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DR.
A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM (b - 1931)
Term of
Office: 25 July 2002 TO 25 July 2007 |
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Term of Office: 25 July
2002 TO 25 July 2007
Born on 15th October
1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul
Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from
Madras Institute of Technology. Dr. Kalam made significant
contribution as Project Director to develop India's
first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III)
which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the
near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an
exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for
the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle programme,
particularly the PSLV configuration. After working for
two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle
technologies, Dr. Kalam took
up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided
Missiles at Defence Research and Development
Organisation as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided
Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was
responsible for the development and operationalisation
of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles and for building indigenous
capability in critical technologies through networking
of multiple institutions. He was the Scientific Adviser
to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence
Research & Development from July 1992 to December
1999. During this period he led to the weaponisation of
strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear
tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy,
which made India a nuclear weapon State. He also gave
thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by
progressing multiple development tasks and mission
projects such as Light Combat Aircraft.
As
Chairman of Technology Information, Forecasting and
Assessment Council (TIFAC) and as an eminent scientist,
he led the country with the help of 500 experts to
arrive at Technology Vision 2020 giving a road map for
transforming India from the present developing status to
a developed nation. Dr. Kalam
has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the
Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister,
from November 1999 to November 2001 and was responsible
for evolving policies, strategies and missions for many
development applications. Dr.
Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the
Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and
piloted India Millennium Mission 2020.
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit
as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation
at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001 and was
involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he
took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national
development by meeting high school students across the
country.
In his literary pursuit four of Dr. Kalam's books - "Wings of Fire",
"India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My
journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power
within India" have become household names in India and
among the Indian nationals abroad. These books have been
translated in many Indian languages.
Dr. Kalam is one of the most
distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour
of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities
and institutions. He has been awarded the coveted
civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma
Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat
Ratna (1997). He is a recipient of several other awards
and Fellow of many professional
institutions.
Dr. Kalam
became the 11th President of
India on 25th July 2002.
His focus is on transforming India into a developed
nation by 2020.
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Shri K. R. Narayanan (1920-2005)
Term of Office: 25 July 1997 TO 25 July
2002 |
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Term
of Office: 25 July 1997 TO 25 July 2002
Shri Kocheril Raman Narayanan assumed office as
President of India on July 25, 1997. Shri Narayanan was
born on October 27, 1920 in the village of Uzhavoor in
Kottayam district, Kerala.
EDUCATION
Shri Narayanan received his education from the
University of Travancore where he obtained an M.A.
degree in English Literature standing first in the
University. Later, he obtained B.Sc. (Econ.) degree from
the London School of Economics with First Class Honours
specialising in Political Science.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Shri Narayanan started his career as a Lecturer in
the University of Travancore (1943). Later he took to
journalism and worked with The Hindu, Madras (now
Chennai) and Times of India, Bombay (now Mumbai -
1944-45). While a student in London, he served as the
London Correspondent of "Social Welfare", a weekly from
Bombay edited by Shri K.M. Munshi (1945-48).
Shri Narayanan joined the Indian Foreign Service
in 1949 and served in Indian Embassies in Rangoon,
Tokyo, London, Canberra and Hanoi and held different
positions in the Ministry of External Affairs.
In between he taught Economic Administration at
Delhi School of Economics from 1954-55 and was also the
Joint Director of the Orientation Centre for Foreign
Technicians.
Shri Narayanan also served as
India's Ambassador to Thailand (1967-69), Turkey
(1973-75), the People's Republic of China (1976-78) and
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (1976).
PUBLIC LIFE
After retirement from the Foreign Service in 1978,
Shri Narayanan was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in January 1979
and held the post till October 1980.
Shri
Narayanan was sent as a political appointee to be
India's Ambassador to the United States of America from
1980-84.
After completing his term as Indian
Ambassador to USA, Shri Narayanan entered politics and
won three successive General Elections in 1984,1989 and
1991 from his Parliament Constituency of Ottapalam in
Kerala. He was Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from
1985 to 1992.
During this period he was Union
Minister of State for Planning (1985), External Affairs
(1985-86) and Science and Technology, Atomic Energy,
Space, Electronics and Ocean Development and
Vice-President, Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (1986-89).
Shri Narayanan was elected
Vice-President of India and served in this position from
21st August, 1992 till he assumed the office of the
President of India in July 1997. He was ex-officio
Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament)
during this period.
Shri Narayanan has
been a Member of various Indian delegations to :
(i) United Nations General Assembly
(1979), (ii) The UN Security Council in November 1985 on
Namibian Independence, (iii) Conference of Non-aligned
Nations at Harare (1986) and (iv) The Special Session of
the UN General Assembly in May 1986 on the critical
situation in Africa
Shri Narayanan has been
associated with several institutions in diverse
capacities. He was President, Indian Council for
Cultural Relations; President, Indian Institute of
Public Administration; President, Ramakrishna Mission
Institute of Cultures, Calcutta; Patron of the
International Award for Young People - India.
Shri Narayanan has also served as
Chairman of
(i) The Jury of the
Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding;
(ii) The International Jury for the Indira Gandhi Prize
for Peace, Disarmament and Development; (iii) The
Advisory Committee for the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana
Award; (iv) The Jury for International Gandhi Award for
Leprosy; (v) The Jury for Indira Gandhi Paryavaran
Puraskar; (vi) The Jury for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Award for
Social Understanding and Upliftment of Weaker Sections;
(vii) The Jury for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar International Award
for Social Change; (viii) The Jury for G.D. Birla Awards
for Humanism, India's Heritage and Culture and Rural
Upliftment; and (ix) The Jury for Communal Harmony
Awards.
ACADEMIC DISTINCTIONS AND
PURSUITS
A scholar and writer, Shri Narayanan has authored
four books viz.,
(i) "India and America : Essays
in Understanding" of which a new edition was reissued in
1998; (ii) "Images and Insights"; (iii) "Non-alignment
in Contemporary International Relations" (Joint
Authorship); and (iv) "Nehru and His Vision".
He
has also contributed a number of articles on social,
political, international and literary matters in various
magazines and periodicals.
Shri Narayanan is a
Member of the Universal Academy of Cultures, Paris;
Honorary Fellow of London School of Economics; Honorary
Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific
Research, Bangalore; Honorary Fellow of Centre for
Development Studies, Kerala. He was awarded the
Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1970-72 for study of
Pandit Nehru's Non-alignment.
The President
received the World Statesman Award of The Appeal of
Conscience Foundation, New York in 1998.
Shri
Narayanan has received several degrees and honours.
These are : Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa),
University of Toledo, USA; Doctor of Laws (Honoris
Causa), Australian National University; Australian
National University has instituted an annual "K.R.
Narayanan Oration"; Honorary Professor of Bishkek
Humanities University (Kyrghyz Republic); Vachaspati (D.
Litt) (Honoris Causa), Sampurnanand Sanskrit University,
Varanasi; Doctorate (Honoris Causa), University of San
Marcos, Peru; Doctorate of Letters (Honoris Causa),
Tribhuvan University, Nepal; Doctorate of Political
Science (Honoris Causa), Bilkent University, Turkey.
Shri Narayanan is the Visitor of Delhi
University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and several
other Central Universities. He has also been the
Chancellor of Delhi University, Punjab University,
Pondicherry University, Assam University, North Eastern
Hill University and Gandhigram Rural Institute (Deemed
University); Visitor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National
University Institute of Journalism, Bhopal; Visitor of
Madras School of Economics. He is also visitor of Viswa
Bharati University, established by Gurudev Rabindranath
Tagore.
Shri Narayanan has delivered Convocation
Addresses at several Universities in India and abroad.
The President has gone on State Visits to Peru,
Brazil, Nepal, Germany, Portugal, Luxembourg and Turkey,
Austria, France, China, Singapore and Mauritius.
SPECIAL AREAS OF
INTEREST/HOBBIES
Political thought and international affairs,
education; philosophy of science and social applications
of science and technology; Poetry, Literature and the
fine arts; Folk and Classical Music; Walking. Shri
Narayanan is Patron of various social, cultural and
sports organisations.
