D. Ramanujam

Desigar Ramanujam (17 July 1907 – 4 June 1968) was a Ceylonese trade unionist and politician.

Desigar Ramanujam was born in Ramanathapuram, India on 17 July 1907. Upon completing his higher studies, he commenced a career in journalism. In the late 1920s, Ramanujam, an accomplished writer, came to Sri Lanka to join the editorial staff of Tamil newspaper Desa Bakthan.

Ramanujam was one of seven CIC members elected to parliament in 1947.

In 1961, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike offered Ramanujam an appointed seat in Parliament. Still, he declined it in favour of the President of the Ceylon Workers Congress, Savumiamoorthy Thondaman.

In 1962, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) invited him to join their organisation, where he was given the task of organising the sugar plantation workers trade union movement in Mauritius. He was subsequently sent to Ethiopia to establish trade unions there. In 1965, the ICFTU appointed Ramanujam as its Special Representative in Singapore and later as the organization's Regional Director in South East Asia.

In June 1968, the ICFTU appointed Ramanujam the Director of the Asian Regional Office, based in India. However, he died suddenly on 4 June 1968, at the age of 60, before he could take up that posting.