Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma was elected R Venkataraman's successor on July 6, 1992.

Born on August 19, 1918, he received his education at St John's College, Agra, Allahabad University, Lucknow University, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Lincoln's Inn and the Harvard Law School.

He took MA degrees in English literature, Hindi and Sanskrit standing first in the university. He obtained an LLM from Lucknow University, once again standing first. He obtained a PhD in Law at Cambridge.

Clearly, he was the most educated President India has ever had.

Dr Sharma's involvement in the freedom struggle started with his participation in the historic Quit India movement.

He was chief minister of the erstwhile Bhopal state (1952 to 1956), cabinet minister in the government of Madhya Pradesh, holding the portfolios of education, law, public works, industry and commerce, national resources and separate revenue (1956 to 1967) and was Union communications minister (1974 to 1977). Dr Sharma was also governor of three states -- Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.

Top: February 13, 1995. President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, accompanied by Vice-President K R Narayanan, Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vidya Charan Shukla, V S Rama Devi, then the secretary-general, Rajya Sabha, and Dr R C Bharadwaj, then the secretary-general, Lok Sabha.

Bottom: February 26, 1997. President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, accompanied by Vice-President K R Narayanan, Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srikant Jena, V S Rama Devi, then the secretary-general, Rajya Sabha, and S Gopalan, then the secretary-general, Lok Sabha.

Also see: Dynasty on the road