Shri Narayanan is married
to Smt. Usha Narayanan. Smt. Narayanan has a Masters
Degree from the Delhi School of Social Work, Delhi
University and her field of specialization is 'Juvenile
Delinquency'. Smt. Narayanan is closely involved in
social welfare activities for women and children. As
National President of KARUNA, an all-India organization
for the welfare of women and children from 1985 to 1992,
she was responsible for building Working Girls' Hostels
and Day Care Centres, Potters' Cooperatives and
Sericulture projects in Kerala. She is actively
associated with women's organisations in India.
In addition to interest in landscaping,
gardening, orchid cultivation, Ikebana and Bonsai, Smt.
Narayanan has also translated Burmese short stories into
English. Most of them have been published in the
national fortnightly journal "Frontline". A collection
of her translations of Thein Pe Myint's Burmese Short
Stories was published as a book entitled "Sweet and
Sour" in December, 1998. Smt. Narayanan has also worked
with All India Radio for many years, translating and
broadcasting news and talks for the External Services of
A.I.R.
The Narayanans have two daughters, Chitra
and Amrita
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Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma
(1918-1999)
Term of Office: 25 July 1992 TO 25 July 1997 |
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Term of Office:
25 July 1992 TO 25 July 1997
EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC
DISTINCTIONS
Dr. Sharma received his education at
St. John's College, Agra, Allahabad University, Lucknow
University, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University,
Lincoln's Inn and Harvard Law School. He took his M.A.
Degrees in English Literature, Hindi and Sanskrit
standing first in the University. He obtained his LL.M.
from Lucknow University once again standing first in the
University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Law at Cambridge.
Dr. Sharma was awarded the Chakravarti Gold Medal for
Social Service by Lucknow University.
Dr. Sharma
taught Law at Lucknow University and at Cambridge
University. While at Cambridge, Dr. Sharma was Treasurer
of the Tagore Society and the Cambridge Majlis. Called
to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn, he was later a Fellow at
Harvard Law School. He has been elected Honorary Bencher
and Master of Lincoln's Inn and Honorary Fellow,
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. The University of
Cambridge has honoured him with degree of Doctor of Law
(Honoris Causa).
Dr. Sharma was Pro-Chancellor,
Sagar University (1956-1959). During his tenure as
Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra, he
was Chancellor of 22 Universities in those States and
also Rector of the University of
Hyderabad.
During his tenure as Vice-President of
India he was Chancellor of Delhi University, Punjab
University, Pondicherry University, Gandhigram Rural
Institute (Deemed University), and Visitor of Makhanlal
Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya
Sansthan, Bhopal. He was also Chairman of the Central
Sanskrit Board.
Dr. Sharma has delivered
Convocation Addresses at (1) Madras University, (2) Sri
Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Puttaparthy
(Deemed University) (in 1987 and in 1992), (3) Agra
University, (4) Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati,
(5) Bombay University, (6) Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Bombay (Deemed University), (7) Gandhigram
Rural Institute (Deemed University), (8) Sardar Patel
University, (9) Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta, (10) Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New
Delhi, (11) Telugu University, Hyderabad, (12) Devi
Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore, (13) Goa University,
Panjim, (14) University of Roorkee, (15) Indira Gandhi
National Open University, (16) All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, New Delhi, (17) Dibrugarh University,
(18) Meerut University, (19) Himachal Pradesh
University, (20) Hyderabad University, (21) Gujarat
Vidyapeeth, (22) National Law School of India
University, Bangalore, (23) Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri
Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth and (24) Indian Institute
of Technology, Kharagpur.
Dr. Sharma was accorded
the degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) from (1)
Vikram University; (2) Bhopal University; (3) Agra
University; (4) Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati;
(5) Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore and University
of Sofia, Bulgaria. He was also accorded the degree of
Doctor of Social Sciences (Honoris Causa) from the
University of roorkee, the degree of Doctor of Civil Law
(Honoris Causa) from the University of Mauritius (Port
Louis), the degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris
Causa) from Meerut University, the degree of Doctorate
(Honoris Causa) from Kiev State University, Ukraine, the
degree of 'Vachaspati' from the Lal Bahadur Shastri
Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (Deemed University), New
Delhi, the degree of Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from
Bucharest University, Romania, the degree of Doctor of
Letters (Honoris Causa) from Agra University and the
degree of 'Mahamahopadhyaya' (Honoris Causa) from the
Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati.
Dr.
Sharma was President of: (i) Indian Council for Cultural
Relations, New Delhi; and (ii) Indian Institute of
Public Administration, New Delhi, and Chairman of: (i)
the Jury for the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for
International Understanding, and (ii) the International
Jury for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament
and Development.
PUBLIC LIFE
Dr. Sharma started his legal practice
in 1940 in Lucknow.
Dr. Sharma participated in
the historic Quit India Movement during the national
struggle for freedom, and in the merger Movement in
Bhopal, and underwent imprisonments.
Dr. Sharma
was Chief Minister of the erstwhile Bhopal State
(1952-1956), Cabinet Minister, Government of Madhya
Pradesh, holding the portfolios of Education, Law,
Public Works, Industry and Commerce, National Resources
and Separate Revenue (1956-1967) and was thereafter
Union Minister for Communications
(1974-1977).
Dr. Sharma was Vice-President of
India and Chairman of the Council of States (Rajya
Sabha) from September 3, 1987 till he assumed office of
the President of India in 1992. Earlier he has been the
Governor of three States: Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and
Maharashtra.
Dr. Sharma was President of the (i)
Bhopal Congress Committee (1950-52) and (ii) Madhya
Pradesh Congress Committee (1967-68): General Secretary,
Indian National Congress (1968-72); Member, (i) All
India Congress Committee for more than 32 years
(1952-84) and (ii) Congress Working Committee for about
20 years.
Dr. Sharma was the President of the
Indian National Congress in 1972-1974.
Dr. Sharma
was Member, Bhopal Legislative Assembly (1952-1956);
Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly (1956-1971); Fifth
Lok Sabha (1971-1977) and Seventh Lok Sabha (1980-1984).
His participation in matters concerning Parliament was
resumed when he assumed office as Vice-President of
India and ex-officio Chairman of the Council of State
(Rajya Sabha), and continues in his office as President
of India.
Dr. Sharma led several official
delegations to International Conferences including a
Parliamentary Delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary
Union Conference at Oslo in 1980; a Special Delegation
of veteran freedom fighters to Moscow in August, 1987
for the celebrations of the 40th Anniversary of India's
Independence during the Festival of India in USSR, also
led a Special Delegation of veteran freedom fighters to
Jalalabad (Afghanistan) to pay homage to Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan in 1988.
The title of 'Rashtra
Ratnam' (Jewel of the Nation) has been conferred upon
Dr. Sharma by His Holiness the Shankaracharya of
Sringeri. The title of "Dharmaratnakara' has been
conferred on him by the Pontiff of
Shravanbelagola.
The International Bar
Association has presented to Dr. Sharma the Living
Legends of Law Award of Recognition for his outstanding
contribution to the legal profession internationally and
for commitment to the Rule of Law.
SPECIAL AREAS OF INTEREST
International Affairs; Linguistics;
Law; Philosophy; Education; Rural Development and
Comparative Study of Religions.
SPORTS
During his University career, Dr.
Sharma won distinction as a sportsman, having excelled
in athletics, rowing and swimming. He was Lucknow
University's swimming champion for three consecutive
years and was Captain and later President of its Rowing
and Swimming Club.
RECREATION
Reading and writing on various subjects
of national and international interest and study of
languages, history, art and culture, comparative
religion, philosophy, poetry, literature and classical
Indian and Western music.
LITERARY AND JOURNALISTIC
PURSUITS
(a) Publications
(1) Congress Approach to
International Affairs
(2) Kranti
Drashta
(3) Rule of Law and Role of
Police
(4) Jawaharlal Nehru - Selected
Speeches
(5) Secularism in the Indian
Ethos
(6) Eminent Indians
(7) Horizons of
Indian Education
(8) For a Better
Future
(9) The Democratic Process
(10)
Aspects of Indian Thought
(11) Towards a New
India
(12) Ideas, Thoughts and Images - Selected
Speeches
(13) New Directions of
Development
(14) Our Heritage of
Humanism
(15) Hamare Path Pradarshak
(Hindi)
(16) Deshmani (Hindi)
(17) Hamare
Chintan Ki Mool Dhara (Hindi)
(18) Hamari
Sanskritik Dharohar (Hindi)
(19) Chetana Ke Srot
(Hindi)
(20) Hamare Prerana Punj
(Hindi)
(21) Pragati Ke Paridrishya
(Hindi)
(22) Shiksha Ke Aayam (Hindi)
(23)
Behetar Bhavishya Ke Liye (Hindi)
(24) Bharatiya
Chintan (Hindi)
(25) Loktantra Ki Prakriya
(Hindi)
(26) Ekatva Ke Mool (Hindi)
(27)
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi)
(28) Manjusha
(Hindi)
Dr. Sharma has also contributed a number
of articles on different subjects to national and
international journals.
