Question: Consider the following statements regarding Former President Pranab Mukherjee :
(i) He was the 12th President of India from the year 2013 to 2017.
(ii) He was appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission in 1991.
(iii) He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honor of India in year 2019.
Of the above correct statements are:
(a) Only (i), (ii) and (iii)
(b) only (ii) and (iii)
(c) only (i) and (iii)
(d) All the above
Answer: (b)
Related facts:
- Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee passed away on August 31,2020.He was 84.
- Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (1935 – 2020) served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017.
- He was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India.
- He first served as Finance Minister of India in 1982–84. He was also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985.
- He was appointed deputy chairman of Planning Commission in 1991 and Foreign Minister in 1995 in P.V. Narasimha Rao government.
- From 2004 until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee held a number of key cabinet portfolios in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government – Defence (2004–06), External Affairs (2006–09) and Finance (2009–12) – apart from being Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha.
- He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 2019.
By-Amar Mani Upadhyay