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. He Born in present day Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, Reddy completed his schooling at Adayar and joined the Government Arts College at Anantapur.
Education and family
Reddy was born into a Telugu speaking Hindu peasant family in Illur village, Madras Presidency on 19 May 1913. He studied at the Theosophical High School at Adayar in Madras and later enrolled at the Government Arts College at Anantapur, an affiliate of the University of Madras, as an
undergraduate. In 1958, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati bestowed the degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws on him because of his role in its founding. Reddy was married to Neelam Nagaratnamma. The couple had one son and three daughters
Political career
Elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1946 as a Congress representative, Reddy became secretary of the Congress legislature party. He was also a Member of the Indian Constituent. Assembly from Madras. From April 1949 to April 1951, he was the Minister for Prohibition, Housing and Forests of the Madras State. Reddy lost the 1951 election to the Madras Legislative Assembly to the Communist leader Tarimela Nagi Reddy
Chief Minister
In 1951, in a closely contested election, he was elected President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee defeating N G Ranga. When the Andhra State was formed in 1953, T. Prakasam became its Chief Minister and Reddy became the deputy. After the later formation of the Andhra Pradesh state by incorporating Telangana with the Andhra State, Reddy became its first Chief Minister from 1 November 1956 to 11 January 1960. He was Chief Minister for a second time from 12 March 1962 to 20 February 1964, thus holding that office for over five years. Reddy was MLA from Sri Kalahasti and Dhone respectively during his stints as Chief Minister. The Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam multipurpose river valley projects were initiated during his tenure.In 2005, the Chandrababu Naidu-led government of the Telugu Desam Party renamed the Srisailam project to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Sagar in his honour.
The Congress governments under Reddy placed emphasis on rural development, agriculture and allied sectors. The shift towards industrialisation remained limited and was largely driven by the central government's investments in large public sector enterprises in the state. Reddy's first term as Chief Minister ended in 1960 after he resigned on being elected President of the Indian National Congress. In 1964, he resigned voluntarily following unfavourable observations made against the Government of Andhra Pradesh by the Supreme Court in the Bus Routes Nationalisation case
Congress President and Union Minister
Reddy served thrice as President of the Indian National Congress at its Bangalore, Bhavnagar and Patna sessions during 1960 to 1962.At the Congress session at Goa in 1962, Reddy s speech
stating India's determination to end the Chinese occupation of Indian territory and the irrevocable nature of the liberation of Goa was enthusiastically received by attendees. He was thrice member of the Rajya Sabha. From June 1964, Reddy was Union Minister of Steel and Mines in the Lal Bahadur Shastri government. He also served as Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Shipping and Tourism from January 1966 to March 1967 in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet
Speaker of the Lok Sabha
In the general elections of 1967, Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh. On 17 March 1967, Reddy was elected Speaker of the Fourth Lok Sabha becoming
only the third person to be elected Speaker of the house during their inaugural term. To emphasize the independence of the Speakers office, Reddy resigned from the Congress Party. His term as Speaker was marked by several firsts including the admission of a No-Confidence Motion on the same day as the Presidents address to a joint session of Parliament, the handing down of a sentence of imprisonment for Contempt of the house and the setting up of the Committee on the Welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. During his term as Speaker a defamation suit filed against him by an MP resulted in the Supreme Courtries ruling that parliamentarians had complete freedom of speech in the House and that the courts had no say in such matters. Reddy described his role as being the watchman of the Parliament. He however had several hostile encounters with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the House that proved costly when he became, two years later, the Congress Parties nominee to succeed Zakir Hussain as President
President of India
President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy led seven state visits between 1980 and 1982. He visited USSR, Bulgaria, Kenya, Zambia, UK, Ireland, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Yugoslavia.
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected on 21 July 1977 and was sworn in as the sixth President of India on 25 July 1977. Reddy worked with three governments, with Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi. Reddy announced, on the eve of India's thirtieth anniversary of Independence, that he would be moving out of the Rashtrapati Bhawan to a smaller accommodation and that he would be taking a 70 percent pay cut in solidarity with India's impoverished masses
No comments:
Post a Comment