(b) Editorial
Assignments:
(1) Lucknow Law Journal
(1941-1943)
(2) Light and Learning
(1942-1943)
(3) Ilm-o-Noor (Urdu)
(4)
Jyoti (Hindi) and
(5) Socialist India
(1971-1974)
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Shri R Venkataraman
(b-1910)
Term of Office: 25 July 1987 TO
25 July 1992 |
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Term of
Office: 25 July 1987 TO 25 July 1992
Born on December 4, 1910 in the village
of Rajamadam, Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu, Shri
Venkataraman married Smt Janaki Venkataraman in the year
1938. They have three daughters.
EDUCATION:
Educated locally and in the city of
Madras, Shri Venkataraman obtained his Master Degree in
Economics from Madras University. He later qualified in
Law from the Law College, Madras.
LAW:
Shri Venkataraman was enrolled in the
High Court, Madras in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in
1951.
While practicing Law, Shri Venkataraman was
drawn into the movement for India's freedom from
Britain's colonial subjugation. His active participation
in the Indian National Congress's celebrated resistance
to the British Government, the 'Quit India Movement of
1942', resulted in his detention for two years under the
British Government's Defence of India Rules.
Shri
Venkataraman's interest in the Law continued during this
period. In 1946, when the Transfer of Power from British
to Indian hands was imminent, the Government of India
included him in the panel of lawyers sent to Malaya and
Singapore to defend Indian nationals charged with
offences of collaboration during the Japanese occupation
of those two places.
In the years 1947 to 1950,
Shri Venkataraman served as Secretary of the Madras
Provincial Bar Federation.
TRADE UNIONS:
Shri Venkataraman acquired, early in
his legal career, an abiding interest in the law
pertaining to labour. On his release from prison in
1944, Shri Venkataraman took up the Organisation of the
Labour Section of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. He
founded, in 1949, the Labour Law Journal which publishes
important decisions pertaining to labour and is an
acknowledged specialist publication. Shri Venkataraman
came to be intimately associated with trade union
activity, founding or leading several unions, including
those for plantation workers, estate staff,
dock-workers, railway workers and working journalists.
Shri Venkataraman also took a direct and keen interest
in the conditions of agricultural workers in his home
district of Thanjavur.
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY:
Law and trade union activity led to
Shri Venkataraman's increasing association with
politics. He was elected in 1950, to free India's
Provisional Parliament (1950-1952) and to the First
Parliament (1952-1957). During his term of legislative
activity, Shri Venkataraman attended the 1952 Session of
the Metal Trades Committee of International Labour
Organisation as a workers' delegate. He was a member of
the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Conference in New Zealand.
Shri
Venkataraman was also Secretary to the Congress
Parliamentary Party in 1953-1954.
MINISTERIAL AND OTHER
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Although re-elected to Parliament in
1957, Shri Venkataraman resigned his seat in the Lok
Sabha to join the State Government of Madras as a
Minister. There Shri Venkataraman held the portfolios of
Industries, Labour, Cooperation, Power, Transport and
Commercial Taxes from 1957 to 1967.
During this
time, he was also Leader of the Upper House, namely, the
Madras Legislative Council.
Shri Venkataraman was
appointed a Member of the Union Planning Commission in
1967 and was entrusted the subjects of Industry, Labour,
power, Transport, Communications, Railways. He held that
office until 1971.
In 1977, Shri Venkataraman was
elected to the Lok Sabha from Madras (South)
Constituency and served as an Opposition Member of
Parliament and Chairman of the Public Accounts
Committee.
In 1980, Shri Venkataraman was
re-elected to the Lok Sabha and was appointed Union
Minister of Finance in the Government headed by Smt
Indira Gandhi. He was later appointed Union Minister of
Defence.
Shri Venkataraman was also, variously,
member of the Political Affairs Committee and the
Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet;
Governor, International Monetary Fund, the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian
Development Bank.
U.N. COMMITTEES AND CONFERENCES:
Shri Venkataraman was a Delegate to the
United Nations General Assembly in 1953, 1955, 1956,
1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961. He was Leader of the Indian
Delegation to the 42nd Session of the International
Labour Conference at Geneva (1958) and represented India
in the Inter Parliamentary Conference in Vienna (1978).
He was a Member, United Nations Administrative Tribunal
from 1955 to 1979 and was its President from 1968 to
1979.
TRAVELS ABROAD:
Shri Vankataraman has visited a large number of
countries in West and East Europe, the Soviet Union,
U.S.A., Canada, South East Asia, Japan, Australia, New
Zealand, Yugoslavia and Mauritius on official
duties.
ACADEMIC HONOURS AND AWARDS:
Shri Venkataraman has received the
Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa) from University of
Madras, the Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa) from
Nagarjuna University. He is Honorary Fellow, Madras
Medical College; Doctor of Social Sciences, University
of Roorkee; Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) from
University of Burdwan. He has been awarded The Tamra
Patra for participation in the freedom struggle, the
Soviet Land Prize for his travelogue on Shri Kamraj's
visit to the Socialist countries. He is the recipient of
a Souvenir from the Secretary-General of the United
Nations for distinguished service as President of the
U.N. Administrative Tribunal.
The title of "Sat
Seva Ratna" has been conferred on him by His Holiness
the Sankaracharya of Kancheepuram.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF INDIA:
Shri Venkataraman was elected
Vice-President of India in August, 1984.
He was,
simultaneously, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Council of
States), the Second Chamber of the Indian Parliament. As
Vice-President of India, he was Chairman of the Jury for
the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International
Understanding and of the International Jury for the
Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and
Development. He was Vice-Chairman of the Jawaharlal
Nehru Memorial Fund; Trustee, Indira Gandhi Memorial
Trust; President, Indian Institute of Public
Administration; Chancellor, Gandhgram Rural Institute;
Chancellor, Delhi University; Chancellor, Punjab
University and President of the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations.
PRESIDENT OF INDIA:
Having been elected to the Office of
the President of India, Shri Venkataraman was sworn in
on July 25, 1987. He is the Eighth President of the
Republic of India.
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Giani Zail Singh
(1916-1994)
Term of Office: 25 July 1982
TO 25 July 1987 |
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Term
of Office: 25 July 1982 TO 25 July 1987
GIANI ZAIL SINGH, whose ascendancy in
the service of the nation can be traced from the
humblest of origins, combines rare qualities of head and
heart. The Giani's innings in public life have been long
and varied - freedom fighter, social reformer, champion
of the down-trodden, State Congress Leader, successful
Chief Minister and Union Home Minister. Truly, he was a
relentless fighter against princedom, feudalism and
foreign domination in the pre-independence days, a
tireless crusader against communalism, economic
disparities and social injustice, a true friend of the
down-trodden and the economically weak. Tall, handsome
and immaculately dressed Giani Zail Singh was a firm
believer in democratic traditions, most unassuming, a
God fearing man and true son of the soil. No wonder that
he has been able to carve out a distinguished niche for
himself in Indian public life.
Giani Zail Singh,
was born on May 5, 1916 in village Sandhwan in Faridkot
District in a family of artisans, taken to agriculture.
His father Sardar Kishan Singh owned about fifty-six
acres of land which was inter shared by Giani Zail Singh
and his two brothers. He comes from common stock and was
born in a mud house in a remote village having no pull
or patronage. Stitching clothes, crushing stones,
ploughing in fields, laying roads, digging wells and
making swords on the part of Gianiji gave him a rare
insight into the psyche of the common man - his problems
and aspirations. Also as a form of basic education, he
has gone through the Quran, Geeta, Ramayana, besides an
intensive study of the Sikh
Scriptures.
