On December 19, 1934, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil was born in the Maharashtran village of Nadgaon, in the Jalgaon District.
On July 25, 2007, Smt. Patil became the 12th President of India. She was the first female chosen to this prestigious position.
Prior to her election as India’s president, Smt. Patil served as Rajasthan’s governor from November 8, 2004, until June 21, 2007.
Pratibha Patil Biography
| Full Name | Pratibha Devi Singh Patil |
| Birth | 19 December 1934 |
| Birth place | Nandgaon, Bombay Presidency, British India |
| Profession | Politician (Former President) |
| Party | Indian National Congress |
| Amount | sagittarius |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Caste | Vaishya |
| Religion | hindu |
| Address | Raigad Bungalow, CID Office, Pashan Road, Pune |
| Initial qualification | Bachelor of Laws Post Graduate in Political Science and Economics |
| School | R.R. School, Jalgaon (Maharashtra) |
| College | Mulji Bhutan University (Maharashtra) Revanth Law University (Mumbai) |
| Maini | 5 feet 3 inches |
| Eye color | Black |
| Hair color | Black |
| Award | The Republic of the Aztec Eagle |
Family
| Father’s name | Narayan Rao Patil |
| Mother’s name | Don’t know |
| Brother | G N Patil |
| Husband | Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat |
| Saint | Rajendra Shekhawat (Daughter), Jyoti Restaurant (Daughter) |
| Wedding date | 7 July 1965 |
Childhood & Early Life
- Born on December 19, 1934, in Nadgaon, a small village in Jalgaon district, Maharashtra, India, Pratibha Patil is the daughter of Narayan Rao Patil and the sister of G. N. Patil.
- She received her initial education at R. R. Vidyalaya, Jalgaon, and later enrolled at the Mooljee Jetha College, which was then under Pune University, to study Political Science and Economics. After being awarded a master’s degree in the subjects, she attended Government Law College, Mumbai, affiliated to the University of Mumbai, and got a Bachelor of Law degree.
- She was equally active in sports throughout her student life. She played table tennis, even winning several shields at numerous inter-collegiate tournaments.
Professional Career
Smt. Patil began her legal career in the Jalgaon District Court while also dedicating her time to a number of social causes, particularly those that would help impoverished women.
Political Career
At the young age of 27 years, she successfully contested her first election to the Maharashtra State Legislature from the Jalgaon Assembly constituency. Subsequently she was continuously elected four times as MLA from the Edlabad (Muktai Nagar) constituency till 1985. Thereafter, she served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1990 and later got elected as a Member of Parliament to the 10th Lok Sabha in the 1991 General Elections from the Amravati constituency. She enjoys the unique distinction of not having lost a single election that she contested till date.
Political Timeline of Pratibha Patil
| 2007 – 2012 | Pratibha Patil was the 12th President of India. |
| 2004 – 2007 | She became the 17th Governor of Rajasthan |
| 1991 – 1996 | Subsequently, she served as the Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha. |
| 1986 – 1988 | Patil was the ninth Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. |
| 1985–1990 | Later she elected as the Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. |
| 1962–1985 | Pratibha Patil was the Member of the Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra. |
Administrative Career
Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil has held various positions both in the Government and in the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra during in her long stint in Maharashtra politics.
| 1962-1967 | Youngest Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Member at 27 |
| 1967-1972 | Deputy Minister, Govt. of Maharashtra (GoM) Housing, Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs |
| 1972-1974 | Cabinet Minister, GoM – Social Welfare |
| 1974-1975 | Cabinet Minister, GoM – Social Welfare & Public Health |
| 1975-1976 | Cabinet Minister, GoM – Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs |
| 1977-1978 | Cabinet Minister, GoM – Education |
| 1979-1980 | Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly |
| 1982-1983 | Cabinet Minister, GoM – Urban Development and Housing |
| 1983 – 1985 | Cabinet Minister, GoM – Social Welfare and Civil Supplies |
Union Parliament Career
After a fruitful career at the Maharashtra State level, Mrs. Patil move to the Union Parliament and was members of the both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. She held various positions at the parliamentary level as mentioned below and also served as the Chairperson, Rajya Sabha from 25.7.1987 to 2.9.1987 when Dr. R. Venkataraman got elected as President of India.
| 1985 – 1990 | MP, Rajya Sabha |
| 1986 – 1988 | Chairperson, Committee of Privileges, Rajya Sabha |
| 1986 – 1988 | Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha |
| 1991 – 1996 | MP, Lok Sabha |
| 1991 – 1996 | Chairperson, House Committee, Lok Sabha |
Public Life
Throughout her extensive career in the public eye, she has held various positions of affiliation with multiple organizations. From 1982 to 1985, she presided over the Maharashtra State Water Pollution Control Board. From 1988 to 1990, she served as the President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). In addition to her roles as Vice-Chairperson and Director of the National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies, she was also a member of the National Cooperative Union of India’s Governing Council and the Chair of the Maharashtra government’s 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee.
