Pranab Kumar Mukherjee is the 13th President of India.
Born: December 11, 1935 , Birbhum District
Spouse: Suvra Mukherjee
Children: Sharmistha , Abhijit , Indrajit
Awards: Padma Vibhushan
Books: Beyond survival
I will strive, as I said on oath, to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution not just in word but also in spirit.
A modern nation is built on some basic fundamentals: democracy, or equal rights for every citizen; secularism, or equal freedom to every faith; equality of every region and language; gender equality and, perhaps most important of all, economic equity.
For our development to be real the poorest of our land must feel that they are part of the narrative of rising India.
We have achieved much in the field of agriculture, industry and social infrastructure; but that is nothing compared to what India, led by the coming generations, will create in the decades ahead.
There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India.
What has brought us thus far, will take us further ahead. India’s true story is the partnership of the people. Our wealth has been created by farmers and workers, industrialists and service-providers, soldiers and civilians. Our social harmony is the sublime co-existence of temple, mosque, church, gurudwara and synagogue; they are symbols of our unity in diversity.
Peace is the first ingredient of prosperity. History has often been written in the red of blood; but development and progress are the luminous rewards of a peace dividend, not a war trophy.
India’s philosophy is not an abstract in textbooks. It flourishes in the day-to-day life of our people, who value the humane above all else.
Violence is external to our nature; when, as human beings, we do err, we exorcise our sins with penitence and accountability.
We are in the midst of a fourth world war; the third was the Cold War, but it was very warm in Asia, Africa and Latin America till it ended in the early 1990s. The war against terrorism is the fourth; and it is a world war because it can raise its evil head anywhere in the world.
Few minutes of peace will achieve far more than many years of war.
We must of course learn from the past; but we must remain focused on the future