Displaying precocity from his early
childhood, Gianiji cultivated literary tastes. By the
time most of the boys of his age had passed their
matriculation examination, he had completed the study of
Sikh Religion, Sikh History and Sikh Scriptures. He grew
to be a Giani which means a Scholar. He was very well
versed in Hindi and Urdu. Though not well-versed in the
nuances of the English language, the valuable example
which he furnishes of the power of self help, of patient
purpose, resolute working and steadfast integrity
illustrate the efficiency of self respect and self
reliance in enabling men of even the humblest rank to
work out for themselves and honourable competency and a
solid reputation.
The martyrdom of Bhagat Singh
and his companions, valiant freedom fighters, on March
23, 1931, moved the young Giani who was then only 16.
The story of Giani Zail Singh's ordeals started with
setting up of the branch of the All India Congress in
the State of Faridkot in 1938. Giani Zail Singh was
proclaimed and treated as an ordinary criminal. The
Maharaja regarded the opening of the Branch of the
Congress as a challenge and the man who did it as an
arch enemy. So it was that Gianiji having founded the
Congress in the State of Faridkot found himself behind
prison bars for five years. He was kept in solitary
confinement throughout his imprisonment. Even after his
release, Gianiji was harassed and he had to spend
sometime outside the State. During this period he
canvassed support for the freedom movement in his State.
During the same period he was influenced by Mahatma
Gandhi's message of non-violence.
In 1946,
Gianiji was back in his State to resume the freedom
struggle on the lines initiated by Mahatma Gandhi -
Father of the Nation. The whole State of Faridkot rose
to a man on the question of hoisting the National Flag.
But a reign of terror was unleashed by the Maharaja.
Hearing of this high-handedness from Gianiji and some of
colleagues Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru decided to visit
Faridkot to hoist the Tricolour. This brought Gianiji
into close contact with Panditji and ever since that
day, Panditji kept his benign eye on the young and
promising freedom fighter.
Setting up a parallel
Government in Faridkot was the most perilous adventure
of Giani Zail Singh's life. Giani Zail Singh was held
guilty of leading the revolt against the Raja's
Government and taken into custody. Then occurred the
famous Jeep Episode - a tyrannical response to Gianiji's
quest to end the princely and feudal tyranny. Gianiji
was bound hand and feet to a jeep and was threatened
that he would be dragged along the streets unless he
relented. But ultimately good sense prevailed and the
threat was not carried out.
When Faridkot State
was merged into the State of Patiala and East Punjab
States Union, Giani Zail Singh made historic
contributions in removing socio-economic injustice of
farm labourers, small cultivators and tenants in his
capacity as a Minister for Revenue and Agriculture. The
conferment of proprietary rights on the actual tillers
and the abolition of absentee landlordism and the
legislative steps ensuring the security of tenancy and
the rights of tenants to share the lands declared as
"surplus" after land-ceiling, are all to the credit of
Gianiji. The protection given in PEPSU against State
ejectments by landlords is till today a shining landmark
in the post-freedom history of agrarian reforms in
India.
On November 1, 1956, when PEPSU was
integrated with Punjab it opened a new chapter in the
life of the peasants and workers and the common people.
In 1956, Giani Zail Singh became a Member of Rajya Sabha
and the Senior Vice-President of the Punjab Pradesh
Congress Committee. He injected new fervour among the
partymen and struggled selflessly to ensure thumping
victories for the Congress in Punjab in 1962 General
Elections to Punjab Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha. He
was taken as a Minister in the Government headed by the
late Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon but in 1962, he
sacrificed that office when the Chinese aggression
brought new challenges in its wake.
During 1962
to 1972, Giani Zail Singh waged an uncompromising battle
against the forces of communalism, reaction and
exploitation for about ten long years in Punjab. As a
President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the
spirit he was able to infuse in the rank and file of the
Congress against heavy odds, triumphed with decisive and
overwhelming majority for the Congress in the 1971 Lok
Sabha elections and the 1972 Punjab Vidhan Sabha
poll.
In March, 1972, he was elected unanimously
by the Punjab Congress Legislative Party to be the Chief
Minister of Punjab. For an unprecedented spell of
stability for five years and three months, Giani Zail
Singh accelerated the pace of Green Revolution and
industrialization in the State and strengthened the
forces of secularism by promoting the unity of the
people of all faiths.
Under his dynamic
stewardship Punjab saw prosperity, stability, vitality,
unity and solidarity. Inspired by the Leadership of Smt.
Indira Gandhi, Gianiji worked with dedication to make
the Punjabis realize their dream of a better
life.
With the advent of the multiparty
governments at the Centre and in certain States
including Punjab towards the middle of 1977, Giani Zail
Singh had to brave a fresh spate of difficulties,
hardships and harassment. The trials and tribulations,
however, failed to break his spirit or to deprive him of
the love of the common masses. He was elected to the
Seventh Lok Sabha in January, 1980, from the Hoshiarpur
Constituency in Punjab with a thumping lead of over
1,25,000 votes over his nearest rival, and became Home
Minister in Government of India in Smt. Indira Gandhi's
Cabinet.
As a Union Home Minister, Giani Zail
Singh made a notable contribution in maintaining law and
order, handling the Assam agitation and dealing firmly
with communal riots in the country. He used his vast
administrative experience spanning over more than three
decades as Minister in PEPSU and Punjab and as the State
Chief Minister to his great advantage. In attending to
almost all the major problems facing the nation today,
he has shown rare qualities of a seasoned statesman. The
most striking, however, is his role in the Assam Crisis.
He used all his skill in bringing round the agitation
leaders to the negotiating table. His personal
intervention at the crucial moments during the talks
brought him many laurels, and greatly helped create a
congenial climate for mutual discussions. As Home
Minister he has abundantly shown his keen alertness to
the numerous problems facing the nation. He has been
able to strengthen the national integration and has
shown tenacity in curbing violence of all
types.
Giani Zail Singh was elected to the
highest office of the President of India on July 15,
1982 and took the oath of office on July 25,
1982.
Giani Zail Singh believes in the efficiency
of politeness in expression and penetrative
understanding of human relations and problems. This has,
however, never impaired his firmness on basic principles
of approach and the fundamentals of the policy and
programmes. A refined sense of humour, backed by his
intense love for children and the suffering humans in
all parts of the country, is his inbuilt safeguard
against tensions and malice in his public conduct.
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SHRI NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY
(1913-1996)
Term of Office: 25 July 1977
TO 25 July 1982 |
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Term of Office:
25 July 1977 TO 25 July 1982
Shri Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was born on
May 18, 1913 and died on June 1, 1996.
SHRI
NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY, the sixth President of India, was
a veteran statesman and administrator. He held many
eminent positions in public life both before and after
independence. Born in a peasant family at Illuri village
in the Anantapur District (Andhra Pradesh) on May 19,
1913, Shri Sanjiva Reddy had his early education at the
Theosophical High School at Adyar in Madras and later
joined the Arts College at Anantapur.
In 1931,
the young Sanjiva Reddy gave up his studies to take part
in the freedom movement. His student days were marked by
Youth League and other nationalist activities. In fact,
he first came into limelight when he participated in a
student satyagraha.
At the age of 25, Shri Reddy
was elected Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Provincial
Congress Committee and remained in that office for 10
years. He was in prison for a greater part of the period
1940-1945. In March 1942,he was released for a while but
in August, the same year he was re-arrested and kept in
Amraoti jail in Madhya Pradesh along with Shri Prakasam,
Shri Satyamurti, Shri Kamaraj, Shri Giri and others till
1945.
In 1946, Shri Reddy was elected to the
Madras Legislaltive Assembly and became the Secretary of
the Madras Congress Legislature Party the following
year. In 1947, he became a Member of the Indian
Constitutent Assembly.
From April 1949 to April
1951, he was Minister for Prohibition, Housing and
Forests in the composite state of Madras. In 1951, he
resigned this office to contest the Election for the
Presidentship of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee
which he won. It was during this period that Shri Reddy
suffered a terrible tragedy in the death of his five
year old son in a motor accident. This shocked him so
deeply that he resigned the APCC Presidentship. Later,
however, he was prevailed upon to withdraw his
resignation.
In 1952, he was elected Member of
the Rajya Sabha. In 1953, he accepted the post of Deputy
Chief Minister in the Cabinet of the late Shri T.
