Pratibha
Patil sworn in as President
The Times of India
- 25 July 2007
NEW
DELHI: Pratibha Patil was on Wednesday sworn in as the country’s first
woman President. She was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice
of India K G Balakrishnan at a function in the Central Hall of Parliament
House in New Delhi.
The
function was attended by a host of VVIPs, including outgoing President
A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker
Somnath Chatterjee, Rajya
Sabha
Deputy Chairman K
Rahman Khan, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers, former prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, opposition leaders, governors, chief
ministers and members of the diplomatic corps.
A 21-gun
salute was accorded to Patil after she was sworn-in as the country’s
13th President. She solemnly affirmed by the oath, which she took in
English.
Shortly
after she took oath as President, Pratibha Patil said she favoured a
sustained economic growth that should be socially inclusive and
called for empowering women.
“Our
combined endeavour should be to ensure that the rate of economic growth
is sustained and it is socially inclusive,” she said in her address
at the Central Hall of Parliament after she was administered the oath
of office by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
She described
herself as the Republic’s first servant and said her sincere
endeavour would be to live up to the high expectations of the people
who chose to elect her as President.
Noting
that India stood at the threshold of a new era of progress and was moving
at an “historically unprecedented” rates of growth. Patil said “it
should be our combined endeavour to sustain this growth and ensure that
it is socially inclusive.”
She said
it should be ensured that every section of the society, particularly
the weak and the disadvantaged are equal partners in an beneficiaries
of the development process.
“We
must also ensure that every region of the country participates in and
benefits from the process of economic growth,” Patil said
First Dalit
CJ to swear in first woman Prez
The Times of India
- 25 Jul 2007 - Dhananjay Mahapatra,
TNN
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Chief
Justice Balakrishnan, who will swear in the first woman President elect
Pratibha Patil on Wednesday (TOI Photo) |
NEW
DELHI: On Wednesday, the country’s pluralism will be on display with
the first woman President in Pratibha Patil taking oath in the presence
of the first Dalit Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan.
And
this rare coincidence happened in a year when Mayawati steered her party,
on her own steam, to a convincing victory in the assembly elections
in India’s largest state to become its Chief Minister. No doubt there
have been Dalit CMs earlier too, but their achievements were dependent
on the discretion of the high commands of different parties.
The
country took 57 years to elect a woman President, who will be the 12th
to occupy the top Constitutional post, and to see a Dalit heading the
judiciary - the 37th CJI.
Though
K R Narayanan was the first Dalit to become President, he was administered the
oath of office by the 27th CJI, J
S Verma. Zakir Hussain, the first Muslim to become President, after
Dr Rajendra Prasad and Dr S Radhakrishnan, was administered the oath
by 10th CJI, K N Wanchoo. Dr B R Ambedkar, a Dalit, had led a team of
experts that framed the Constitution adopted by the country on January
26, 1950, envisaging equal opportunities to all sections of society
without any discrimination on grounds of gender, caste and creed.
With Dalits
already getting the posts of President and CJI, the only other important
post that has still remained out of reach for them is that of Prime
Minister. Popular Dalit leader from Sasaram, Jagjivan Ram, had almost
come within striking distance during the post-Emergency era.
The author
of the Janata Dal victory in 1977, Jaiprakash Narayan, had wanted Ram
to head the government for he had made a mark as an able administrator
during his stints as Agriculture and Defence Minister. Had JP stuck
to his line, the country would have had its first Dalit PM three decades
ago.
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