Know your President: 8 Interesting facts about Ram Nath Kovind

Know your President: 8 Interesting facts about Ram Nath Kovind

Ram Nath Kovind has made the long journey from a lawyer who practiced in Delhi's HC to India's 14th President on 20th July, 2017. The Dalit leader first stepped into politics in 1994 when he was elected as UP's RS member. Here, we get you some interesting things about India's most newly appointed President.

1. An Exponent of Development for Prosperity

During his parliamentary tenure, Kovind emphasised development of basic infrastructure for education in rural areas and helped in the construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand under MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) Scheme.

2. Welfarist and Educationist

He has served as a member of several parliamentary committees, including the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Parliamentary Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, among others.

Kovind served as a member of the Board of Management of Dr. B.R Ambedkar University, Lucknow. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

3. A Legal Luminary

His career as a lawyer too, spans over 16 years. As an advocate, Kovind took the lead in providing free legal aid to weaker sections, especially the SC/ST women, and poor and needy girls under the aegis of the Free Legal Aid Society in Delhi.

4. International Edge

He has also represented India in the United Nations and addressed the UN General Assembly in October, 2002. As a member of Parliament, Kovind visited Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, United Kingdom and the USA.

5. From Law to Presidency

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.

He was Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979 and served as a Central Government standing counsel in the apex court, the Supreme Court of India from 1980 to 1993.

In the year 1978, he became an advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India. He practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years until 1993.

He was also enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the bar council of Delhi.

He also served as the personal assistant of PM Morarji Desai in 1977–1978.

6. BJP Leader

Kovind joined BJP in 1991. He presided over the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002. He was also President of the All India Koli Samaj. As national spokesperson of the BJP in the 2000s, he has been in the public eye too. Kovind has donated his ancestral Dera home to the RSS. Though a winner in presidential elections, he lost out on the Ghatampur and Bhognipur elections which he contested from BJP earlier.

7. 14th President of India and 36th Governor of Bihar

On 8 August 2015, the President of India appointed Kovind as Governor of Bihar. On 16 August 2015, Kovind took oath as the 36th Governor of Bihar.

As the Governor, he was acknowledged and known for constituting a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, mismanagement of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities.

8. The Numbers

Kovind received 7,02,044 votes while Meira Kumar was far behind with 3,67,314 votes. He won the election with 65.65 percent of the total votes against Meira Kumar, the presidential candidate of the opposition, who received 34.35 percent of the votes. Kumar broke the record of securing the most votes as the runner-up in a presidential election. Kovind is set to assume office on 25 July 2017.