Prakasam, even though he was elected the Leader of the
Congress Legislature Party. He was again elected to the
Legislative Assembly in 1955 and became Deputy Chief
Minister in Shri B. Gopala Reddi's cabinet.
Shri
Reddy became the first Chief Minister to the new State
of Andhra Pradesh which was formed following the
reorganization of the States in October, 1956. In 1959,
he resigned the Chief Ministership to take over the
Presidentship of the Indian National Congress. On the
expiry of his term of office in March, 1962, he again
became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. In February
1964, he voluntarily resigned the office of Chief
Minister in order to set high standards of public life.
He was, however, re-elected as the leader of the
Congress Legislature Party but he recommended to the
Governor to invite Shri K. Brahmananda Reddy, a
colleague of his to form a new Ministry.
On June
9, 1964, Shri Reddy was appointed a Member of the Union
Cabinet formed by Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri and took over
the portfolio of Steel and Mines. He was elected to the
Rajya Sabha in November, 1964.
Shri Reddy was
Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Shipping
and Tourism from January 1966 to March 1967 in the
Cabinet formed by Smt. Indira Gandhi. In the General
Elections in 1967, he was returned to the Lok Sabha from
Hindupur constituency in Andhra Pradesh. He was elected
Speaker of the Lok Sabha on March 17, 1967, an office
that won him unprecedented acclaim and
admiration.
Shri Reddy resigned the Speakership
of the Lok Sabha on the 19th July, 1969 to contest the
Presidential election on the basis of his nomination as
a nominee of the Congress filed by Smt. Indira Gandhi.
It is now common knowledge that after filing this
nomination Smt. Indira Gandhi subsequently organized his
defeat in the elections by unethical means.
After
1969, Shri Reddy devoted his time to agriculture, which
has always remained his first love. However, on May 1,
1975 he entered active politics again by addressing a
public meeting at Hyderabad along with Shri Jayaprakash
Narain. In March 1977, he fought the Lok Sabha election
from Nandyal constituency in Andhra Pradesh as a Janata
Party candidate. He was the only non-Congress candidate
to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.
Shri Reddy
was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on
March 26, 1977. He relinquished this office on July 13,
1977 to file his nomination for the Presidentship of the
Indian Union. He was unanimously sponsored as the
consensus candidate for the Presidentship by all
political parties, a rare even in recent political
history. He was declared elected unopposed on July 21,
1977.
The degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws was
conferred on Shri Sanjiva Reddy by the Sri Venkateshwara
University in 1958.
Shri Sanjiva Reddy married
Smt. Nagarathnamma on June 8, 1935 and they had one son
and three daughters.
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Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
(1905-1977)
Term of Office: 24 August 1974
TO 11 February 1977 |
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Term of Office:
24 August 1974 TO 11 February 1977
Born on May 13, 1905 at Hauz Qazi area
of Old Delhi with a silver spoon in his mouth,
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was one of those few Muslims who by
virtue of his service to the country under the
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi reached the pinnacle of
honour as the President of the Indian Republic, the
fifth in the roll.
Shri Fakhruddin's
grandfather, Shri Khaliluddin Ali Ahmed, of Kacharighat
near Golaghat town in the Sibsagar district, Assam,
married in one of the families who were the relics of
Emperor Aurangzeb's bid to conquer Assam. Ali Ahmed's
father Col. Zalnur Ali, of the Indian Medical Service,
had to leave Assam while he was a bachelor doctor
following an incident in Shillong. Col. Ali and one of
his Assamese contemporaries, Col. Sibram Bora, were
allotted seats at a function in the Shillong Club away
from the European guests. The two Assamese Colonels
boycotted the function in protest against the
segregation meted out to them. This naturally enraged
the European bosses who transferred Col. Zalnur Ali to
distant North-West Province. This provided him with an
opportunity to come in contact with the Nawab of Lohari
in Delhi whose daughter he married. Here was born
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.
Educated first in the Bonda
Government High School in U.P., Fakhruddin matriculated
from the Delhi Government High School then under the
Punjab University. He was sent to England for higher
education in 1923 in order to groom him for the I.C.S.,
though his mother was opposed to his son being sent
abroad. He joined the Catherine College of Cambridge
University and was called to the Bar from Inner Temple
of London. He could not compete for the I.C.S.
examination due to illness. On return to India he
started legal practice in the Lahore High Court in 1928.
In October that year, Col. Zalnur Ali, accompanied by
his Barrister son, Fakhruddin, paid a visit to Gauhati
ostensibly to look after his paternal property which
included a few hundred acres of land in and around
Gauhati. Obviously, the Ahmed family's link, snapped on
the Colonel's posting in N.W.P. was thus re-established
after several years. Two years later Fakhruddin Ali
Ahmed revisited Gauhati and came in contact with the
leaders of the Congress in Assam and in 1931 enrolled
himself as its primary member. This was a turning event
in the life of Ahmed.
During his stay in England
he met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1925 whose progressive ideas
impressed him very much; in fact, Nehru became his
mentor and friend from the thirties onwards. (Lord
Bulter, one of the luminaries of the Tories was a
classmate of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed). Once Ahmed joined
the Indian National Congress he steadfastly adhered to
it though his co-religionists in the Muslim League tried
to persuade him to join the latter. As a Congressman,
Ahmed Saheb actively participated in the freedom
movement. To begin with, he offered individual
satyagraha on 14 December, 1940 for which he was
imprisoned for a year under Section 5 of the DIR. Again,
in the 'Quit India Movement' he was arrested on 9
August, 1942 while he was returning after attending the
historic session of the AICC meeting held at Bombay and
detained as a security prisoner for three and a half
years till April 1945. In the Congress organization he
occupied several positions of responsibilities. He
remained a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress
Committee since 1936 except for a small break. He
retained the membership of the AICC from 1947 till 1974.
He was elected to the Assam Assembly for the first time
in 1935 and became the Minister of Finance, Revenue and
Labour in the Congress Coalition Ministry formed by the
late Gopinath Bardoloi on 19 September, 1938. In the
first spell of his Ministerial office Ali Ahmed
demonstrated his acumen and ability in administrative
sphere. His initiative in introducing the Assam
Agricultural Income Tax Bill, the first of its kind in
India, that levied taxes on tea garden lands in the
Province and his pro-labour policy in the labour strike
in the British-owned Assam Oil Company Ltd. At Digboi
irked the European planters and their henchmen who
considered that the measures of the Congress Coalition
Government were revolutionary and, therefore,
constituted a danger signal to the interests of the
British commercial community. But Ali Ahmed did not heed
to such opposition and went ahead with the measures
which brought him and the Bardoloi Ministry a good deal
of popular applause. However, the Bardoloi Ministry had
to resign on 16 November, 1939 on the war efforts issue,
but that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an able administrator
was established.
After Independence he was
elected on Congress ticket to the Assam Assembly on two
terms (1957-1962) and (1962-1967). Earlier, he was
elected to the Rajya Sabha (1952-1953) and thereafter
became Advocate-General of the Government of Assam.
Though Ali Ahmed occupied a senior position in the
Chaliha Ministry from 1957 he was asked by Jawaharlal
Nehru to join his Cabinet at the Centre in January 1966.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Barpeta
constituency in 1971. In the Central Cabinet he was
given important portfolios relating to Food and
Agriculture, Cooperation, Education, Industrial
Development and Company Laws. His induction to the
Central Cabinet was perhaps because of his close link
with, and loyalty to the Nehru family and also for his
acumen in administration.
In the Congress
hierarchy Ali Ahmed enjoyed an enviable position being a
member of the Congress Working Committee for several
years. In the Great Split of the Congress (1969), Ali
Ahmed remained with Indira Gandhi, may be his
deep-rooted association with the Nehru family made him
adhere to Indira Gandhi's leadership till his death. He
was elected to the highest post of the land - the
Presidentship of the Indian Republic on 29 August, 1974,
but his tenure in the office was cut short (1977) by his
sudden death due to a heart attack which he suffered on
his return from a tour of the South-East Asian countries
only a day before. In the wake of the Emergency Ali
Ahmed became the target of criticism of his detractors.
