NEWS

President of India pays floral tributes to  R. Venkataraman, former President of India,  on his birth anniversary

ABOUT

• Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of India
• Born in Rajamadam village in Tanjore district, Madras Presidency
• Studied law in Loyolla college , Madras
• Enrolled in the Madras High Court in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in 1951
• Active participation in the Indian National Congress’s celebrated resistance to the British Government, the Quit India Movement of 1942, resulted in his detention
• 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.
• Served as Secretary of the Madras Provincial Bar Federation, Minister of Industries (1967), Minister of Defence (1980)
• Was to serve as Vice-President of India and then as a President of India starting 1987, where he worked with four prime ministers, and appointed three of them: V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P V Narasimha Rao, during his five-year term, which saw the advent of coalition politics in India.