- Born:
- October 1, 1945, Paraukh, Uttar Pradesh state, India (age 81)
- Title / Office:
- president (2017-), India
- governor (2015-2017), Bihar
- Rajya Sabha (1994-2006), India
- Political Affiliation:
- Bharatiya Janata Party
Ram Nath Kovind
-
Who is Ram Nath Kovind?
Ram Nath Kovind, born on October 1, 1945, was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as president of India from 2017 to 2022. He was the second Dalit person, after Kocheril Raman Narayanan, and the first member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold the office.
After earning degrees in commerce and law from Kanpur University, he began practicing law in 1971. In 1991, Kovind joined the BJP, and three years later, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. In 2015, he was appointed governor of Bihar. In June 2017, the BJP announced Kovind as their presidential candidate, and he won nearly two-thirds of the vote.
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What position did Ram Nath Kovind hold in India?
Ram Nath Kovind served as the 14th president of India from 2017 to 2022. He was the second Dalit, a member of the lowest caste, to hold the office, following Kocheril Raman Narayanan. Before becoming president, Kovind was the governor of Bihar. He was also a member of the upper house of India's parliament (Rajya Sabha) for 12 years, representing Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, he worked as a lawyer and served as an advocate in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.
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When did Ram Nath Kovind serve as the president of India?
Ram Nath Kovind served as president of India from 2017 to 2022. He was the second person from the Dalit caste and the first member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold the office. In June 2017, the BJP announced Kovind as their candidate to succeed Pranab Mukherjee. He was sworn in as India’s 14th president in July 2017 and was succeeded by Droupadi Murmu in 2022.
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What is the role of the president of India?
The president of India, or rashtrapati, is the head of state of the Republic of India. Executive power is vested in the president, who acts on the advice of the prime minister and the Council of Ministers.
Key roles include:
* Appointing the prime minister, the Council of Ministers, the attorney general, and other high-ranking officials
* Summoning Parliament sessions
* Commanding the armed forces
* Appointing Supreme Court and high court judges
* Granting pardons and reprieves
* Signing international treatiesThe president is elected every five years by an electoral college. They can be reelected without any term limits. The president can be impeached for violating the constitution.
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What was Ram Nath Kovind’s background before becoming president?
Ram Nath Kovind, born in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1945, served as India's president from 2017 to 2022. Growing up in a small agrarian village, he later obtained degrees in commerce and law from Kanpur University and moved to Delhi to take the civil services examination.
Before his presidency, Kovind practiced law, worked for the Delhi Free Legal Aid Society, and was general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Koli Samaj. He was a union government advocate in the Delhi High Court and later became an advocate-on-record of India’s Supreme Court. In 1991, he joined the BJP and was elected to the Rajya Sabha. In 2015, he became governor of Bihar, where his nonconfrontational approach and creation of a judicial commission to investigate corruption in universities were notable.
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How did Ram Nath Kovind’s presidency impact India?
As president of India (2017–22), Ram Nath Kovind, the second Dalit caste member to hold the office, played a role in Indian politics.
Kovind was instrumental in revoking the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 through presidential orders. He maintained a nonconfrontational approach to political problems and, as governor of Bihar, established a judicial commission to investigate corruption in universities.
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Ram Nath Kovind (born October 1, 1945, Paraukh, Uttar Pradesh state, India) is an Indian lawyer and politician who served as president of India (2017–22). He was the second person from the Dalit caste, after Kocheril Raman Narayanan, and the first member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold the office.
Kovind grew up in humble circumstances in a small agrarian village where his father farmed and ran a small grocery store. His mother died when he was a young child. After earning degrees in commerce and law from Kanpur University, he moved to Delhi in order to take the civil services examination. Although he passed, Kovind chose to begin practicing law and was admitted to the bar in 1971.
Kovind worked in the Delhi Free Legal Aid Society, and he also served (1971–75, 1981) as general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Koli Samaj, an organization serving the interests of the Koli community, a Dalit subcaste. From 1977 to 1979 he was a union government advocate in the Delhi High Court, and in 1978 he became an advocate-on-record of India’s Supreme Court. In 1980 Kovind advanced to the position of union government standing counsel in the Supreme Court, and he practiced there until 1993. In addition, he served (1977–78) as the executive assistant to Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
In 1991 Kovind joined the BJP, and three years later he was elected to the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of India’s parliament) from Uttar Pradesh. During his 12 years in that body, he served on various committees, including those on law and justice, social justice and empowerment, and welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He was part of the Indian delegation to the United Nations and spoke before the General Assembly in 2002. In 2015 Kovind was appointed governor of the state of Bihar. His nonconfrontational approach to political problems earned him praise across the political spectrum. Among his notable achievements as governor was the creation of a judicial commission to investigate corruption in universities.
In June 2017 the BJP announced Kovind as the party’s candidate to succeed Pranab Mukherjee in the ceremonial office of president. He faced Meira Kumar, former speaker of the Lok Sabha (the lower house), and herself a Dalit. In spite of the fact that his low-key profile made him relatively unknown, he won nearly two-thirds of the vote.
Kovind was sworn in as India’s 14th president in July 2017. Through the promulgation of presidential orders in August 2019, he was instrumental in the revocation of the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir state (now Jammu and Kashmir union territory and Ladakh union territory). Droupadi Murmu succeeded Kovind as president in 2022.