India has been represented by Smt. Patil in a number of international forums. She went to the conferences held by the International Council on Social Welfare in Puerto Rico and Nairobi. She represented the Commonwealth Presiding Officers Conference in London in 1988 and was a member of the AICC(I) team that visited Bulgaria in 1985. She was a delegate at the World Women’s Conference in Beijing, China in September 1995, and she headed the Indian delegation to the Conference on the “Status of Women” in Austria.
Family Life
The spouse of Smt. Patil is Dr. Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat. Dr. Shekhawat graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Haffkine Institute in Mumbai. He was a social worker and an educationist before becoming the first Mayor of the Amravati Municipal Corporation. He has also served as the MLA for the Amravati seat. Her two children are Shri Rajendra Singh, a son, and Smt. Jyoti Rathore, a daughter.
Presidential Election & Tenure
- While Pratibha Patil was not the first candidate proposed by Congress, the left-wing UPA parties were not fond of the party’s first choices, former Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Karan Singh. Despite Patil’s declaration that she would not accept to be a “rubber-stamp president”, Congresswoman Sonia Gandhi personally selected her.
- In the weeks preceding the election, Patil was embroiled in a number of scandals, including allegations that she had protected her brother and husband from prosecution in relation to the unrelated murders of English professor Vishram Patil and teacher Kisan Dhage. A few of her detractors noted that she lacked the requisite charm, background, and skill. They concluded that she was unsuited for the position due to her lengthy absence from politics and her superstitious views.
- The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) chose BJP veteran and incumbent vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to challenge her. In the election conducted on July 19, 2007, she accumulated two-thirds of the total votes and took oath as the President of the Republic of India on 25 July. Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister throughout her tenure.
- Patil kindled even more controversies after the election. She is infamous for going on more foreign trips than any other president and allegedly took money from public funds to build herself a retirement mansion. She was also made to return the gifts that she had received in her role and had taken home after her retirement on July 25, 2012.
- However, she made the full use of the limited power allocated to her position by the Indian constitution. She commuted a record 35 petitioners’ death sentences to life imprisonment, gave her full and unconditional support in abolishing abhorrent practices such as child marriage, addiction, and social suppression of women, and quietly used the power of her office to bring the agrarian crisis that was plaguing the Indian countryside into attention.
Business Ventures & Social Works
- Over the years, Pratibha Patil has made various investments in the education sector. She established Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, which is an educational institute that owns a chain of schools and colleges in Amravati, Jalgaon, Pune, and Mumbai, and an engineering college in Jalgaon for the students from the countryside.
- She has also invested in setting up Shram Sadhana Trust, which oversees several hostels in New Delhi catering to working women; Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, a Muktainagar-based cooperative sugar factory; and Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, a cooperative bank whose license was cancelled by the Reserve Bank of India in February 2003.
Awards & Achievements
- Pratibha Patil was the recipient of The Chosen Ones Award at the 2010 Glamour Women of the Year Awards.
Marriage
On July 7, 1965, Pratibha Patil was married to Devsingh Ransingh Shekhawat. And they have two children, son’s name is Rajdebar Shekhawat and daughter’s name is Jyoti Thakur.
Controversy Related to Talent
Pratibha Devi Singh Patel attended a meeting in Rajasthan to discuss safeguarding women against the Mughals. She proposed that the state institute the purdah system to ensure women’s safety. There was a disagreement over this, and the opinions stated in it ranged from Pratibha Patil having no information at all to none at all. And in opposition to this, leaders of certain ideologies such as the Muslim League issued a declaration. The Samajwadi Party claimed that it is an anti-Hindu Muslim sect and vehemently disagreed with it.
Once Pratibha had given an alleged dialogue about the soul of her Guru in the meeting of a religious organization, due to which a controversy had arisen for the second time. Her husband Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat was also accused of hiring another researcher to murder her.
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