It was alleged that he put his signature as President to
the order on promulgation of Emergency on 25 June, 1975
at the behest of the Prime Minister, though he assured
at the time of his election to Presidentship that he
would not be a yes-man of the Cabinet. Notwithstanding
this criticism, Ali Ahmed's personality, integrity and
ability in administration were never
questioned.
Suave and sober, Ali Ahmed seldom
allowed anger and prejudices to get better of him, at
the same time, he did not compromise with unprincipled
issues. These traits of his character were apparently
the key to his success in the public life and enabled
him to acquire a respectable position in the society.
Towards the end of his political career, he was,
however, accused of being communal by certain quarters,
but this accusation was hardly warranted. Mention of an
incident in this connection would perhaps be relevant.
In 1935, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan,
Nazimuddin and a few starwarts of the Muslim League came
to Assam to campaign against Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed who
was pitted by the Congress against a Muslim League
candidate in the Assembly poll, a common friend at the
instance of Sir Mohammad Saadullah suggested that
Fakhruddin Saheb should pay a courtesy call to the
Muslim League leaders at Gauhati. Liaquat Ali, however,
reacted to the suggestion somewhat tersely saying that
he would not shake hands with a Kafir meaning Ali Ahmed.
Thus, the suggestion was scotched. It is apparently
difficult to believe that he could be communal with a
long record of service to the country under the banner
of the Congress. It is, nonetheless, a fact that he
tried to bring to the Congress fold a number of Aligarh
Muslim University educated youths of his community whose
communal outlook was a public knowledge. If this had
created an impression in certain quarters that
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was communal, that was entirely a
different matter. But his love for the country and faith
in secularism were profound and therefore, were not in
doubt in the least.
Though politics was Ali
Ahmed's forte, his deep interest in sports and other
extra-mural activities was well-known. Himself a tennis
player and golfer, he was elected President of the Assam
Football Association and the Assam Cricket Association
for several terms; he was also the Vice-President of the
Assam Sports Council. In April, 1967 he was elected
President of the All India Cricket Association besides
being a member of the Delhi Golf Club and the Delhi
Gymkhana Club since 1961. His love for music and finer
arts was no less; he was deeply interested in poetical
works of Ghalib. His travels in the USSR, the USA, the
UK, Japan, Malaysia and many Arab countries as a
Minister and afterwards as the President of India
widened his urbane outlook that endeared him to all
sections of the people, irrespective of caste, creed and
avocation. Elegantly dressed he was always courteous but
firm in what he considered to be just and fair and
presented himself as a Moghul, as it were, which quality
he perhaps inherited from his maternal side.
At
forty Ali Ahmed married Abida (21) of a respectable
family of U.P. educated in Aligarh Muslim University.
When negotiations for the wedding were under way Ahmed
was undergoing a jail term in Jorhat as security
prisoner. At a certain stage of the negotiations Abida's
family wanted to know what the prospective bride groom
was doing. The answer came from one of the relatives of
the would-be bridegroom: Fil hal to jail men Hai (At
present he is in jail). But Destiny so ordained that
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Abida were happily married on 9
November, 1945. Begum Abida Saheba was elected to the
Lok Sabha in 1981 from a U.P. constituency in a
by-election.
Ali Ahmed passed away on 11
February, 1977 in the Rashtrapati Bhavan leaving behind
wife, two sons and a daughter.
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Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri
(1894-1980)
Term of Office: 3 May 1969 TO
20 July 1969 and 24 August 1969 TO 24 August 1974 |
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|
Term of Office: 3
May 1969 TO 20 July 1969 and 24 August 1969 TO 24 August
1974
Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri was born
on 10 August, 1894 at Berhampore in Ganjam district at
that time in the Madras Presidency and now in Orissa. He
came of a rather well-off Brahmin family. His father
Shri V.V. Jogaiah Pantulu was a prosperous lawyer at
Berhampore and the leader of the local Bar. He also took
a prominent part in the nationalist movement. In the
twenties he joined the Swarajya Party founded by Pandit
Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das and was a member of
the Central Legislative Assembly from 1927 to 1930. He
was also elected to the Madras Legislative Council after
the introduction of the Act of 1935. Jogaiah was also
interested in the Bengal Nagpur Railway Workers' Union.
The example of his father and the family atmosphere
naturally influenced the mind and career of V.V. Giri.
Shri V.V. Giri was married at an early age. The name of
his wife is Saraswati Bai.
After his early
education in his home-town Giri went to Ireland and
joined the University of Dublin for higher studies. It
was here that he came under the spell of the freedom
struggle in Ireland and drew his inspiration from De
Valera. He became associated with the Sinn Fein Movement
and came in close contact with De Valera, Collins,
Pearee, Desmond Fitzgerald, MacNeil, Connolly and
others. Giri was called to the Bar during World War I
and returned to India in 1916.
Giri returned to
India not only as a militant nationalist but deeply
concerned about the well-being of the working people.
The Irish Trade Union Movement had impressed him a good
deal and when he returned to India he started taking a
keen interest in the labour movement. Giri started
practice in his home-town Berhampore but he also took an
active part in the nationalist movement. He joined the
Home Rule League and also the Indian National Congress.
When Gandhi launched his Non-Cooperation Movement, Giri
gave up his lucrative practice at the Bar and plunged
himself into the movement. He was arrested and suffered
imprisonment for a short period.
As early as 1922
he identified himself closely with the organization of
the working classes and became a trusted lieutenant of
N.M. Joshi. From that time onwards his main sphere of
work was the Trade Union movement. To this day he is
proud above all else of being a trade unionist. His
identity and deep affinity with the working people is
the main-spring of his strength. In 1923 he became one
of the founders of the All India Railwaymen's
Federation. He was twice elected President of the Trade
Union Congress, in 1926 and 1942. As a leading trade
unionist he attended many international gatherings. In
1927 he attended the International Labour Conference at
Geneva. He also attended the Trade Union Congress at
Geneva. In 1931-1932 he attended the Second Round Table
Conference in London as the Workers'
Representative.
During the Civil Disobedience
Movement in the early thirties Giri, as a prominent
labour leader, did much to organize trade unions in
support of the nationalist movement. He was a member of
the Indian Legislative Assembly from 1934 to 1937. In a
house dominated by stalwarts like Satyamurty, Bhulabhai
Desai, Jinnah, Govind Ballabh Pant, Madan Mohan
Malaviya, Asaf Ali and others, Giri soon made his mark
as a forceful speaker, specially on labour
questions.
In the 1936 General Election in
Madras, after the introduction of the Act of 1935, Giri
was put up as the Congress candidate in Bobbili against
the Raja of Bobbili, the most powerful political
personality in the Madras Presidency. The Raja of
Bobbili was the leader of the Justice Party and the
Chief Minister of the Province; and the constituency was
the traditional family strong-hold. The contest was like
David tackling Goliath. In this contest between a feudal
leader and a popular leader, the victory of the people's
man heralded a decisive turning of the political tide.
After the election when C. Rajagopalachari formed the
Congress Ministry in Madras in 1937, V.V. Giri was
naturally taken into the Cabinet and given the portfolio
of Labour. Again after the General Election of 1946 in
Madras Giri was taken into the Cabinet formed by T.
Prakasam and given the portfolio of Labour. Later Giri
was appointed India's High Commissioner in
Ceylon.
Before long he returned to his favourite
forum, the lelgislature. He was a member of the Lok
Sabha from 1952 to 1957. From 1952 to 1954 he was a
member of the Union Cabinet and was given the portfolio
of Labour. When an issue arose that involved the
interest of labour, Giri resigned to uphold his
cherished principles. Eventually, the Government had to
come round to his viewpoint.
After 1957 began a
long spell of gubernatorial assignments for Giri.
Successively he served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh,
Kerala and Mysore. He won friends everywhere, initiated
new activities and became a mentor for the younger
generation. It was during these years that he imparted
new depth and dimension to social work as the President
of the Indian Conference of Social Work, to which office
he was elected in 1958.
In 1967, during the
period of turmoil, he was invited to be the
Vice-President. Fate willed that Dr. Zakir Hussain
should not complete his term as the President. On his
death on 3 May, 1969, V.V. Giri had to officiate as the
President. Giri was so clear about his manifest destiny
that without bothering about party support he offered
himself as a candidate for the Presidential election,
confident of popular approval. He was elected (1969) the
fourth President of the Republic with the acclaim of the
people. With him the arena of the election shifted from
the close preserve of politicians to the broad wishes of
the people.
