The current President of India, Ram Nath Kovind was an outsider to Delhi (politics) prior to being appointed for the post of President. His condition was similar to that of Prime Minister Modi apart from one reason, he did not have the public popularity which was enjoyed by PM Modi. On 25th July 2017 when he was appointed as the 14th President, Kovind was unknown to the masses. Within a year he has made a mark and is no longer an ‘outsider’ today. His push towards reforming education started with him presiding over eight meetings hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan which were attended by 20 university heads to discuss problems. As an MP, Kovind had allocated MPLADS funds for building rural schools and he has continually pushed for the universities in India to prepare the youth for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”.
In 2017 the comment made by President Kovind towards the need to add ‘decency’, made at the 60th anniversary of the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru stands out specially. He said, “We are aware of the three Ds of the legislature, that it is a place to debate, dissent and finally decide. And if we add a fourth D, decency, only then does the fifth D, namely democracy, become a reality.” On 26th November 2017, in a speech made on the Constitution Day he spoke about the differences which had crept in between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive. He pointed out that while upholding respective autonomy, the three branches “should be careful not to disturb the fraternity of separation of powers by even unknowingly intruding into the domain of either of the two other branches”. President Kovind has tried to keep himself above party politics. For example his meetings with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan prove that his acceptability is not just restricted to BJP leaders but to others as well.
Five out of ten international visits made by President Kovind were to countries which had earlier never been visited by any senior Indian official before. His visits ensured cordial relations with countries like Djibouti, Equatorial Guyana, Madagascar, Surinam and Swaziland. His visit to Cuba was a groundbreaking event as he became the first Indian leader to visit Cuba post the Castro era. However the biggest change done by President Kovind was pruning the guest list of the Independence Day and Republic Day from 2,347 to 724.Toppers of CBSE, ISC exams and similar achievers were invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the celebration.
He has set a precedent for the upcoming suitors for the presidential post and his humbleness has opened the doors of the Rashtrapati Bhavan for citizens who do exemplary work. On completing a year as a President, we hope that he will continue doing great work and will set even better examples for future leaders of India.