Pranab Kumar
Mukherjee or Pranab Mukherjee or Pranabda was born on December 11, 1935 at
Mirati a village in Birbhum District of West Bengal.
He studied at
Vidyasagar College, Suri, Birbhum and obtained his MA in History, MA in
Political Sciences and LLB from University of Calcutta.
He served as
Upper Division Clerk, Office of Deputy Accountant General (Post & Telegraph),
Calcutta (1960 – 1963).
He served as
Lecturer in Political Science at Vidyasagar College, Calcutta (1963 – 1969).
He joined the
Indian National Congress under the leadership of Indira Gandhi served as Member
of Parliament in Rajya Sabha (1969 – 1973).
He served
successively as Union Deputy Minister for Industrial Development (1973 – 1974),
Shipping and Transport (1974), Union Minister of State for Finance (1974 –
1975) and Revenue (1975 – 1977).
He was Member of
Central Working Council and Treasurer of Indian National Congress (1977 – 1980).
He was Union
Minister for Commerce (1980 – 1982), Finance (1982 – 1984).
He was President
of West Bengal Branch of Indian National Congress (1984 -1986), Rashtriya
Samajwadi Congress (1986 – 1989), and Indian National Congress (1989 – 1991).
He served as Deputy
Chairman of National Planning Commission (1991 – 1993), Union Minster for
Commerce (1993 – 1995), External Affairs (1995 – 1996).
He served as General
Secretary (1998 – 1999), Chairman of Central Election Council (1999 – 2004) of
Indian National Congress.
Union Minster
for Defence (2004 – 2006), External Affairs (2006 – 2009) and Finance (2009 –
2012).
He served as the
President of India (2012 – 2017)
He retired from
public life and founded the Pranab Kumar Mukherjee Foundation, New Delhi (2017
– 2020).
He died on
August 31, 2020 aged 84 years at the Army Research and Referral Hospital New
Delhi due to COVID 19 lung infection.
Member
of Parliament
A congressman, He
was elected 5 times to Rajya Sabha (1969 – 2002) and 2 times to Lok Sabha (2004
– 2012) and was Deputy Leader (1978 – 1980) and Leader (1980 – 1985) in Rajya
Sabha, Leader of Lok Sabha (2004 – 2012).
An exemplary orator,
negotiator, arbitrator and consensus builder, he forged unity on national
issues in the vibrant multiparty democracy during his five decade parliamentary
career and commanded respected from
major political parties of diverse ideologies.
An encyclopedia
of contemporary Indian history and a master of parliamentary procedures,
practices and precedents, he served as Member of Parliamentary Standing
Committees.
A person of
integrity, simplicity, wisdom and patriotism, He was awarded the Best
Parliamentarian Award in 1997 and Best Administrator Award in 2011.
Union
Minister
A skillful
administrator and interlocutor, He had the rare distinction of serving as Union
Minister in all major cabinet portfolios, finance, commerce, defence and external
affairs.
The triumvirate
with PV Narasimha Rao, R. Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee formed the core
team of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi governments.
A man of all
seasons and reasons , He was Chairman of Group of Ministers (GOM) and Empowered
Group of Ministers (EGOM) and over 100 inter-ministerial panels helped draft
policies on planning, nation building, right to information, right to
education, and right to employment, food security and energy security, national
security, resources sharing.
Finance
& Commerce
He presented seven
Union Budget and one interim budget and started banks for Agriculture, Rural
Development and Exports and Imports.
He co devised
the Gadgil Mukherjee formula for sharing revenue between the Centre and
States.
Defence
He initiated modernization
of defence forces and concluded the Indo US Nuclear Deal
External
Affairs
He initiated
measures to improve relations with US, USSR and South East Asia
President
of India
He served as the
thirteenth President of India and was the first Bengali to hold the office.
He opened the Rashtrapathi
Bhavan to the people and modernized the library, gallery and museum.
He created the
social media handles and organized started workshops, Festival of Innovation
and hosted Scholars in residence.
Chairmanship
He served as
Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkota and Chairman and Trustee of
Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Bangiya Sahitya Sammelan.
He was Member of
Asiatic Society and Trustee of Bidhan Chandra Roy Memorial Trust.
Chairman of
Group of 24, Governor to International Monetary Fund, International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank and African Development
bank
Publications
An avid reader
and exemplary orator, writer and scholar endowed with intellect and wit, he
published several books on economics, politics and constitutional affairs
His memoirs
include Off the Track (1987), Saga of Struggle and Sacrifice (1992), Thoughts and
Reflections (2014), The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years (2014), The
Turbulent Years (2016), and The Coalition Years (2017).
Prizes
He was awarded
the Best Finance Minister Award (1984) (2010), Best Administrator Award (2011),
Best Parliamentarian Award (0000) and Best Statesman Award (2012).
Honours
The Government
of India conferred the Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and Bharat Ratna in 2019 for his
contributions to public service.
He received the National
Orders of Bangladesh in 2013, Ivory Coast in 2016 and Cyprus in 2017.
Doctorates
He received honorary
Doctorates from the universities of Al Quds Ramallah of Palestine, Assam,
Belarus, Calcutta, Chittagong, Dhaka, Goa, Istanbul, Jadavpur, Jordan, Jerusalem
Hebrew, Kathmandu, Mauritius, , Russian DA Visveswaraya, Wolver Hampton.
He was Chairman
and President of the Rabindra Bharati University.
Resources
www.pranabmukherjee.nic.in
