President Murmu pays tribute to Pranab Mukherjee

• President Droupadi Murmu paid floral tributes to Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 11.

• Pranab Mukherjee served as the President of India from 2012 to 2017.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Mukherjee as a towering statesman and a scholar of exceptional depth, who served India with unwavering dedication across decades of public life.

A political career spanning decades

• Pranab Kumar Mukherjee was born in the small village of Mirati in Birbhum District of West Bengal on December 11, 1935 as son of freedom fighters. 

• Mukherjee acquired a Master’s degree in history and political science as well as a degree in law from the University of Kolkata. 

• He then embarked on his professional life as a college teacher and journalist. 

• In 1969, Mukherjee plunged into full time public life following his election to the Rajya Sabha.

• His rise in his political career was rapid. He was made Deputy Minister, Industry; Shipping and Transport, Steel and Industry and Minister of State for Finance in the period 1973-74. 

• He assumed office as Finance Minister of India for the first time in 1982 in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985. 

• Later, he was Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission from 1991 to 1996, Minister for Commerce from 1993 to 1995, Minister of External Affairs from 1995 to 1996, Minister of Defence from 2004 to 2006 and once again the Minister of External Affairs from 2006 to 2009. 

• Mukherjee had extensive diplomatic experience and has served on the Board of Governors of the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank. 

• He was instrumental in setting up the Regional Rural Banks (1975) and the EXIM Bank of India as well as National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (1981-82). 

• Mukherjee was the author of a modified formula for resource sharing between the Centre and the States in 1991 which came to be known as the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula.

• He was the Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012 and Leader of the Lok Sabha of Parliament from 2004 to 2012 till he resigned to contest election to the office of the President.

• Mukherjee assumed office as the 13th President of India on July 25, 2012.

• His term expired on July 25, 2017 and was succeeded by Ram Nath Kovind.

• The many awards and honours conferred on him include India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 2019, Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the Best Parliamentarian Award in 1997 and Best Administrator in India Award in 2011.

• Mukherjee passed away on August 31, 2020.