Ramaswamy Venkataraman was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician
who served as a Union minister and as the eighth President of India.
Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in Tanjore district, Madras Presidency. He
studied law and practised in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court of India. In his
young age, he was an activist of the Indian independence movement and participated in
the Quit India Movement. He was appointed member of the Constituent Assembly and the
provisional cabinet. He was elected to Lok Sabha four times and served as Union Finance
Minister and Defence Minister. In 1984, he was elected the seventh Vice-President of
India and in 1987, he became the 8th President of India and served from 1987 to 1992. He
also served as a State minister under K. Kamaraj and M. Bhaktavatsalam.
Early life Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village
near in Pattukottai, near Tanjore district in Tamil Nadu. He had his school education
in Govt Boys Higher Secondary School, Pattukottai & College education in National College Higher
Secondary School at Trichy. Educated locally and in the city of Madras,
Venkataraman obtained his Master Degree in Economics from Loyola College, Madras. He
later qualified in Law from the Law College, Madras. Venkataraman was enrolled in the Madras
High Court in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in 1951.
While practising law, Venkataraman was drawn into the movement for India's freedom from
Britain's colonial subjugation. His active participation in the Indian National Congress's
celebrated resistance to the British Government, the Quit India Movement of 1942, resulted
in his detention for two years under the Defence of India Rules. Venkataraman's interest in
the law continued during this period. In 1946, when the transfer of power from British to
Indian hands was imminent, the Government of India included him in the panel of lawyers
sent to Malaya and Singapore to defend Indian nationals charged with offences of collaboration
during the Japanese occupation of those two places. In the years 1947 to 1950, Venkataraman
served as Secretary of the Madras Provincial Bar Federation.
Political career Law and trade activity led to Venkataraman's
increasing association with politics. He was a member of constituent assembly that drafted
India's constitution. In 1950 he was elected to free India's Provisional Parliament and
to the First Parliament. During his term of legislative activity, Venkataraman attended
the 1952 Session of the Metal Trades Committee of International Labour Organisation as a
workers' delegate. He was a member of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Conference in New Zealand. Venkataraman was also Secretary to the Congress Parliamentary
Party in 1953–1954. Although re-elected to Parliament in 1957,
Venkataraman resigned his seat in the Lok Sabha to join the State Government of Madras
as a Minister. There Shri Venkataraman held the portfolios of Industries, Labour, Cooperation,
Power, Transport and Commercial Taxes from 1957 to 1967. During this time, he was also
Leader of the Upper House, namely, the Madras Legislative Council.
As Minister of Industries Venkataraman was appointed a Member of the
Union Planning Commission in 1967 and was entrusted the subjects of Industry, Labour,
power, Transport, Communications, Railways. He held that office until 1971. In 1977, Venkataraman
was elected to the Lok Sabha from Madras Constituency and served as an Opposition Member of Parliament
and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Venkataraman was also, variously, a member
of the Political Affairs Committee and the Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet;
Governor, International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, and the Asian Development Bank. Venkataraman was a Delegate to the United
Nations General Assembly in 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961. He was Leader of
the Indian Delegation to the 42nd Session of the International Labour Conference at
Geneva and represented India in the Inter Parliamentary Conference in Vienna. He was
a member of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal from 1955 to 1979 and was its President
from 1968 to 1979. In 1980, Venkataraman was re-elected to the
Lok Sabha and was appointed Union Minister of Finance in the Government headed by Smt.
Indira Gandhi. He was later appointed Union Minister of Defence, here he is credited for
initiating India's missile programme, he shifted A P J Abdul Kalam from space programme to
the missile programme, and consolidated the entire missile system, naming it as Integrated
Guided Missile Development Program. Later he was to serve as Vice-President of India
and then as a President of India starting 1987, where he worked with four prime ministers,
and appointed three of them: V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P V Narasimha Rao, during his
five-year term, which saw the advent of coalition politics in India. His successor S D Sharma
was the only other Indian President in 20th Century to work with four prime ministers
and appoint three of them.
Honours and accolades Venkataraman received the Doctorate of Law
from University of Madras, the Doctorate of Law from Nagarjuna University. He is Honorary
Fellow, Madras Medical College; Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Roorkee; Doctor
of Law from University of Burdwan. He was awarded The Tamra Patra for participation
in the freedom struggle, the Soviet Land Prize for his travelogue on K. Kamaraj's visit to
the Socialist countries. He was the recipient of a Souvenir from the Secretary-General of
the United Nations for distinguished service as President of the U.N. Administrative Tribunal.
The title of "Sat Seva Ratna" was conferred on him by His Holiness the Sankaracharya of
Kancheepuram. Illness and death
On 12 January 2009, Venkataraman was admitted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital
with complaints of Urosepsis. His condition grew critical on 20 January, when he was detected
with low blood pressure and E. coli tract infection.
Venkataraman died at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi on 27 January
2009 at 1430 IST due to multiple organ failure at the age of 98. He died on the day after
Republic Day(India) and some programmes coinciding it were cancelled to mark the respect towards
the late former President. He was cremated with full state honours at Ekta Sthal near
Raj Ghat. Contribution to India
Role of Planning in Industrial Development, by Ramaswami Venkataraman. Published by Govt.
of India Press, 1969. The Role of a Private Member of Parliament,
by Ramaswami Venkataraman. Published by Harold Laski Institute of Political Science, 1986.
My Presidential Years – R Venkataraman, by R Venkataraman. 1995. HarperCollins/Indus.
ISBN 81-7223-202-0. R. Venkataraman on
Contemporary Issues, by Ramaswami Venkataraman, K. Venkatasubramanian. Published by Variant
Communications, 1996. Relevance of Gandhi: And Other Essays, by
K Swaminathan, Ramaswami Venkataraman. Published by Gandhigram Trust, 1998.
Books on R. Venkataraman President R. Venkataraman, by Nand Gopal Chaudhry.
Published by Manas Publications, 1987. ISBN 81-7049-018-9.
The Great Humanist Ramaswami Venkataraman, by Attar Chand. Published by Gian Pub. House,
1987. ISBN 81-212-0106-3. So May India be Great: Selected Speeches and
Writings of President R. Venkataraman, by Ramaswami Venkataraman. Published by Publication
Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1990.
Selected Speeches, 1984–87, 10 September 1984 – 14 May 1987: 10 September 1984 – 14
May 1987, by Ramaswami Venkataraman. Published by Publications Division, Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1991. President R. Venkataraman Selected Speeches:
July 1987 – December 1989., by Ramaswami Venkataraman. Published by Publications Division,
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1991.
Notes
References "Ramaswamy Venkataraman:Eighth President of
India". The Times. 30 January 2009. External links
Late R.Venkatraman's Journey Post – presidential Career of R. venkatraman
maintained by RV Foundation, a Trust founded by him and administered by the family.
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