Why is it said that Zail Singh’s ministerial tenures prove that he was an excellent statesman?


               Zail Singh had always showed the exceptional qualities of an excellent statesman. During his tenure as the union home minister, Zail Singh made impressive contributions to maintain law and order in the country. He was a tireless crusader against communalism, economic disparities, and social injustice. His way of dealing with communal riots, especially the Assam agitation, was highly lauded by the public.



               His tremendous experience and wisdom as a politician, especially while serving as a minister in PEPSU and as the Chief Minister of Punjab, worked to his advantage. As the Union Home Minister he showed abundant and keen alertness to the numerous problems the nation then faced. His wise actions during the Assam crisis were commendable. He was a real social reformer who always empathized with the downtrodden.



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Where was Zail Singh born? How did he enter politics?


               Zail Singh was born in a mud house to a humble family in Faridkot district in Punjab, India. His father Kishan Singh was the village carpenter. His mother was Mata Ind Kaur. Singh lost his mother when he was a little boy.



               From a very young age itself, he had showed enthusiasm in reading the Sikh scriptures. Geeta, and Ramayana.



               He was accepted into the Shahid Sikh Missionary College at Amritsar in spite of the fact that he did not have a matriculation certificate. He was actively involved in politics from his teenage days and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal when he was just 15.



               He later joined the Indian National Congress, and took part in the freedom movement. In 1938 he established the Praja Mandal, a political organisation allied to the Congress Party, in Faridkot. This act provoked the maharaja. Zail Singh was imprisoned for five years. He was kept in solitary confinement and was also tortured for his political activities. During his  incarceration, he took the name Zail Singh.





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Why is Giani Zail Singh ever remembered in history?


            Giani Zail Singh, who served as the seventh President of the Republic of India, was the first Sikh to serve in this post. He held office from 1982 to 1987. His original name was Jarnail Singh.



            After India became independent, he was appointed as the Revenue Minister of the recently formed Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). In the 1972 Punjab Assembly elections, Giani Zail Singh became the Chief Minister of Punjab. His work for the people of Punjab was impressive.



            A freedom fighter himself, he arranged for a lifelong pension scheme for the freedom fighters of Punjab. Prior to his presidency, he had held several ministerial posts in the union cabinet, including that of Home Minister. He was elected as President in 1982. However, his presidency was marred by several controversial issues like Operation Blue Star and anti-Sikh riots, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He faced a very difficult time after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984, after which her son Rajiv Gandhi was appointed Prime Minister.



            He met with an accident in 1994, and was seriously injured. He died on 25th December 1994.




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How was Neelam Sanjiva Reddy’s presidential tenure?


               Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was a veteran statesman and administrator. He held many eminent positions in public life both before, and after independence. Reddy was elected as the President on 21st July, 1977. He had sworn in as the sixth President of India on 25th July, 1977. He was the only candidate to have contested twice in the presidential race, once in 1969 against V.V. Giri, and then in 1977. When he was nominated for the presidency in 1969 by the Congress Party, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in a divisive move, supported V.V. Giri, who won.



               As the President, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy visited many states in India. He also visited many foreign lands during his term as the President, including the USSR, Bulgaria, Kenya, Zambia, the UK, Ireland, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Yugoslavia. Reddy worked with three governments, with Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi.



              Reddy authored the book - ‘Without Fear or Favour: Reminiscences and Reflections of a President’. It was published in 1989. Reddy died in 1996 at the age of 83. His samadhi is at Kallahalli, near Bangalore.






Why is it said that Neelam Sanjiva Reddy’s early life was remarkable?


            Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was born in a peasant family at Illuri village in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh on 19th May 1913. Sanjiva Reddy had his early education at the Theosophical High School at Adyar in Madras. He later joined the Arts College at Anantapur.



           Young Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was greatly influenced by the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi. He gave up his studies to take part in the freedom movement. In 1931 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy joined the Indian National Congress.



            He participated in a student Satyagraha, which brought him into the limelight. He was also jailed for participating in the Quit India Movement.



            In 1946, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly. He became a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1947. In 1951, he was elected as the president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, and subsequently, he became member of the Rajya Sabha.



            He also served as the president of the Indian National Congress from 1959 to 1962. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1953 and then the first Chief Minister of the state in 1956.



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Who was Neelam Sanjiva Reddy?


              Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President of India. He held the office from 1977 to 1982. He was a veteran statesman and administrator. He was also the first to be elected unopposed.



