The Telegraph
KR Narayanan (Filed: 10/11/2005)
KR Narayanan, who died yesterday aged 85, was President of India for five years and the first Dalit (formerly known as an "untouchable") to attain high office.
Although the Indian presidency is a largely ceremonial office, it has assumed greater political significance in recent years owing to the number of coalition governments which have been in power. During his term, between 1997 and 2002, Narayanan twice dissolved the Lok Sabha (the Indian parliament) after determining that no one was in a position to secure the confidence of the house.
Although Narayanan did not harp on his lowly origins, in his speeches as president he consistently reminded his country of its obligations towards the Dalits.
Kocheril Raman Narayanan was born in a thatched hut at the village of Uzhavoor in Kottayam district, Kerala, on October 27 1920. He was the fourth of seven children of a physician who practised herbal medicine. He took a First in English Literature at the University of Travancore and then secured a temporary post as a lecturer at University College, Trivandrum, in 1943. Narayanan spent a year working as a journalist, but in 1945 he travelled to England, where he studied political science under Harold Laski at the LSE and worked as the London correspondent of the Social Welfare Weekly, based in Bombay.
Laski recommended Narayanan to Jawaharlal Nehru, who arranged for the young man to join the Foreign Service in 1949. He served with the missions in Rangoon, Tokyo, London, Canberra and Hanoi as well as holding various posts at the Ministry of External Affairs. He served as India's ambassador to Thailand (1967-69) and to Turkey (1973-75); he then became ambassador in China.
After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1978, Narayanan was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University; but 18 months later he returned to the diplomatic arena when he was appointed by Indira Gandhi as Indian ambassador to the United States, where he remained until 1984.
Narayanan was elected to the Lok Sabha for three successive terms, in 1984, 1989 and 1991, representing Ottapalam in Kerala; he was minister for planning (1985) and for external affairs (1985-86), and then minister for science and technology for three years.
He was a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.
He was vice-president of India from 1992 to 1997.
He married a Burmese, Shrimati Usha Narayanan, who survives him with their two daughters.