the Lower Bhavani (river) Project. He did very useful work on the Cauvery Committee. The government recognised his work by promoting him to the position of Superintending Engineer in 1918 and conferring on him the title of Rao Bahadur and later in 1925 with the additional honour of Dewan Bahadur at the time of his retirement.
In 1926, he was appointed In the Subbaroyan ministry with eight portfolios namely 1.Excise 2.Medical Administration 3.Fisheries 4.Public Health and Sanitation 5 Weights and Measures 6 Statistics 7.Pilgrimages within British India 8.Adulteration of foodstuffs and other articles. During these years he was instrumental in influencing the government to boycott Simon commission. Later Arogyaswami Mudaliar while continuing to be a Member of the Legislative Council moved a cut motion on Excise demand in 1927, the government’s refusal to accept his proposal for total prohibition had also caused his resignation. He fought aggressivelly for total prohibition. Speaking on his vision of Swaraj (freedom) in the Madras Legislative Assembly “I would ask those who wish to attain Swaraj first of all to work to unify the people. Abolish caste distinctions, educate the poor…so that they will understand what politics is…(then) Swaraj will be yours for the asking”. He was an active member of the opposition. In 1929 the Committee of the Madras Legislative Council appointed Mr Arogyaswami Mudaliar as the Chairman to investigate into the condition of ryots (farmers) in Andhra, his Secretary was Prof. N.G. Ranga,Professor of Economics, As important to his heart was the cause of swadeshi and he promoted “Buy Indian League” of Madras, he opposed separate electorates for minorities and welcomed the Poona Pact an agreement between Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi in September 1932. He attended Allahabad conferance called by Madan Mohan Malavia and suffered from Pnemonia. After returning from the Allahabad Unity Conference he went to Mysore to preside over the Engineers Conference, soon after took to his bed with rheumatism culminating in his death .