Pranab Mukherjee (1935 - 2020)
Pranab Mukherjee, born on December 11, 1935 hailed from Mirati village in Birbhum district, West Bengal.
Mukherjee’s father, Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, was deeply involved in India’s struggle for independence from Great Britain in the first half of the 20th century.
Mukherjee started his professional career not as a politician, but as an upper-division clerk in the office of the Deputy Accountant General, in Kolkata.
Mukherjee served as an assistant professor of Political Science in Vidyanagar College, Kolkata and as a journalist with the Bengali publication, Desher Dak, before entering politics.
In 1969, Mukherjee stepped into the world of politics, by getting elected to the Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket.
He left the Congress Party in 1986 and by early 1987 had founded his own political party, which he named Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress. By 1989, however, he merged his party into Congress.
Between 1969 to 2012, Mukherjee headed four major ministries, which included commerce (1993–95), external affairs (1995–96 and 2006–09), defense (2004–06), and finance (2009–12).
He was voted the best Finance Minister in the World by Euromoney, in 1984.
He also occupied several important legislative posts, including leader of the Rajya Sabha (1980–84), Congress Party whip in the upper house (1996–2004), and leader of the Lok Sabha (2004–12).
In addition to his government activities in India, Mukherjee occupied seats on the boards of governors of the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.
In July, 2012, Mukherjee contested the presidential elections against P.A Sangma, in which he won 70 per cent of the electoral college vote to become the 13th President of India.
He succeeded Pratibha Patil (served 2007–12), India’s first woman president.
During his tenure as the president, Mukherjee promulgated the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013, which provides for amendment of Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act and Code of Criminal Procedures, in case of laws related to sexual offences.
As the president, he rejected many mercy pleas, which included mercy pleas of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab.
Mukherjee is the author of several books, including Beyond Survival: Emerging Dimensions of Indian Economy (1984) and Challenges Before the Nation (1993).
In 2019, he was conferred the Bharat Ratna by President Ram Nath Kovind during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
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