               Reddy was 64 when he was elected as the youngest President of India. He proved his humbleness through two notable gestures; one was him renouncing the residency at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the other was him allowing a 70 per cent cut in his salary, considering the poor economic condition of the nation in 1977.



              Besides being the President of India, he held many eminent positions in public life, both before, and after independence. Reddy served as Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, and Shipping and Tourism, from January 1966 to March 1967 in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Hindupur constituency in Andhra Pradesh. He was chosen as the speaker of the Lok Sabha on March 17th, 1967. This won him immense recognition. He served his term with such dedication and passion that he is remembered as the best ever Lok Sabha speaker.






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Why is it said that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was a great sports enthusiast?


               Though politics was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s forte, he always showed keen interest in sports and many extracurricular activities.



                Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an excellent tennis player and golfer. He was the president of the Assam Football Association. He was also elected as the president of the Assam Cricket Association for several terms. He also held the position of vice president of the Assam Sports Council.



                In April 1967, he was elected as the president of the All India Cricket Association. Other than these, he was also a member of the Delhi Golf Club and the Delhi Gymkhana Club since 1961.



               Though he was basically a sports enthusiast, he had excellent taste in music and fine arts too. He enjoyed the music of Ghaleb.



               A medical college, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College, has been named after him at Barpeta in Assam.





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When did Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s career start? When was he elected as the President?


               During his stint in England, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1925. Nehru’s progressive ideas influenced him very much. At Nehru’s request, Ali Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress. He actively participated in the Indian freedom struggle.



               He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 1936. He was later selected as a Minister of Finance, Revenue and Labour in Assam. In 1942, he supported the Quit India Movement, for which he was arrested in August.



               After India gained independence, Fakhruddin was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1952. He eventually became the Advocate-General of the Government of Assam. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967 and again in 1971. He handled various portfolios, including food and agriculture, cooperation, education, industrial development and company laws.



              Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was chosen by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the President of India. He was sworn in on 24th August 1974.  He was a multifaceted personality. His interest in sports was extremely popular.



              Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s tenure in the office was cut short by his sudden death due to a heart attack which he suffered on his return from a tour of the South-East Asian countries only a day before. He died on 11th February, 1977.




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Why is it said that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was greatly inspired by his father?


            Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was very much inspired by his father, who was a great patriot.



            Col. Zalnur Ali Ahmed was in the Indian Medical Service and served as an army doctor. Col. Ahmed opposed the bad treatment towards the Indians by the British. Ali Ahmed’s father Col. Zalnur Ali had to leave Assam while he was a bachelor doctor following an incident in Shillong.  



            Col. Zalnur Ali Ahmed and one of his Assamese contemporaries, Col. Sibram Bora, were allotted seats at a function in the Shillong Club away from the European guests.



The two Assamese Colonels boycotted the function in protest against the British behaviour towards the Indians.



This naturally provoked the British heads. They transferred Col. Zalnur Ali Ahmed to the distant North-West Province.



Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed grew up hearing stories like these from his father, which made him bold enough to take the right decision of serving the nation and its people. He was always inspired by his father’s integrity and boldness.



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Where was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed born?

                 Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was born on 13th May 1905, at the Hauz Qazi area of Old Delhi, India. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and always lived in luxury.



                His father, Col. Zalnur Ali Ahmed, was the first Assamese person, and the first person from northeast India to have an MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree. His mother was a daughter of the Nawab of Loharu. Ahmed’s grandfather, Khaliluddin All Ahmed, was from Kacharighat near Golaghat, Assam, and hailed from a well-known Assamese family.





                 Ahmed was educated at the Government High School in Gonda district, United Provinces, and matriculated from the Delhi Government High School. He attended St. Stephen’s College and St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and subsequently became an active member of the Congress Party.



               Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was picked for the presidency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Thus, in 1974, he became the second Muslim to be elected President.



               Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed is known to have issued the proclamation of the Emergency by signing the papers at midnight during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister.




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What made Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed stand out among the Presidents of India?


            Fakhruddin All Ahmed was the fifth President of India, in office from 1974 to1977. He had keen interest in many fields such as music, fine arts,  poetry and sports.



           He was the second President of India to die in office (on 11th February, 1977). Ahmed served as the President of India during the time of the Emergency.



