Parsa Venkateshwar Rao, Jr, was born in 1953 and brought up in Hyderabad, where he attended St George’s Grammar School and Hyderabad Public School. He spent six years in Chennai, reading for BA (history) at Loyola College and MA (English) at the University Department of English.

Rao has worked with The Indian Express, India Today, and tehelka.com and served as editor of National Review, a monthly political magazine. He has written for The New Sunday Express (Chennai), Deccan Herald (Bengaluru), The Gulf News (Dubai), The Daily Star (Beirut), Today (Singapore), and for a London-based website, Open Democracy. He was also with The Gulf Today in Sharjah and The Straits Times, Singapore.

In 2005, Rao published a book, Mullah Omar and Robespierre: Essays In The Politics Of Ideas (Rupa), a selection from the books column he wrote for The New Sunday Express from 2000 to 2004.

Rao joined the edit page of Daily News and Analysis in March 2007. He writes analytical pieces on politics and culture.