The President of India is the sole shareholder of all State-owned enterprises, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Military and is the final word on pardoning or sending convicts to the gallows. The Governors of all states nominally report to the President, who possesses the authority to disapprove of the government’s legislations as he holds the final call on these. Only the Supreme Court can overrule his decisions.

India has chosen Ram Nath Kovind as the 14th President. Elected on 20^th July, 2017, Kovind defeated Congress’ co-candidate, Meira Kumar by a large margin. He will take oath as President of India on 25^th July. Here are a few quick facts to update you about our new President, Ram Nath Kovind…

• Born on 1^st October, 1945, in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Dehat, 71-year-old Ram Nath Kovind will become the second Dalit leader since independence, after RK Narayanan, to occupy India’s highest ceremonial post.
• Current President Pranab Mukherjee’s term ends on 24th July, 2017. Kovind will take oath the next day to become India’s 14^th
• As the candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he beat Congress’ Meira Kumar comfortably. Interestingly, both are Dalits.
• Kovind is the youngest amongst three brothers. A Law graduate from Kanpur, Kovind wanted to join the Indian Administrative Services and made it in his third attempt but instead chose the Allied Services and started practising law as an advocate in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court.
• In 1977, he worked as the private secretary of then PM Morarji Desai and went on to serve as the national spokesperson of the BJP.  1994 marked his political presence as a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, serving for two consecutive terms till 2006. He served as the Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017.
• Some of his notable appointments include being former President of the BJP Dalit Morcha (1998-2002); President of the All-India Koli Samaj; member of the Board of Management at Dr. B R Ambedkar University, Lucknow; member of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata; representing India at the United Nations in New York and addressing the United Nations General Assembly in October 2002.
• He is married to Savita and has a son Prashant Kumar, and daughter Swati.
• He has donated his ancestral house in his native village in Kanpur as ‘baraatghar’ or community house to the village.