          He met Jawaharlal Nehru in England in 1925. Inspired by Nehru, Fakhruddin All Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress, and actively participated in the freedom movement.



         He started Satyagraha on 14th December, 1940. In 1942, he was arrested for participating in the Quit India Movement, and was imprisoned for three and a half years.



He was elected to the Assam Assembly from 1957 to 1962, and again from 1962 to 1967. He remained the Minister of Finance, Revenue and Labour in the 1938 Gopinath Bordoloi Ministry.



          He joined the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru at the Centre in January 1966. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971. In the central cabinet, he was given important portfolios relating to food and agriculture, cooperation, education, industrial development and company laws.



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What were the prominent positions held by V.V. Giri at the state and national level?

            V.V. Giri was India’s first High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He held the position from 1947 to 1951. In the first general election of independent India in 1951, he was elected from the Pathapatnam Lok Sabha Constituency, in the Madras State.



            On being elected to Parliament, Giri was appointed minister of labour in 1952. In 1954, he resigned from his cabinet position as the government opposed his famous ‘Giri Approach’.



            From June 1956-1960, he served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh, from 1960-1965, he was Governor of Kerala and from 1965-1967, he served as Governor of Karnataka.



            Giri was elected the third Vice President of India on 13th May 1967, a post he held for nearly two years till 3rd May, 1969. Giri was the first Vice President not to complete his full term in office, on account of being elevated to the office of the President, and was the third Vice President to be elected to the presidency.



            As an Acting President, he promulgated the ordinance that nationalized 14 banks and insurance companies. Later, Giri was sworn in as President of India on 24th August 1969, and held office till 24th August 1974.





 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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Which was V.V. Giri’s birth place?


               Varahagiri Venkata Giri was born in Berhampur in the present Ganjam district of Odisha on 10th August 1894. His father, V.V. Jogayya Pantulu, was a prominent lawyer and political activist while his mother, Subhadramma, was active in the national movement as well. He completed his initial education at the Khallikote College in Berhampur.



               In 1913, he went to Ireland to study law at the University College, Dublin. The same year, Giri met Gandhiji who influenced him deeply, and finally made him realize that the freedom struggle was far more important than studying law. At college, Giri became involved with the Sinn Fein movement, which led to his expulsion from Ireland in 1916, leaving him unable to complete his law degree.



               Upon returning to India, he also became a member of the Congress party. In 1920, he participated in Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. In 1926, he was elected president of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). In 1942, he was imprisoned again for participating in the Quit India Movement.



               In May 1967, he was elected the third Vice President of India and remained in office for the next two years. After the death of the then President Zakir Husain, V.V. Giri became the Acting President and later, the President of India.




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How did V.V. Giri’s stint as the President of India become remarkable?


           After the death of Dr. Zakir Husain, V.V. Giri became the first ever Acting President of India in 1969. When President Zakir Husain died on 3rd May 1969, Giri was elevated to the  office of Acting President the same day.



         On 20th July 1969, he resigned from the post of Acting President to contest election as an independent candidate. He won the election, and held office for a full term of five years from 24th August 1969, to 24th August 1974. He became the only person to be elected President as an independent candidate.



          He was considered as one of the prominent figures behind the trade union movements in India. He not only organised the labour force of India and improved their condition, but also include them in the national struggle for independence. Along with his fellow Congress workers from different parts of the country, he succeeded in forming the All India Trade Union Congress. He served as its president in 1926 and 1942.



          V.V. Giri was honored by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975.



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How does the nation remember Dr. Zakir Husain?


               Dr. Zakir Husain was the third President of India and the first Muslim to occupy the post. However, they could only occupy the position for a period of two years from 13th May 1967 until his death on 3rd May, 1969.



               Dr. Zakir Husain was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and thus, became a member of the Indian Parliament in 1956.



               However, he held this position only for a year, after which he became the Governor of Bihar, a post he occupied for five years from 1957 - 1962. Dr. Husain was honoured with the Bharat Ratna award in 1963.



               Dr. Zakir Husain died on 3rd May 1969, the first Indian President to die in office. He was buried on the campus of the Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi. Dr. Zakir Husain was one of the biggest exponents of education in India, and it was under his leadership that the National Muslim University was founded.



               During Dr. Zakir Husain’s last days, the issue of nationalization of banks was being hotly debated. The bill, at last, received presidential consent from Mohammad Hidayatullah, who served as the Acting President on 9th August 1969.



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