- India
- Aug 19
President Murmu pays tribute to Shanker Dayal Sharma on his birth anniversary
• President Droupadi Murmu paid floral tributes to former President Shanker Dayal Sharma on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 19.
The ninth President of India
• He was born on August 19, 1918, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
• Sharma completed his early education in Bhopal before obtaining his Masters in Law from Agra University. He studied at the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded a PhD in Law.
• Later, he studied at Harvard Law School and was called to the Bar from Lincoln’s Inn, London.
• Sharma started his career in academia, working as a professor of Law at Bhopal University, before making his foray into politics.
• He was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly thrice and served as the Chief Minister of the state from 1956 to 1957.
• In 1971, he was elected to the Lok Sabha and served as the Minister of Communications from 1974 to 1977.
• He also held the portfolios of Minister of Human Resource Development and Minister of Education in the Union government.
• He served as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1984-1985), Punjab (1985-1986), and Maharashtra (1986-1987)
• In 1987, Sharma was elected as the eighth Vice President of India.
• He served in that role until he was elected as the President of India in 1992.
• Sharma was also a noted poet and writer.
• He passed away on December 26, 1999 at the age of 81.