Former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee
was born on December 11, 1935. He served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017. Mukherjee
was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and occupied
several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India.
Pranab Mukherjee was born in the Birbhum
district of West Bengal. Pranab Mukherjee married Suvra Mukherjee on
13 July 1957. Mukherjee was inspired by Deng Xiaoping and quoted
him quite frequently. His hobbies were reading, gardening, and music. He was
awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2019.
Read here: Some lesser-known facts about the Former President of India.
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Before
becoming a politician, Mukherjee served as a clerk, lecturer of Political
Science at Vidyanagar College, Kolkata and a Journalist at Desher Dak.
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He
became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1969 on a Bangla Congress ticket.
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In
1972, Indira Gandhi recruited him to the Indian National
Congress along with merging the Bangla Congress into the party. He
became a Gandhi loyalist and was often described as her "man for all
seasons."
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As
Finance Minister, Mukherjee signed the letter appointing Manmohan Singh as Governor of
the Reserve Bank of India.
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He
implemented many tax reforms, including scrapping the Fringe Benefits Tax and
the Commodities Transaction Tax. He implemented the Goods and Services Tax
during his tenure.
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In
2010, he was awarded "Finance Minister of the Year for Asia" by Emerging
Markets, the daily newspaper of record for the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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After
his appointment as the 13th President of India, Mukherjee has rejected seven
mercy petitions including that of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab.