Kocheril Raman Narayanan

Date of Birth:	27 October 1920
President of India
Tenure Order:	10th President
Took Office:	25 July 1997
Left Office:	25 July 2002
Predecessor:	Dr. Shankar Sharma
Successor:	Dr. Abdul Kalam

Kocheril Raman Narayanan, usually known just as K. R. Narayanan (b. October 27, 1920) was President of the republic of India from 1997 to 2002.

On July 25, 1997 he was sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first member of a Dalit ("untouchable") caste to hold that office.

Contents

1 Education 2 Career 2.1 As a Diplomat 2.2 In public Office 3 Books, articles and Papers authored

Education

K.R. Narayanan was born in the village of Uzhavoor in Kottayam district of Kerala. He obtained his M.A. degree in English from the University of Travancore, standing first in the university. He then obtained his B.Sc.(Economics) degree with a specialization in Political Science, from London School of Economics with First Class Honours.

Career

As a Diplomat

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1949 and served in embassies in Rangoon, Tokyo, Hanoi, Canberra and in London. He was a close confidant of Jawaharlal Nehru, who would later become the first Prime Minister of India. K.R. Narayanan has served as the Indian ambassador to Thailand (1967-69), Turkey (1973-75), People's Republic of China (1976-78). He was the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs in 1976. He was the first diplomat to serve as ambassador of India in China (1976-78) since the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict.

While serving in Rangoon, he met his future wife who adopted the Hindu name "Usha".

In public Office

Narayanan later entered politics and won three successive Lok Sabha General Elections as a represenative from the constituency of Ottapalam in Kerala. He was a Member of Parliament and a minister in the Union cabinet. He was elected as the Vice-President of India on August 21, 1992, and then President in 1997.

Books, articles and Papers authored

• India and America : Essays in Understanding
• Images and Insights
• Non Alignment in Contemporary International Relations -(Joint Authorship)
• Nehru and His Vision

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