Ram Nath Kovind Biography

About Ram Nath Kovind

Ram Nath Kovind, the former governor of Bihar, has been elected as the 14th President of India. Kovind was nominated as the presidential nominee by the NDA, the ruling arty of India. In the elections, Ram Nath Kovind defeated Meira Kumar. While Kovind bagged 65.65 percent of the total votes, Meira Kumar got just 34.35 percent of the votes. Kovind is a Dalit leader who hails from Uttar Pradesh.

Kovind may have kept a low profile during his stint as a Rajya Sabha Member, but he has had an illustrious career wherein he has worked towards the upliftment of the marginalised society, especially the Dalits. Colleagues in Parliament remember him as a gentle, soft-spoken and yet a focused person.

Before entering the world of politics, Kovind practiced as a lawyer in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court for 16 years. He made a debut into the world of politics when he was elected as the Rajya Sabha Member from Uttar Pradesh in 1994.

Kovind served for two consecutive terms as a Rajya Sabha MP from 1994 till 2006. During his appointment as the member of Rajya Sabha, Ram Nath Kovind has had the honour of representing India in New York as well as addressing the United Nations General Assembly in October 2002.

Kovind has always worked towards uplifting the lives of the marginalised society. During his parliamentary tenure Kovind emphasised on the requirement of basic infrastructure for education in the rural areas. He helped in the construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh as well as Uttarakhand under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) Scheme. Kovind has also been an active member of parliamentary committees like Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Parliamentary Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, etc.

He has also held the office as a member of the Board of Management of Dr. B.R Ambedkar University, Lucknow, and Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

Humble Beginning

Ram Nath Kovind represents the rural, agrarian, and economically and socially underprivileged sections of the society.

Apart from belonging to the Dalit caste, Kovind has very humble beginnings. He is the son of a farmer and belongs to a lower middle class background. However, even at a young age Kovind knew the importance of education and armed himself with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and an LLB from Kanpur University.

Family

Ram Nath Kovind is married to Savita Kovind and has two children – a son, Prashant Kumar and a daughter, Swati.

Career

After completing his LLB, Kovind proceeded to Delhi to prepare for the civil services examination. However, after clearing it in the third attempt, he opted out as he was selected for an allied service instead of IAS. He started practicing law. In 1971 Kovind was enrolled as an advocate with the bar council of Delhi. Kovind provided free legal aid to the weaker sections of the society including women, minority, as well as the poor under the Free Legal Aid Society in New Delhi.

Ram Nath Kovind became an advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India in 1978. He served as the personal assistant of the Prime Minister Morarji Desai in the period 1977-78.

Since then he has held other prestigious positions including that of the Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979, Central Government standing counsel in the Supreme Court for more than a decade from 1980 to 1993. Kovind practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years until 1993.

Political Career

Kovind’s journey in the political world began in 1991 when he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Since then he has been a loyal member of the party and even donated his ancestral home in Derapur to the RSS. As a member of BJP, Kovind served as the President of the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002, and President of the All-India Koli Samaj. He was also the national spokesperson of the party. Kovind contested from Ghatampur and Bhognipur (Uttar Pradesh) assembly constituencies on the BJP ticket but lost both the elections.

He was elected as a Rajya Sabha MP in 1994 and held this illustrious position for two terms till 2006. During his stint as the Rajya Sabha MP, Kovind has travelled to Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom and the United States on study tours.

Kovind was appointed as the Governor of Bihar on 8 August 2015 by the President of India, and since then he held the office till he resigned after being nominated for the office of the President of India. As the Governor of Bihar, Kovind has had a quiet innings but his non-confrontational conduct prompted the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been battling the BJP in the state, to praise him for his exemplary work as the Governor of Bihar. During his stint as the Governor of Bihar, Kovind constituted a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, mismanagement of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities, for which he received a lot of praise and accolades from all fronts.

Kovind As The President Of India

The Office of the President of India, barring a couple of episodes, has been non-controversial since India gained independence in 1947. Kovind, with a gentle temperament, affable nature, an in-depth knowledge of the Constitution of India, and organisational skills is certain to fit smoothly into the job. His exposure to global politics while he served as a Rajya Sabha MP will also come handy because as the President of India he will receive and interact with leaders from across the globe.