Muni Rathnam Pantula was born in Madanapalle Town Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. He did his Bachelorâs in Engineering in Civil Engineering from Government Engineering College at Anantapur. He was trained in water resource management in Indian Basins at Faridabad and Srinagar in a programme sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Ground Water Board, Government of India. He worked in the department of Irrigation and State Ground Water Department and also as Technical Consultant to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, India for Andhra Pradesh Economic restructuring project aided by the World Bank. He was honoured with many awards like the C.C. DALAL award by Institution of Engineers, India for his work on conversion of brackish water to drinking water for ISRO colonies. The State Center Prize of Institution of Engineers, India for the work he did for the conservation of base flows in Swarnamukhi River Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh.