Biography of R. Venkataraman


The former President of India, R. Venkataraman was born on December 4, 1910, in the village of Rajamedam in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. He received his education in the city of Chennai. After that, he started practicing law in the Madras High Court. During the Quit India Movement, he suffered two years of detention in jail. Till then, he had become a leading lawyer in the country. In 1946, he was sent to Malay and Singapore to defend Indian nationals who were charged with offenses of collaboration during the Japanese occupation of those two places.

Venkataraman was intimately associated with trade unions including the plantation workers, estate staff, dock-workers and others. He was elected in 1950, to free India's provisional Parliament and to the first Parliament. In 1977 he once again was elected to Lok Sabha. Later he was appointed Union Minister of Finance and Union Minister of Defense. He was elected the Vice-President of India in August 1984. After five years tenure of Vice-President, he was chosen India's 7th President in 1987.