[5] His parents hailed from Chintalapudi village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and shifted to Berhampur for their bright future.

His father, V. V. Jogayya Pantulu, was a successful lawyer and political activist of the Indian National Congress who had been working at Berhampur.

[citation needed] During the First World War, Giri travelled from Dublin to London and met Mahatma Gandhi.

The pamphlet was intercepted by Indian Political Intelligence and resulted in increased police scrutiny of Giri and his fellow students in Dublin.

[13] He was suspected of association with prominent ring leaders in the 1916 Rising including James Connolly, Pádraig H. Pearse and the young Éamon de Valera.

[13] Indian students were subjected to police raids following the 1916 Rising and Giri recounts how he was served with one month's notice to leave Ireland on 1 June 1916.

[18] He also became a member of the Congress party, attended its Lucknow session and joined the Home Rule Movement of Annie Besant.

[19] Giri abandoned a flourishing legal career in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for a Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920.

[21] Giri was a founding member of the All India Railwaymen's Federation which was formed in 1923 and served as its general secretary for over a decade.

The strike succeeded in forcing the British Indian government and the management of the railway company to concede the workers' demands and is regarded as a milestone in the labour movement in India.

[21] Giri worked towards getting the trade unions to support the freedom movement in India and was twice president of the AITUC which was closely allied with the Indian National Congress.

In 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest against the British decision to make India a party in the Second World War.

[30] In the General Elections of 1946, Giri was reelected to the Madras Legislative Assembly and became a minister again in charge of the labour portfolio under T.

[60] Immediately before resigning, Giri, in his capacity as acting president, promulgated an ordinance that nationalised 14 banks and insurance companies.

[64] The All India Congress Committee decided to support Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as the presidential candidate, disregarding the Prime Minister's opposition.

[62] As president, Giri unquestioningly accepted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to sack the Charan Singh ministry in Uttar Pradesh and advised her to go in for early elections in 1971.

[72] The ordinance abolishing privy purses and privileges of the erstwhile rulers of India's princely states was promulgated by Giri after the government's original amendment was defeated in the Rajya Sabha.

[73] His advice to Prime Minister Gandhi against the appointment of A. N. Ray as the Chief Justice of India superseding three judges senior to him was ignored by her as was his warning that a crackdown on striking railwaymen would only exacerbate the situation.

[74][75] As president, Giri made 14 state visits to 22 countries in south and southeast Asia, Europe and Africa.

[82] Giri was honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1975 for his contributions in the area of public affairs.

[85] Giri was in turn conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1975 on the recommendation of Prime Minister Gandhi, in an act seen as a quid pro quo measure.

Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Husain, V. V. Giri, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee).

[91] Rajya Sabha, of which Giri had been ex-officio chairman as Vice President of India, adjourned for two days as a mark of respect to him.

Giri's hometown of Berhampur in Odisha has a major road, a secondary training school and a big market that are named after him.