Unfortunately in India the nomination of Presidential candidate has mostly been done on other criterion rather than purely on merit, with possible exception of Kalam Sir in recent past. There is two way of looking at it - either the chair gives you identity or you give the identity and dignity to the chair. Kalam Sir was one of those who added to the dignity of the chair. As such the role & power of president is very limited as per Indian constitution. Though President is the highest constitutional authority, however most of his powers are subservient to the parliament or cabinet approval.
The President of India is the ceremonial head of the state of India and the commander in chief of the Indian Armed Forces. He is head of the state but not the head of the government.
Under the draft constitution the President occupies the same position as the King under the English Constitution. He is the head of the state but not of the Executive. He represents the Nation but does not rule the Nation. He is the symbol of the Nation. His place in the administration is that of a ceremonial device on a seal by which the nation's decisions are made known.
— Bhimrao Ambedkar, chairperson of the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembely of India
Although the Article 53 of the Constitution of India states that the president can exercise his powers directly or by subordinate authority mostly the Prime Minister of India. With few exceptions, all of the executive powers vested in the president are, in practice, exercised by the prime minister (a subordinate authority) with the help of the council of ministers. The president is bound by the constitution to act on the advice of the prime minister and cabinet as long as the advice is not violating the constitution. He can do nothing contrary to their advice nor can do anything without their advice. The President of the Indian Union has no power to do so long as his Ministers command a majority in parliament.
However Indian constitution does not provide any time limit within which the president is to declare his assent or refusal, the president could exercise a "pocket veto" by not taking any action for an indefinite time.
Article 74- There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advises. (The bolded text was added in by the Forty Second Amendment of thy Constitution and came into effect on 3 January 1977. The 44th Amendment (1978) however added that the President can send the advice back for reconsideration once. But if the Council of Ministers sends the same advice again to the President then the President must accept it.
Even though limited, It entirely depends on the President to exercise his power or not. In recent time the timing of few decision by the President of India were found to compromise made on the dignity of the chair.
In the context of the Hindu Code Bill, President Rajendra Prasad contended that he could withhold assent from Bills that did not meet with his approval. But Attorney General Motilal Setalvad advised Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that “by Article 74(1) the President is required to Act in all matters with the aid and advice of his Council of Ministers.” The first President of India shook his head and grumbled (as he gave in) saying: “this is not the way we framed the Constitution.” But twenty-five years later, during the Internal Emergency of June 1975, the language of Article 74(1) was altered and made even more absolute.
There was a debate on whether the President should act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers. The Supreme Court and Pt. Nehru were in support. On the other hand, those who opposed were Dr. Rajendra Prasad, K.N.Munshi, Justice P.B. Mukherjee of Calcutta High Court and Chief Justice K. SubbaRao. But finally, in 1976, it was decided that the President has to act in accordance with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
But then, in the euphoric post-Emergency period when the Janata Government was in power, Parliament inserted a proviso to Article 74(1) which read, “provided that the President may require the Council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, either generally or otherwise and the President shall act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration.”
PREZ PRESSURE
1951: President Rajendra Prasad opposed the Nehru Government'as Hindu Code Bill. When Nehru expressed surprise, Prasad threatened to refer the matter to the Supreme Court.
1962: In the wake of the India-China war, President S. Radhakrishnan ensured that defence minister Krishna Menon was removed from the Cabinet despite Nehru's protests.
1987: Giani Zail Singh returned the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill for reconsideration. Rajiv Gandhi eventually stopped calling on the President.
1998: K.R. Narayanan sent back the I.K. Gujral Government's proposal to impose President's rule in Uttar Pradesh.
2006: On May 30, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam showed that he too was not a rubber stamp-like Constitutional head by refusing to approve the office-of-profit Bill.
However thereafter we have seen successive government at Delhi has been very cautions in recommending presidential nominations.
The roles of President of India are very well defined and well guided for the President to act in accordance. The lime is very clearly defined. Generally speaking the President of India address the nation directly only on two occasion in a year, that is on 25th January & 14th August. All other address to the nation is made by the Prime Minister of India. During this COVID-19 crisis all the address to nation are being done by the Prime Minister only at the national level.
We have seen Apr 5, 2020 - London Britain's Queen Elizabeth II addressed the nation on 5th April 2020 in a rare televised speech and called for unity amid the corona virus. I believe if the President of India also wants to make an address to the nation, there shouldn’t be any technical problem.
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