Our Presidents so far.....

Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963)  Term of Office: 26 January 1950 TO 13 May 1962	Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. Rajendra Prasad was a great freedom-fighter, and the architect of the Indian Constitution, having served as President of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution of the Republic from 1948 to 1950. He had also served as a Cabinet Minister briefly in the first Government of Independent India. He was a crucial leader of the Indian Independence Movement. Prasad was born in Jiradei, in the Siwan district of Bihar. His father, Mahadev Sahay, was a Persian and Sanskrit language scholar; his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout lady. He was married at the age of 12 to Rajvanshi Devi. After India became independent he was elected the President of India. In 1962, after 12 years as President, he announced his decision to retire. He was subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian award. He died on 28 February 1963 with 'Ram Ram Ram' on his lips.
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) Term of Office: 13 May 1962 TO 13 May 1967	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is best known as the man who introduced the thinking of western idealist philosophers into Indian thought. He was an Oxford don who became the first Vice President and the second President of India. He was born at Tiruttani, 64 km to the northeast of Madras in South India. His mother tongue was Telugu. When he became the President of India in 1962, some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday, September 5. He replied, "Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if September 5 is observed as Teacher's Day." Since then, Teacher's Day has been celebrated in India. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954. The University of Oxford instituted the Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships and the Radhakrishnan Memorial Award in his memory. He also received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1961.
Dr. Zakir Husain (1897-1969) Term of Office: 13 May 1967 TO 3 May 1969	Born in 1897 at Hyderabad, Dr Zakir Husain was the third President of India from May 13, 1967 until his death. Hussain was born in Hyderabad, India, where his father had migrated from Uttar Pradesh. In 1963, he was awarded the highest honour of the land, the Bharat Ratna for his great service to the nation. After serving as the Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962, and as the Vice President of India for a term of five years, from 1962 to 1967, Dr. Zakir Husain was elected President of India on May 13, 1967. He died in office.
Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894-1980) Term of Office: 3 May 1969 TO 20 July 1969 and 24 August 1969 TO 24 August 1974	V.V.Giri was born at Berhampore, Orissa on August 10, 1894. He was responsible for the formation of the all India Trade Union Congress, of which he was President  twice. A long period of his public life was devoted to building up the All India Railwaymen's Federation. He was Labour and Industry Minister in the first popular ministry in Madras during 1937-39 and served as Union Labour Minister during 1952-54. Served as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Mysore. He served as Vice-President of India from May 13, 1967 to 1969. He was Acting President from 3.5.69 to 20.7.69 after the death of Dr.Zakir Hussain. V.V.Giri was elected to the Office of the President and was sworn in on 24.8.69. He held office till 24.8.1974. He was awarded the 'Bharat Ratna' in 1975.
Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905-1977) Term of Office: 24 August 1974 TO 11 February 1977	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was President of India of 1974 to 1977. He was educated at St. Stephen's College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became an active member of the Congress Party. He was chosen for the presidency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974, becoming the second Muslim President. He would later use his constitutional authority as head of state to allow her to rule by decree once emergency rule was proclaimed in 1975. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was sworn in as President on August 24, 1974 and held that office till his death on 11th February, 1977. He died while in office.
SHRI NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY (1913-1996) Term of Office: 25 July 1977 TO 25 July 1982	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. From April 1949 to April 1951, he was Minister for Prohibition, Housing and Forests in the composite state of Madras.  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 Shrimati 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 Shrimati Indira Gandhi. It is now common knowledge that after filing this nomination Shrimati 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.
Giani Zail Singh (1916-1994) Term of Office: 25 July 1982 TO 25 July 1987	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 intershared 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. 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. 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.  In 1956, Giani Zail Singh became a Member of Rajya Sabha and the Senior Vice-President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. In March, 1972, he was elected unanimously by the Punjab Congress Legislative Party to be the Chief Minister of Punjab. 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. 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.
Shri R Venkataraman (1910-2009) 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 was enrolled in the High Court, Madras in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in 1951. He was elected in 1950, to free India's Provisional Parliament (1950-1952) and to the First Parliament (1952-1957). 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. 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 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.  Shri Venkataraman was a Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961.  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. Shri Venkataraman was elected Vice-President of India in August, 1984. He was, simultaneously, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. 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.
Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918-1999) Term of Office: 25 July 1992 TO 25 July 1997	Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma was an Indian scholar and politician, most notable for serving as President of India from 1992 until 1997. During the 1940s he was involved in the struggle for Indian independence from Britain, and joined the Indian National Congress.  In 1952 he became the chief minister of Bhopal and served in that position until the state reorganization of 1956, when Bhopal merged with several other states to form the state of Madhya Pradesh. He served in Smt. Indira Gandhi’s cabinet as the minister for Communication from 1974-77.  In 1984 he began serving as a governor of Indian states, first in Andhra Pradesh. In 1985 he left Andhra Pradesh and became governor of Punjab.  He left Punjab in 1986 and took up his final governorship in Maharashtra. He remained governor of that state until 1987 when he was elected for a 5-year term as Vice-President of India and chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Sharma served as Vice-President until 1992, when he was elected President. During his last year as President, it was his responsibility to swear in three prime ministers. On October 9 1999, he suffered a massive heart attack and was admitted to a hospital in New Delhi, where he died.
Shri K. R. Narayanan (1920-2005)  Term of Office: 25 July 1997 TO 25 July 2002	Shri Narayanan was born on October 27, 1920 in the village of Uzhavoor in Kottayam district, Kerala. 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. 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). 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.  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 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 and  Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has also been the Chancellor of Delhi University, Punjab University, Pondicherry University, Assam University, North Eastern Hill University and Gandhigram Rural Institute. He is also visitor of Viswa Bharati University, established by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Sh.K.R.Narayanan assumed office as President of India on July 25, 1997.
DR. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Term of Office: 25 July 2002 TO 25 July 2007	Dr. A.P.J. Adbul Kalam, the twelfth President of India, is rightfully termed as the father of India's missile technology. He was born to parents Jainulabdeen Marakayar and Ashiamma on 15th October, 1931, at Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram district, Tamil Nadu. Specialized in Aero Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology, he initially worked in DRDO in 1958 and then joined ISRO in 1963. Dr. Kalam has made significant contribution to Indian satellite and launch vehicles of ISRO and also in the missile programme of DRDO. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicles programme and configurations. As Chairman, Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), he generated the Technology Vision 2020 documents - a road map for transforming India from Developing India to Developed India. 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. Above all he is on his mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country. Dr. Kalam was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc. Honoris Causa) by 30 universities/academic institutions. He is recipient of several awards including the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 1997. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and Bharat Ratna in 1997. He became president of India on 25th July 2002.
Pratibha Patil Term of Office: 25 July 2007 TO 25 July 2012	Pratibha Patil was born to Narayan Paglu Rao on 19th December 1934 at Nadgaon, Maharashtra. She studied at R.R. School at Jalgaon. She received her M.A. from Mooljee Jaitha (M.J.) College, Jalgaon and obtained a law degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai and practised as an advocate in Jalgaon. Coming from a humble family, her father was a public prosecutor. From social work, she joined the cogress and was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly in 1962 for the first time. Three years later, she married Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, a maratha of Rajasthani origin. From 1972 to 1978, Patil was a cabinet minister in Maharashtra. She was the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly in 1979. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1985. From 1986 to 1988, she held the post of deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. As a member of parliament, she represented Amravati in the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996. She later became the 24th Governor of Rajasthan and, notably, was also the first female governor of this state. And now, she has become the first female President of India on July 25, 2007 and also she is the first maharashtrian to hold this post. She is the proud mother of a son and daughter.