Giri has written two important books,
one on "Industrial Relations" and the other on "Labour
Problems in Indian Industry". He has been a socialist of
long standing, but never a doctrinaire socialist, always
a pragmatist. His approach is at once practical and
human. In his opinion of the tree of socialism the root
is man. Even today he gives expression to his economic
and social thoughts in terms of "jobs for the
millions".
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Dr. Zakir Husain
(1897-1969)
Term of Office: 13 May 1967 TO
3 May 1969 |
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Term of
Office: 13 May 1967 TO 3 May 1969
DR. ZAKIR HUSSAIN was born at Hyderabad
on February 8, 1897, he came of a Pathan family of the
upper middle-class, settled at Qaunganj in the District
of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Fida Hussain
Khan, went to Hyderabad, studied Law and had a most
successful career. Unfortunately, he died when Dr. Zakir
Hussain was only ten years old.
Dr. Zakir Hussain
was sent first for his education to the Islamia High
School in Etawah (U.P.) which specialised in puritanical
strictures. After finishing school, he joined the M.A.O.
College at Aligarh and studied upto the M.A. When the
Indian National Congress and the All India Khilafat
Committee joined hands in launching the Non-Cooperation
Movement, Mahatma Gandhi toured the country to induce
teachers and students to leave Government administered
schools and colleges. The young Zakir Hussain, who was
then half-student and half-teacher, very prominent among
the students and very popular with a large section of
the staff, persuaded Hakim Ajmal Khan and other leaders
to establish a national institution at Aligarh, and the
Jamia Millia Islamia came into being on 29 October,
1920. But Zakir Hussain did not wish to leave his
studies incomplete and he went to the University of
Berlin in Germany for higher studies in 1923, returning
with a doctorate in Economics three years later. He
rejoined the Jamia Millia in February-March, 1926 and
became the Shaikhu Jamia (Vice-Chancellor). It was at
the Jamia Millia that Dr. Zakir Hussain developed his
gifts as an educationist. It was his experience here as
well as his deep study of the philosophy of education
which enable him to take charge of the scheme of Basic
National Education when it was launched in 1938. He was
the President of Hindustani Talimi Sangh, Sevagram from
1938 to 1948.
In November 1948, Dr. Zakir Hussain
was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim
University. He was also nominated a member of the Indian
Universities Commission. The World University Service
made him the Chairman of the Indian National Committee
and in 1954 he was elected the World President of the
organization. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha
and made the Indian representative on the Executive
Board of the UNESCO from 1956 to 1958. He remained the
Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, till
1957, a member of the University Grants Commission till
1957, a member of the University Education Commission in
1948-1949 and of the Educational Reorganisation
Committee of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In
1957 he was appointed the Governor of Bihar and in 1962
he was declared elected as the Head of the State and was
formally sworn in as the Third President of the Indian
Republic four days later. He held the highest office of
the country with exemplary grace and dignity till his
sudden death on 3 May, 1969.
Dr. Zakir Hussain
was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1954 and Bharat Ratna in
1963. He was awarded D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) by the
Universities of Delhi, Calcutta, Aligarh, Allahabad and
Cairo.
Many demands were made on Dr. Zakir
Hussain's time and he was not able to undertake many
scholarly projects which he had in mind. His interest in
literary and academic work was so keen that he
translated Plato's 'Republic' and Cannon's 'Elementary
Political Economy' into Urdu soon after joining the
Jamia Millia in 1920. While in Germany, he got an
edition of the 'Diwan-I-Ghalib' printed - doing much of
the composition himself, because the press did not have
enough staff - and also brought out a book in German on
Mahatma Gandhi (Die Botschaft des Mahatma Gandhi') . He
delivered a series of lectures on economics under the
auspices of the Hindustani Academy and another series in
English, on Capitalism: Essays in Understanding, under
the auspices of the Delhi University in 1945. He also
translated Friedrich List's 'Nationalockonomic'. His
Convocation Addresses have been collected and published
under the title "The Dynamic University". But he
excelled in writing for children and his stories are
masterpieces of style.
Tall, well-built, fair in
complexion, with a noble forehead, a sensitive
aristocratic nose, a well-trimmed beard and always
neatly and tastefully dressed in sherwani and pyjama,
Dr. Zakir Hussain was an imposing embodiment of culture
and refinement. He was sensitive to beauty in all its
forms and had an intense passion for excellence. His
varied tastes and hobbies, his love of roses, his
collection of cacti, fossils, paintings and specimens of
calligraphy, objects d'art, and curios and above all,
his rich library are evidence of his versatile
personality.
He was steeped in the spiritual and
aesthetic culture and the ethical principles of the
Muslim Sufis and poets. He had the sufi's indifference
towards the externals of religion and, though a deeply
religious man, his religiosity was never obvious. It was
the inspiration for secularism by which he endeared
himself to men of different religious
communities.
Dr. Zakir Hussain's nationalism was,
like Gandhiji's, a reflection of his allegiance to the
highest moral values and to the ideals of a culture
which had become the whole of his own self. It was a
nationalism which demanded for the individual that
freedom which is the essence of democracy, that
self-discipline which is the foundation of democratic
citizenship and that identification with the good of the
society which gives substance and meaning to the life of
the individual.
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Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan
(1888-1975)
Term of Office: 13 May 1962 TO
13 May 1967 |
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Term of Office:
13 May 1962 TO 13 May 1967
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was born on 5 September,
1888 in Tirutani, a well-known religious center in the
Madras State. He was the second son of Veera Samayya, a
tehsildar in a zamindari. It was a middle-class,
respectable Hindu Brahmin family. Indeed, the place, the
time and the family were most suitable, from every point
of view, for the advent of a new philosopher-statesman,
so directly needed in those turbulent days of the
awakening of a very ancient and glorious nation, drowsy
and dormant in its own ignorance and indolence, for
reasons well known to all.
As usual in those
days, Radhakrishnan was married in 1906, at the tender
age of 18 and while still a student, to Sivakamamma, and
spent a happy conjugal life with her for half a century
before she died in 1956.
Bright and brilliant,
with a scholarly disposition and a serene and saintly
demeanor, from the very beginning, Radhakrishnan spent
the first eight years of his life happily and fruitfully
in his home town with his parents. The peaceful and
exhilarating atmosphere of that well-known and
well-loved place, as well as the benign influence of his
parents who, as was common in the South, were intensely
religious in the traditional sense, went far in moulding
his character and sowing a lively seed of religiousness
and moralism in him.
It was, indeed, an
indubitably significant fact that Radhakrishnan's
parents, though orthodox, thought it fit to send their
beloved son to Christian Missionary schools and
colleges: Lutheran Mission School, Tirupathi
(1896-1900), Vellore College, Vellore (1900-1904),
Madras Christian College (1904-1908).
The
wonderful far-sightedness, open-heartedness and
broad-mindedness of his revered and beloved parents,
which enabled them, in those days of blind prejudices
and equally blind social taboos, to send their son to
well-known, well-managed, well-disciplined Christian
educational institutions - stood him in good stead
throughout, making it possible for him to acquire
specially Occidental qualities like a sense of duty,
punctuality, discipline, sobriety and the like, together
with specially Oriental qualities of religiosity,
calmness, patience, faith in God and
men.
Radhakrishnan's choice of Philosophy as his
main or Honours subject in his B.A. degree course was
due to a very fortunate accident. At that time, he was
really rather baffled as to what particular Honours
subject to choose from amongst the possible five, viz.,
Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Philosophy and History.
Then, purely accidentally, and out of a mere boyish
curiosity, he read three well-known works on Philosophy,
passed on to him by one of his cousins who had that year
obtained the B.A. degree with Philosophy Honours; and
that definitely decided his future course of
studies.
He studied Sanskrit and Hindi also; and
had a good deal of interest in the traditional languages
of India. He read also the Vedas and the Upanishads with
great care and reverence.
In fact, Radhakrishnan
was, and is, still today, a reader and a digester in the
true sense of the terms. For, what he read - and he read
widely and lovingly all kinds of good books - did not
remain an external acquisition, an ornamental
decoration, with him; but blossomed forth in him in
fullest glory and grandeur.
