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Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Varahagiri Venkata Giri was born on 10th August in the year 1894. He was elected to be the fourth President of the country where he was seated from 24th August 1969 to 23rd August 1974. He also has been the Acting President of the country for the period from 3rd May to 20th July 1969.
Early Life
V.V. Giri’s father’s name was Varahagiri Venkata Jogaiah and he was born in a Niyogi Telugu Brahmin family that stayed in Brahmapur located in the district of Ganjam. This district and town were earlier part of Madras but now it is part of Odissa. His father worked as a lawyer and moved to Brahmapur from village Chintalapalli that is part of Andhra Pradesh.
To complete his study in law, he selected the University college of Dublin in the year 1913. While at college, he became the part of Sinn Fein movement and made friends with Eamon de Valera that stood as a reason for him being barred from the country of Ireland in 1918.
Career
After being expelled from Ireland, he came back to India and joined the labour movement where he was later elected as the general secretary and further, the President of All India Railway Federation for men. He was elected two times as the President of All India Trade Union Congress.
In his early age of twenties, he became the member of Swarajya Party, the party formed by Pandit Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das and further, he became part of the Central Legislative Assembly which he served from 1927 to 1930. In 1934, he was associated with the Imperial Legislative Assembly.
He contested in the elections of Bobbili in 1936 as a candidate from Congress and he won these elections against the candidate Raja of Bobbili. He was later elected as the Labour and Industries minister for the Congress party in the year 1937 that was created by C. Rajagopalachari in Madras. After the resignation of Congress government in 1942, he again joined the labour movement that became part of Quit India movement and was imprisoned by the Britishers. He was kept in Rajahmundry jail.
After Independence of India, he was the first elected High Commissioner of Ceylon and completed his successful tenure at the Parliament in 1952. He was selected from Pathapatnam Lok Sabha Constituency as the first Lok Sabha member.
Shri V.V. Giri was appointed to head the Indian Society of Labour Economics that was formed in 1957. This society was formed by the group of intellectuals and few public persons in sponsoring education about labour and industrial relations.
He also held tenure as the governor of the state of Uttar Pradesh from 1956 to 1960, for Kerala from 1960 to 1965 and Karnataka from 1965 to 1967.
In 1967, he was appointed as the third Vice President of the country. After the sudden demise of President Zakir Hussain, he was selected to be the Acting President of the country in May 1969. For the Presidential election held in year 1969, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was selected as the representative of Congress. After this, Shri V.V. Giri filed as an independent candidate for the Presidential elections and acted as an inferred support for Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of the country. The other candidate who filed for these elections was C.D Deshmukh who was part of right wing in the opposition party. The result of the election did not elect any of the candidates as none of them won the elections in majority votes. The second round however came in favour of Shri V.V. Giri. He took the oath as the President of India on 28th August 1969 and served this position till 28th August 1974.
He received Bharat Ratna award for his services to the country in 1975. He was not only a creative and productive writer but also was a fine and superior speaker. He has books published on the topics like “Industrial relations” and “Labour Problems in Indian Industry”.
Other Positions Held
1967–72 | Deputy Minister, Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing & Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1972–74 | Cabinet Minister, Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1974–75 | Cabinet Minister, Public Health & Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1975–76 | Cabinet Minister, Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1977–78 | Cabinet Minister, Education, Government of Maharashtra |
1979–1980 | Leader of the Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly |
1982–85 | Cabinet Minister, Urban Development and Housing, Government of Maharashtra |
1983–85 | Cabinet Minister, Civil Supplies and Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1986–1988 | Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha |
1986–88 | Chairman, Committee of Privileges, Rajya Sabha; Member, Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha |
1991–1996 | Chairman, House Committee, Lok Sabha |
8 November 2004 – 23 June 2007 | Governor of Rajasthan |
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