India’s 11th President died the way he seemed to want to live — mid-lecture, talking to students. But his time in office wasn’t all warmth and popularity. One decision he approved in just two hours, from a hotel room in Moscow, was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. He came close to resigning over it.
Chief Scientific Adviser: The government’s top scientific expert on a major programme — Kalam held this role for the 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests.
President’s Rule: Direct central government control over a state, imposed when its own government can’t function.
Mercy petition: A death-row convict’s formal request to the President for a pardon, reprieve, or lesser sentence.
Constitution Bench: A panel of at least five Supreme Court judges, convened for cases raising major constitutional questions.
1India’s 11th President, and a Scientist’s Path
Must Know
- Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was India’s 11th President, serving from 2002 to 2007. Before that, he was an aerospace scientist, not a career politician — a genuinely unusual background for the office.
- Born on 15 October 1931 in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, he worked for decades at DRDO and ISRO before ever entering public life.
- His route to the presidency ran through decades of defence science, with no prior political career. This sits closer to Radhakrishnan’s academic path than to the more common route through party politics or state governorships. See Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for that earlier parallel.
2The Missile Man: SLV-III, Agni, and Pokhran-II
Must Know
- Kalam led development of India’s SLV-III satellite launch vehicle, and missile programmes including Agni and Prithvi — earning him the nickname “Missile Man of India.” For more on one of those programmes, see SciTech0119 — Agni Missile Programme.
- He served as chief scientific adviser during India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998.
- Kalam received the Bharat Ratna in 1997 — five full years before he ever became President.
True or False: before becoming President, Kalam had already built a career as an elected politician.
3Wings of Fire, and a Bharat Ratna Five Years Early
Good to Know
- Kalam wrote several books, including his autobiography Wings of Fire, describing his path from a modest background to leading India’s missile programme.
- He became known as the “People’s President”, for his popularity, especially with students, both during and after his term.
4Two Hours in Moscow: The Bihar Assembly Dissolution
Great to Know
- In February 2005, Bihar’s Assembly election produced a hung result — no party could form a stable government. Governor Buta Singh recommended President’s Rule, and later, dissolving the Assembly entirely, before it had even held its first sitting.
- On 22 May 2005, the Cabinet accepted the Governor’s report at a midnight meeting. They faxed it to Kalam, who was on an official tour in Moscow at the time.
- Kalam approved the dissolution within two hours of receiving it. The Bihar Legislative Assembly was dissolved the same day.
The Supreme Court had the final word — and it wasn’t kind to that decision.
- On 24 January 2006, in Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India, a five-judge Constitution Bench ruled the dissolution unconstitutional. The Governor’s claims of horse-trading and instability were speculative, not backed by real evidence.
- The Court did not restore the dissolved Assembly, since fresh elections were already underway and public money had already been spent on them. It was an unconstitutional decision that still wasn’t undone.
- Kalam later said he regretted not scrutinising the Cabinet’s recommendation more closely, and seriously considered resigning over it. He ultimately decided against it, judging that a resignation would create even bigger constitutional problems.
True or False: after ruling the Bihar Assembly’s dissolution unconstitutional, the Supreme Court restored the dissolved Assembly.
Think it through. Kalam approved the dissolution on the Cabinet’s advice, exactly as the Constitution expects a President to do. So why did he feel he’d made a mistake?
Show the explanation
Because “act on ministerial advice” doesn’t mean “approve anything instantly, without question.” The President is still expected to examine what’s being asked, and can seek more information or ask the Cabinet to reconsider, even while ultimately deferring to its judgement. Kalam approved a major, hard-to-reverse decision within two hours, from a different country, without that closer look. When the Supreme Court later found the underlying claims were unsupported, the failure wasn’t that Kalam disobeyed advice. It was that he didn’t test it carefully enough before acting on it. The episode shows that following the Cabinet’s advice and rubber-stamping it without scrutiny are not quite the same thing.
5Two Mercy Petitions in Five Years
Great to Know
- During his full five-year term, Kalam acted on only two mercy petitions from death-row convicts — one rejection, one commutation. Dozens more stayed pending.
- He later said that, as President, deciding these cases caused him real pain, since he felt many carried a “social and economic bias.” He was one of the few public figures to openly support abolishing the death penalty entirely.
Think it through. Kalam personally opposed the death penalty, but he still had the constitutional power to decide these mercy petitions. Why didn’t he just reject all of them, or delay every single one, to match his own views?
Show the explanation
Because the President’s own personal opinion isn’t really the deciding factor here — the office is still meant to act within the law and on ministerial advice, not personal conviction alone. Kalam could feel the process troubled him, and say so publicly after leaving office, without using the Presidency to simply block the law from operating. What he could do, and did, was move slowly and carefully rather than quickly, leaving many petitions pending rather than rushing to decide them. That’s different from personally overriding the system. It shows the same tension the Hindu Code Bill episode raised for Rajendra Prasad: a President’s private views and a President’s constitutional role are not always the same thing, and the office is built to keep them apart.
Kalam died on 27 July 2015, collapsing from cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong. After leaving office, he had continued teaching and lecturing at universities across India.
6In the News: The World Students’ Day Myth
India marks Kalam’s birthday, 15 October, as World Students’ Day every year, with schools and colleges across the country holding events in his memory. It’s a common misconception that the United Nations officially designated this day. The UN’s own Information Centre for India has confirmed it never made such a declaration — 15 October is actually the UN’s International Day of Rural Women.
Quick Q&A
- What was Kalam’s career before becoming President? Decades as an aerospace scientist at DRDO and ISRO — he led India’s SLV-III, Agni, and Prithvi programmes.
- What happened after Kalam approved the Bihar Assembly’s dissolution? The Supreme Court later ruled it unconstitutional, in Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India — but did not restore the Assembly.
- Did Kalam resign over the Bihar decision? No — he considered it, but decided against it, judging that resigning would create bigger constitutional problems.
- Is World Students’ Day a UN-recognised observance? No — that’s a myth; the UN has confirmed it never made that declaration.
MCQ on Test Yourself
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Related reading
- Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — the earlier President whose scientist-to-President path Kalam’s resembles.
- Dr. Rajendra Prasad — another President who tested the limits of ministerial advice.
- Agni Missile Programme — the programme Kalam helped build before the presidency.
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