President of India — Every Detail about The Most Coveted Position in India
The office of the President, in which rests the highest authority of India, is one position every Indian should know about. President of India is one of the most asked topic in competition exams. In this article, you’ll know about the important details about the Indian president. By the end of this article you’ll know:
- Who is the President of India?
- How Indian President is elected?
- How many Indian Presidents have served the nation yet?
- What are the Post-retirement benefits for President of India?
Who is the President of India?
The President of India is the first citizen and represents the Indian nation. He is head of the state, all the executive powers of the Union shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him. The term of the President of India is 5 years.
President of India appoints Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts in the states, Attorney General, and Comptroller and auditor General of India, ambassadors and high commissioners to other countries.
He can declare national, state and financial emergency. He can dissolve the Lok Sabha and end a session of the Parliament.
Under article 58, the eligibility to become the president of India is:
- Have completed a minimum age of 35 years. Does not hold any beneficiary position & does not belong to any political party. Qualified as a member of Lok Sabha
How Indian President is elected?
Under the provisions of Article 52 of the Constitution of India, the President shall be elected by the members of Electoral Collage consisting of Members of both Houses of Parliament & the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states.
election of the President of India is by the system of proportional representation Before entering the voting chamber, a polling staff collects personal pens from the voters and hand over the special pen to mark their vote on the ballot paper as per the new rule. The votes are calculated in following manner: Each legislator votes on behalf of his constituency. The value of his vote varies according to the population of the State he/she belongs to. Value of an MLA vote – (Total population of State or UT) / (Total number of MLAs) x 1000 Value of an MP vote – Total value of MLA votes / Total number of MPs Before entering the voting chamber, a polling staff will collect personal pens from the voters and hand over the special pen to mark their vote on the ballot paper. The sum of elected members of both the Houses of Parliament Lok Sabha (543) + Rajya Sabha (233) = 776 members. Total value of votes of all the 4896 electors is 10,98,903
How many Indian Presidents have served the nation yet? First Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected in 1950. From Dr. Rajendra Prasad to incumbent president Ram Nath Kovind, India has had 14 full time Presidents. Apart from these, on demise of Dr. Zakir Hussain & Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, there were two Acting Presidents namely, Mohammad Hidayatullah & Basappa Danappa Jatti.
Here is the complete list of Indian Presidents:
- Rajendra Prasad
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
- Zakir Hussain
- V Giri
- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
- Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
- Giani Zail Singh
- R Venkataraman
- Shankar Dayal Sharma
- K R Narayanan
- APJ Abdul Kalam
- Pratibha Devisingh Patil
- Pranab Mukherjee
- Ram Nath Kovind
Post-Retirement Benefits to Indian President:
After successful completion of 5 years tenure as Indian President, following perks & benefits are given to the former President: After the departure from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president will not have the same fame and prestige as before, but despite this, he will continue to get a lot of facilities.
- The foremost among these is Bungalow in New Delhi. There is no rent to be paid for the Bungalow.
- Personal staff of 5 personnel: Former president can have a staff of 5 employees including a private secretary, addition secretary, personal assistant & two peon.
- He will be given 60 thousand rupees annually in the form of office expenses. Facilities: Two landline phones (one with broadband connectivity). Apart from this, he will get travel expenses, mobile phone too.
- Pension: As former president, he will receive a pension of Rs 75 thousand per month. It will continue to increase from time to time according to the rules.
- Apart from this, they will also get free medical care for a lifetime. He can get treated for any disease whenever he wants.
The president of India is an honorary & dignitary position & hence it is held by a responsible & prominent leader. Hope this article helps you in upcoming exams.
Best of Luck.
