Date:26/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/26/stories/2007072662250100.htm

Front Page

Pratibha Patil sworn in President

Special Correspondent

I will endeavour to live up to the high expectations from this office, she says

— Photo: S. Subramanium

CHANGE OF GUARD: President Pratibha Patil and her predecessor, Abdul Kalam, arrive at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: Pratibha Devisingh Patil became the first woman President of the country when she was administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan in the Central Hall of Parliament at 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The outgoing President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam changed seats with her immediately after she signed the register to assume charge, even as a 21-gun salute boomed outside.

Earlier, Mr. Kalam and Ms. Patil entered the Central Hall in procession, accompanied by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan. The hall reverberated with notes of the national anthem as the procession reached the podium.

Ms. Patil sat next to Mr. Kalam. Mr. Chatterjee and Mr. Rahman sat next to them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, National Democratic Alliance leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, Ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers and members of Parliament were seated in the hall. Foreign diplomats watched the proceedings from a gallery.

Also present was Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who recently resigned as Vice-President after losing to Ms. Patil in a bitterly-contested poll.

In her first speech as President, Ms. Patil said: “I stand here as the republic’s first servant, and I will endeavour to live up to the high expectations from this office to serve the best interests of the people.” Thanking all legislators for electing her, she said she was aware that the office carried great responsibility.

Speaking first in English and then in Hindi, Ms. Patil said she was inspired by all those who participated in the freedom struggle, which was unique in that men and women played an equal part. She said she firmly believed that empowerment of women would lead to empowerment of the nation.

“India is an ancient civilisation, but a young nation. We look back to the past with pride,” she added, pointing out that the United Nations dedicated October 2, birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as the international day of non-violence.

She mentioned the advice offered by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar that the country must hold fast to constitutional methods, and said India had shown that a developing country of one billion people could live harmoniously and move forward in a secular democracy.

Now India was going through a period of historically unprecedented growth. All sections must be equal partners and derive benefits from this. She was committed to working for the benefit of all citizens, especially to remove malnutrition and illiteracy and eradicate female foeticide.

Quoting Marathi poet Sant Tukaram and Rabindranath Tagore, Ms. Patil said: “All of us should re-dedicate ourselves to work for the betterment of the lives of the poor for a future in which every Indian will hold his head high.”