Know more, Grow more!!!: Ramnath Kovind

On 20th July 2017, Thursday, India got its 14th President by the name Ramnath Kovind. These Presidential Elections were held on 17th July, 2017.

Ramnath Kovind of the Bhartiya Janata Party had the backing of the governing National Democratic Alliance coalition and went up against opposition candidate Meira Kumar of the Indian National Congress in the vote.

Ram Nath Kovind was the NDA's presidential candidate and won with over 7 lakh votes against Opposition candidate Meira Kumar. Kovind, 71, is a Dalit leader and will take oath as the 14th President of India.

I would like to highlight some unknown facts of Ramnath Kovind:

Ramnath Kovind served as the Governor Of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2006.

As a member of parliament, he served on the Parliamentary Committee for Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Home Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Social Justice and Empowerment, Law and Justice.

He was a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kovind was nominated as a Presidential Candidate by the ruling NDA coalition and won the 2017 presidential election. He will assume office on 25 July 2017.

After his elementary school education, he had to walk each day to Khanpur village, 6 km away, to attend junior school, as nobody in the village had a bicycle. He holds a Bachelor's degree in commerce and a LLB from DAV College (affiliated with Kanpur University).

After graduating in law from a Kanpur college, Kovind went to Delhi to prepare for the civil services examination. He passed this exam on his third attempt, but he did not join as he was selected for an allied service instead of IAS and thus started practicing law.

Kovind enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the bar council of Delhi. He was Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979. Between 1977 & 1978, he also served as the personal assistant of Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai.

In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India and served as a Central Government standing counsel in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India from 1980 to 1993. He practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court until 1993. As an advocate he provided free legal aid to weaker sections of society, women and the poor under the Free Legal Aid Society in New Delhi.