Presidents of India

Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. An Indian political leader, and lawyer by training, Prasad joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and became a major leader from the region of Bihar. When India became a Republic in 1950, Prasad was elected its first President by the Constituent Assembly. Following the general election of 1951, he was elected President by the electoral college of the first Parliament of India and its state legislatures.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was an Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice President of India (1952–1962) and the second President of India from 1962 to 1967. One of India's most distinguished twentieth-century scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, his academic appointments included the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta (1921–1932) and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at University of Oxford.

Zakir Husain Khan was the third President of India, from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. An educationist and intellectual, Husain was the country's first Muslim president, and also the first to die in office. He previously served as Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962 and as Vice President of India from 1962 to 1967. He was also the co-founder of Jamia Milia Islamia, serving as its Vice Chancellor from 1928. Under Husain, Jamia became closely associated with the Indian freedom movement. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1963.

Varahagiri Venkata Giri commonly known as V. V. Giri, was the fourth President of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. As President, Giri was the only person to be elected as an independent candidate. After the end of his full term, Giri was honoured by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975. Giri died on 24 June 1980.

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the fifth President of India from 1974 to 1977 and also the 2nd President of India to die in office. He joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated in the freedom movement. He started individual satyagraha on 14 December, 1940 for which he was imprisoned for a year. He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee since 1936. He was elected President of the All India Cricket Association and also was a member of the Delhi Golf Club and the Delhi Gymkhana Club.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress party in the Indian independence movement, he went on to hold several key offices in independent India—as the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, a two-time Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a Union Minister—before becoming the youngest-ever Indian president.

Zail Singh was the seventh President of India serving from 1982 to 1987. Prior to his presidency, he was a politician with the Indian National Congress party, and had held several ministerial posts in the Union Cabinet, including that of Home Minister. His presidency was marked by Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He died of injuries in 1994 after a car accident.

Ramaswamy Venkataraman was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union minister and as the eighth President of India. A lawyer by profession, R. Venkataraman had practised law in the Madras High Court and in Supreme Court. Venkataraman was a freedom fighter. He was a part of the Quit India Movement. He was an integral part of the parliamentary team that re-designed India's Provincial Parliament during the period between 1950 and 1952. He was a unanimously chosen member of India's First Parliament, which held seat from 1952 to 1957.

Shankar Dayal Sharma was the ninth President of India, serving from 1992 to 1997. Prior to his presidency, Sharma had been the eighth Vice President of India, serving under R. Venkataraman. He was also Chief Minister (1952–1956) of Bhopal, and Cabinet Minister (1956–1967), holding the portfolios of Education, Law, Public Works, Industry and Commerce, National Resources and Separate Revenue.

Kocheril Raman Narayanan was the tenth President of India. Born in Perumthanam, Uzhavoor village, in the princely state of Travancore (present day Kottayam district, Kerala), and after a brief stint with journalism and then studying political science at the London School of Economics with the assistance of a scholarship, Narayanan began his career in India as a member of the Indian Foreign Service in the Nehru administration.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, better known as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. A career scientist turned statesman, Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.

Pratibha Devisingh Patil is an Indian politician who served as the 12th President of India from 2007 to 2012. A member of the Indian National Congress, Patil is the only woman to hold the office. She previously served as the Governor of Rajasthan from 2004 to 2007.

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee is an Indian politician who served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning six decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India. Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012, and the Congress party's top troubleshooter.

Ram Nath Kovind is an Indian politician and the 14th and current President of India. Previously he served as Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2006. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kovind was nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling NDA coalition and won the 2017 presidential election, becoming the second Dalit to be elected to the post of President. He assumed office on 25 July 2017.