Jump to content

Ram Nath Kovind

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AnomieBOT (talk | contribs) at 08:53, 23 July 2017 (Dating maintenance tags: {{When}}). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Ram Nath Kovind
14th President of India
Elect
Assuming office
25 July 2017
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Vice PresidentMohammad Hamid Ansari
SucceedingPranab Mukherjee
35th Governor of Bihar
In office
16 August 2015 – 20 June 2017[1]
Preceded byKeshari Nath Tripathi
Succeeded byKeshari Nath Tripathi
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
3 April 1994 – 2 April 2006
Personal details
Born (1945-10-01) 1 October 1945 (age 79)
Paraunkh village, Derapur, United Provinces, British India
(now in Uttar Pradesh, India)
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
SpouseSavita Kovind (m. 1974)
Children2
Alma materKanpur University
ProfessionAdvocate, politician, activist

Ram Nath Kovind (born 1 October 1945) is an Indian lawyer and politician who is the President-elect of India.[2] He served as the Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017[3] and was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2006. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kovind was nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling NDA coalition and won the 2017 presidential election. He will assume office on 25 July 2017.

Early life and education

Kovind was born in Paraukh village in the Kanpur Dehat district, Uttar Pradesh.[4][5] His father Maikulal was a landless Kori (a Dalit weaving community) who ran a small shop to support his family. He was the youngest of five brothers and two sisters. He was born in a mud hut, which eventually collapsed. He was only five when his mother died of burns when their thatched dwelling caught fire. Kovind later donated the land to the community.[6]

After his elementary school education, he had to walk each day to Khanpur village, 6 km away, to attend junior school, as nobody in the village had a bicycle. He holds a Bachelor's degree in commerce and a LLB from DAV College (affiliated with Kanpur University).[7][8][4]

With PM Modi at the Centenary Celebrations of the Patna High Court, in Bihar

Career

Kovind at a function with Prime Minister Narendra Modi opening a bridge in Bihar, 2016.

Advocate

After graduating in law from a Kanpur college, Kovind went to Delhi to prepare for the civil services examination. He passed this exam on his third attempt, but he did not join as he was selected for an allied service instead of IAS and thus started practicing law.[9]

Kovind enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the bar council of Delhi. He was Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979. Between 1977 & 1978, he also served as the personal assistant of Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai.[10] In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India and served as a Central Government standing counsel in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India from 1980 to 1993. He practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court until 1993. As an advocate he provided free legal aid to weaker sections of society, women and the poor under the Free Legal Aid Society in New Delhi.[8]

BJP member

He joined the BJP in 1991.[10] He was President of the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002 and President of the All-India Koli Samaj[when?]. He also served as national spokesperson of the party.[11] He donated his ancestral home in Derapur to the RSS.[10] He contested from Ghatampur and Bhognipur (both in Uttar Pradesh) assembly constituencies on the BJP ticket but lost both elections[when?].

Rajya Sabha

He was elected and became a Rajya Sabha MP from the state of Uttar Pradesh in April 1994. He served a total of twelve years, two consecutive terms, until March 2006. As a member of parliament, he served on the Parliamentary Committee for Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Home Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Social Justice and Empowerment, Law and Justice. He also served as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha House Committee. During his career as a parliamentarian, under M.P. L.A.D. Scheme, he focused on education in rural areas by helping in construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand. As a member of parliament, he visited Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom and the United States on study tours.[8]

Other appointments

He has served on the Board of management of Dr. B.R Ambedkar University, Lucknow[when?] and as on the Board of Governors of IIM Calcutta[when?]. He has also represented India at the UN and addressed the United Nations General Assembly in October 2002.[12]

Governor

On 8 August 2015, the President of India appointed Kovind as Governor of Bihar.[13] On 16 August 2015, the acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Iqbal Ahmad Ansari, administered the oath to Kovind as the 36th Governor of Bihar. The function took place at Raj Bhawan, Patna.[14]

As Governor, he was praised for constituting a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, mis-management of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities.[10]

2017 presidential campaign

Main article: Indian presidential election, 2017

After nomination for the post of 14th President of India, he resigned from his post as Governor of Bihar, and President of India Pranab Mukherjee accepted his resignation on 20 June 2017.[15] He won election on 20 July 2017.[16]

Kovind received 702,044 votes while Meira Kumar lagged far behind with 367,314 votes. Kovind won the election with 65.65% of the total votes[17] against Meira Kumar, the presidential candidate of the opposition, who received 34.35%. Kovind will assume office on 25 July 2017.

Personal life

Kovind married Savita Kovind on 30 May 1974. They have a son, Prashant Kumar, and a daughter, Swati.[4]

Controversy

In 2010, Kovind, as spokesperson of the BJP, courted controversy by saying that Islam and Christianity were alien to India.[18][19] He made this comment in response to the Ranganath Misra Commission which recommended 15 percent reservation for religious and linguistic minorities in government jobs.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Press Releases Detail – The President of India". presidentofindia.nic.in.
  2. ^ CNN, Huizhong Wu (20 July 2017). "Man from India's lowest caste elected president". CNN. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ Ram Nath Kovind resigns as Bihar Governor (20 June 2017). "Ram Nath Kovind resigns as Bihar Governor". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "Governor of Bihar". governor.bih.nic.in. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  5. ^ Ram Nath Kovind, Paraukh and the road to Raisina Hill, Omar Rashid, The Hindu, JUNE 20, 2017
  6. ^ कानपुर से ग्राउंड रिपोर्ट, कमाल खान, वंदना वर्मा, NDTV, 20 जुलाई, 2017
  7. ^ PTI (19 June 2017). "Ram Nath Kovind: A crusader for the rights of weaker sections". The Economic Times. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  8. ^ a b c "Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind: 10 facts about NDA's Presidential nominee – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  9. ^ PTI (19 June 2017). "What you should know about BJP's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind". Archived from the original on 18 July 2017 – via The Economic Times. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b c d "Ram Nath Kovind, a lawyer who cracked civils but lost 2 elections – Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 July 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Enact tougher laws to prevent crimes against dalits". The Hindu.
  12. ^ "Ramnath Kovind Profile". Outlook. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ PTI (8 August 2015). "Ram Nath Kovind, Acharya Dev Vrat appointed as Bihar and Himachal Pradesh governors" – via The Economic Times.
  14. ^ "36th Governor of Bihar". indiatoday. 16 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  15. ^ "Resignation as Governor of Bihar". firstpost. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "Ram Nath Kovind is the 14th President of India". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  17. ^ "With 65 percent votes, Kovind sweeps elections". Times of India. 21 July 2017.
  18. ^ "Why is India's next president so unknown?". BBC. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  19. ^ "When NDA Presidential pick Kovind said Islam, Christianity are alien to India". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  20. ^ "Islam, Christianity alien, so cannot get quota: BJP". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ram_Nath_Kovind&oldid=791920846"