Varahagiri Venkata Giri or V. V. Giri was the fourth President of the Republic of India from August 24, 1969 to August 24, 1974. He was a creative writer and a good orator. He has written books on `Industrial Relations` and `Labour problems in Indian Industry`. After the completion of his full term, Giri was awarded with the Bharat Ratna in the year 1975 by the Government of India. He was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as president in 1974. On June 23, 1980, V.V. Giri died.
Early Life of V.V. Giri
V.V. Giri was born on August 10 in 1894 into a Telugu speaking family, residing in Berhampur in the Ganjam district of the previous Madras Presidency. In 1913, he went to University College Dublin to study law, but he was expelled from Ireland in 1916 as he became involved with the Sinn Fein movement. This involvement had brought him into close contact with Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins, Patrick Pearse, Desmond FitzGerald, Eoin MacNeil, James Connolly and others.
Career of V.V. Giri
In 1916, Giri enrolled at the Madras High Court after returning to India. He then became a member of the Congress party and also joined the Home Rule Movement of Annie Beasant. Giri had an extremely successful career being a lawyer in 1920. Giri was closely associated with the labour and trade union movement in India throughout his career. He was also a founding member of the All India Railwaymen`s Federation, which was formed in 1923. Giri became a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly in 1934 and remained its member until 1937 and emerged as a spokesman for matters of labour and trade unions in the Assembly.
In independent India, Giri served as India`s first High Commissioner to Ceylon from 1947 to 1951. In 1952, he was appointed as the minister of labour. Between 1957 and 1967, Giri served as the governor of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. From 1967-1969, he was the vice president of India; but he couldn"t complete his term as the vice president because of being elected as the president of India. Finally, in 1969 he became the President of India. He was sworn in as president on 24th August 1969 and held the office till 24th August 1974.
Honours to V.V. Giri
Giri was honoured with the Bharat Ratna, in 1975 for his contributions in the area of public affairs. Along with that, he was honoured with the Commemorative Medal of the 2500th Anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire on 14th October in 1971. And he received the King Jigme Singye Investiture Medal from Bhutan on 2nd June in 1974.
Commemorations to V.V. Giri
In the year 1974, a postage stamp was released by the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department in the honour of V.V. Giri. In 1995, The National Labour Institute was renamed after his name. In Berhampur, which is Giri"s hometown, a major road, a secondary training school and a market have been named after him to commemorate V.V. Giri. His memoirs were published in 1976 with the title of "My Life and Times".