It is not always that
in this strange world of ours inner worth is accompanied
by outer success. But Radhakrishnan is a glorious
exception in this regard. For, all throughout his
brilliant career, honour after honour was showered on
him. The following are some of the main posts held by
him most fittingly and efficiently: Lecturer in
Philosophy, Presidency College, Madras, in the Madras
Provincial Educational Service, after graduation;
Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the same College
for five years; Professor of Philosophy, Mysore
University (1918-1921); King George V Professor of
Philosophy, Calcutta University (1921-1931) and again
(1937-1944); Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra University
(1931); Spaulding Professor of Eastern Religion and
Ethics, Oxford University (1932-1953) - first Indian to
be so appointed; and Vice-Chancellor of the Banaras
Hindu University (1942). Among the cultural posts held
by him may be mentioned: Leader of the Indian Delegation
to UNESCO many times (1946-1950); Chairman of the
University Education Commission (1948) appointed by the
Government of India; Chairman of the Executive Board of
UNESCO (1948); President of UNESCO (1952); Delegate to
the P.E.N. Congress (1959); Vice President of
International P.E.N.; Honorary Fellow of the British
Academy (1962); Representative of the Calcutta
University at the Congress of Philosophy, Harvard
University, U.S.A. (May 1962).
Among the
political posts held by him may be mentioned:
Ambassador-Extraordinary and Minister-Plenipotentiary to
the U.S.S.R. (1949-1952),Vice-President of India (twice:
1952-1956 and 1957-1962); and President of India
(1962-1966).
Among the Lectureships held may be
noted: Upton Lecturer, Manchester College, Oxford;
Harwell Lecturer in Comparative Religion, University of
Chicago; Hibbert Lecturer, University College, London
and Manchester (1929).
Among the Honorary degrees
and distinctions achieved were: Knighthood (1931);
Honorary D. Ph. (Teheran University, 1963); Honorary
D.Litt. (Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 1963); Honorary
Doctor of Law (Pennsylvania University, 1963); Honorary
Ph.D. (Moscow University, 1964); Honorary Doctor of Law
(National University of Ireland, 1964); over one hundred
Honorary degrees including those from Oxford, Cambridge
and Rome Universities; Honorary Member of the Order of
Merit, Buckingham Palace (12 June, 1963). He also made
Goodwill tours to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and China
(September-October 1956); to Belgium, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Hungary and Bulgaria,
African countries like East and Central Africa
(June-July 1956); to Indo-China States, China, Mongolia
and Hong Kong (September, 1957). He also paid State
visits to Great Britain (June 1963), to Nepal (November
1963) and to U.S.S.R. and Ireland (September 1964).
Radhakrishnan was, and still is, one of the most
celebrated writers of the present generation. His works
are many and varied on philosophical, theological,
ethical, educational, social and cultural subjects. He
contributed also numerous articles to different
well-known journals, which too, will prove to be of
immense value to generations to come.
But what is
most felt after reading any of his valuable works or
articles is its wonderful liveliness. Truly, his
articles are not merely outer expressions of his inner
thoughts, but, what is more, infinitely more, emblems
and embodiments of his very life - life that merrily
dances forth in the fortuitous, zig-zag way of the
world, removing all its obstacles in its own inner
irresistible urge and boundless boldness. Hence, it is
that his works, written in an incredibly simple,
sublime, soft and serene way, are so very enchanting,
enlivening, exhilarating to all. As a matter of fact, as
is well known, it is very difficult to express very
abstract and abstruse philosophical thoughts in easily
intelligible and enchantingly sweet language. But Dr.
Radhakrishnan, like the great and revered Rabindranath,
is one of the few who could accomplish this apparently
impossible feat. That is why his philosophical writings
are not ordinary scholarly dissertations, but also
melodious poetical perfections of great and permanent
value.
His first book, 'The Ethics of the Vedanta
and Its Material Presupposition', being his thesis for
the M.A. degree examination of the Madras University,
published in 1908, at the tender age of twenty only, at
once established his fame as a great philosophical
writer of undoubted ability. All his later works are
landmarks in their respective fields, like 'The
Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore' (1918), 'Idealistic
View of Life' (1932), 'Eastern Religions and Western
Thought', 'Reign of Philosophy in Contemporary Thought',
Kalki or The Future of Civilization', 'Indian Philosophy
(2 vols.), etc.
Dynamic in personality, quiet in
demeanor, austere in habits, unostentatious in
behaviour, just in decision, prompt in action, simple in
his dress, sympathetic in his dealings - such is our
revered Dr. Radhakrishnan. He is a living, loving symbol
and lovely emblem of our age-old Indian culture and
civilization. Nothing much need be said here regarding
his ideas and attitude towards different issues. For,
the central refrain of his Life's Music reverberates
through every walk of his blessed life. That is why he
is a Monist in Philosophy, believing in one Reality,
viz., Spirit; a Monotheist in Religion, believing in one
God; an Eudemonist or Perfectionist in Ethics, believing
in inner perfection as the summum bonum or the highest
end of life; a Socialist in Politics, believing in mass
or universal uplift. His whole glorious life proves anew
the eternal truth of that well-known Platonic maxim,
viz., "Those States only flourish where kings are
philosophers, philosophers, kings" (Plato's
Republic).
Radhakrishnan is considered as the
greatest living philosopher of India, and one of the
greatest living philosophers of the world. In 1952 the
Library of Living Philosophers, an institute of
world-wide repute, brought out a massive volume on 'The
Philosophy of Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, devoted wholly
to a critical appreciation of his philosophical
doctrines. This proves beyond doubt that he is
universally considered to be one amongst the most
notable of modern philosophical luminaries, like G.F.
Moore, Bertrand Russell and Karl Jaspers, about whose
works also the above Library published separate
volumes.
According to our Indian view, the
highest aim of human life is to be, step by step, a
'Brahmachari' (or one who lives and moves about and
believes in Brahman), a 'Brahmajnani' (or one who knows
Brahman or the Absolute) and finally, a 'Brahmavadin'
(or one who speaks or writes about Brahman or the
Absolute). Here, we find Knowing, Doing and Speaking or
Writing all go together; or, are intimately,
intrinsically, indissolubly connected. Thus, Theory must
end and fructify in Practice, Knowledge in Action,
Philosophy in Ethics - in short, the root in the fruit.
Dr. Radhakrishnan - himself a real 'Brahmachari', a real
'Brahmajnani' - subscribed to this theory all along. In
his very first work, 'The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its
Material Presupposition', published as early as 1908, he
clearly and forcefully asserts this. Compare -
"Philosophy in India is not an abstract study, remote
from the life of man…. The Civilisation of India is an
effort to embody philosophical wisdom in social
life".
Dr. Radhakrishnan is, indeed, a versatile
genius - a great scholar, a great philosopher, a great
seer, a great writer, a great orator, a great statesman,
a great administrator, all combined.
And above
all, he is a Man - a full real Man, who has always lived
men, served men, worshipped men, not as a superior
being, not as a superman; but only as a Man, as their
fellow being, as their friends, as their nearest and
dearest one.
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of
his closest friends throughout, said about
Radhakrishnan: "I join you in paying my tribute to our
President, Dr. Radhakrishnan. He has served his country
in many capacities. But above all, he is a great Teacher
from whom all of us have learnt much and will continue
to learn. It is India's peculiar privilege to have a
great philosopher, a great educationist and a great
humanist as her President. That in itself shows the kind
of men we honour and respect".
PUBLICATIONS:
The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its Material
Presupposition (1908); The Philosophy of Rabindranath
Tagore (1918); The Reign of Religion in Contemporary
Philosophy (1920); Indian Philosophy (2 volumes) (1923
and 1927); The Hindu View of Life (1926); The Religion
We Need (1928); Kalki or The Future of Civilisation
(1929); An Idealist View of Life (1932); East and West
in Religion (1933); Freedom and Culture (1936); The
Heart of Hindusthan (1936); My Search for Truth
(Autobiography)(1937); Gautama, The Buddha (1938);
Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939); Mahatma
Gandhi (1939); India and China (1944); Education,
Politics and War (1944); Is this Peace (1945); The
Religion and Society (1947); The Bhagwadgita (1948);
Great Indians (1949); The Dhammapada (1950); The
Religion of the Spirit and the World's Need
(Autobiographical)(1952);The Radhakr | | | |