Wednesday, August 3, 2016

1975 : VARAHAGIRI VENKATA GIRI (1894 - 1980)


      VV Giri was born on August 10 1894 at Behrampur
      He was educated at Behrampur and graduated in law from National University, Dublin. Ireland
      He enrolled as an Advocate at Madras High Court and appeared for labour welfare issues (1916 – 1934)
     He was elected as Member of Central Legislative Assembly (1934 – 1937) and later Madras Legislative Assembly and served as Minister of Labour & Employment, Madras (1937 – 1939)
     He was Labour welfare and Independence activist (1939 – 1946). He was Minister of Labour & Employment, Madras (1946 – 1947)
     He was the first Indian High Commissioner to Ceylon (1947 – 1952).
     He was Union Minister of Labour & Employment (1952 – 1954) and was  Member of Lok Sabha (1954 – 1957)
     He served successively as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh (1957 – 1960), Kerala (1960 – 1965)  and Mysore (1965 – 1967)
     He was Vice President (1967 – 1974) and President of Republic of India (1974 – 1979)
     He settled in Madras after retirement and wrote and spoke on labour welfare issues (1974 – 1980)
     He died on June 23 1980 at Chennai

       Labour Welfare Activist
       VV Giri worked extensively for labour welfare during his role as Lawyer, Trade Union Leader, Minister for Labour in State and Union Cabinets
        He was President of Indian Society for Labour Economics, President of All India Trade Union Congress .He was General Secretary & President of All India Railwaymen Federation
       He authored and lectured on Labour Problems and Industrial Relations

      President of India 
      He was elected as the third Vice president (1967 – 1969) , Acting President (1969) and later the fourth President of India (1969 – 1974)
      He is the only President to be elected as an independent candidate


      Awards
     The Government of India honoured him with Bharat Ratna in 1975 . The Governments of Bhutan and Iran awarded their National Orders


      Autobiography
      He published his memoirs : My Life and Times ( 1976 )










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