By Shruti Appalla
President Ram Nath Kovind appointed 5 governors and one Lieutenant Governor to five states in the country on Saturday, 29th of September. He appointed Shri. Banwarilal Purohit as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Brig. (Dr.) B.D. Mishra (Retd.) as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Shri. Satya Pal Malik as the Governor of Bihar, Shri. Jagdish Mukhi as the Governor of Assam, Shri. Ganga Prasad as the Governor of Meghalaya and Devender Kumar Joshi as the Lt. Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Governor’s position
Just as the President is the Head of the Union, the Governor is the head of the state executive which means that all executive action taken in the state is undertaken in the name of the Governor. Article 153 of the Indian Constitution states that ideally there should be one governor for each state but an amendment introduced in 1986 now allows for a single governor to have the charge of two or more states.
The Governor of a state is appointed for a normal term of five years but he/she essentially serves at the pleasure of the President. Interestingly, in the Draft Constitution, the post of the Governor was willed to be an elected post. But debates in the Constituent Assembly led to the conclusion that for convenience and in keeping intact the autonomy of the Chief Minister the post should be an appointed one.
Purohit’s Tamil Nadu
Shri Banwarilal Purohit, a veteran politician, from Vidarbha, has been elected the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Prior to this, he was the Governor of Assam. He will be replacing Ch. Vidyasagar Rao who was Governor of both Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu but will retain the charge of the state of Maharashtra.
The tense political climate in the state required a governor with singular charge. However, Purohit isnt averse to controversy. He has shifted parties from the Indian National Congress to the BJP and back. He was also ousted from the INC when he took part in kar seva in Ayodhya in 1991 and later allegedly involved in setting up a settlement meeting between the RSS chief and Rajiv Gandhi over the Ayodhya Ram temple issue. Purohit is currently the managing director of Hitavada, an English daily founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhle.
Meet the governors of Bihar, Assam, and Meghalaya
Mr Jagdish Mukhi’s political career started during the Emergency. He has been representing the Janak Puri Constituency in Delhi since 1980 while being elected as the MLA seven times. He has held various cabinet positions in the state council of ministers. Until recently, he had been serving as the Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. From now on, he will serve as the Governor of Assam.
Shri Ganga Prasad has been a Member of the Legislative Council of Bihar for 18 long years and has been given the charge of Meghalaya. Satya Pal Malik, on the other hand, held the profile of MoS, Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism in the 1990s. He has previously been a member of the UP state assembly, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Malik will be serving as the Governor of Bihar.
Showing confidence in defence
The President has also appointed defence personnel to the posts. Brig.(Dr.) B.D. Mishra, 78, was a commander in the rescue operation of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1993. He has served in the Indo-China war of 1962, Bangladesh in 1971 and Sri Lanka in 1987 and volunteered for Kargil after retirement. He has been appointed as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
The newly appointed Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Admiral(Retd.) Devender Kumar Joshi is another decorated officer. Joshi has held the position of Defence Advisor at the Indian High Commission in Singapore between 1996-99. He has studied at the NDA, the US Naval War College as well as at the College of Naval Warfare in Mumbai.
These well-crafted positions by the Indian President will hopefully improve the economy of these five states.
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