The Central Hall of the Parliament witnessed a historic event on 25th of July 2007 when Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil took oath as the first woman President of India. Five years later, when she demits office and hands over the baton to Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Smt Patil has wished to be remembered as the President who worked for the welfare of the people.

Women empowerment
Her official functions and ceremonial obligations aside, Smt. Patil stressed on empowerment of women, at every appropriate occasion she got. In her several speeches she remarked ““Men and women are two wheels of a chariot. If one wheel is weak then the chariot finds it difficult to move; so will the family, society and the nation. If the chariot has to move smoothly and progress in the right direction both the wheels have be to equal and should move together in perfect harmony”.

Empowerment of women was a subject very dear to the first woman President of India. As early as in February 2008, the President decided to have detailed discussions on different schemes for gender equality so as to bring about convergence. She emphasized that effective convergence of schemes run by various Ministries and Departments at the grassroots level was the only way to avoid duplication of efforts, and to ensure greater impact on stakeholders.

In keeping with her desire to empower women, the President set up a Committee of Governors to study and recommend strategies for speedy socio-economic development and empowerment of women. This endeavour of the President bore fruit resulting in the creation of the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) on March 8, 2010 by the Government of India, with the Ministry of Women and Child Development as its nodal agency.

The report of the Committee of Governors in February, 2009 also made recommendations for restructuring the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh into a Development Bank to enable it to function as a single window facilitator for Women’s Self Help Groups. The restructuring and expansion of the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh has been taken up by the Government on priority.
President Patil never missed an opportunity to applaud the achievements of girls during her numerous interactions with students over the past five years,. She always took note of the higher number of medal winning girl students, and made it a point to encourage them to attain new heights in their professional career.

Roshni – the Green Initiative
President Patil will also be remembered for conceiving and launching Roshni – the first comprehensive Environment Management Initiative at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Roshni is aimed at making the President’s Estate a green and environment friendly habitat in which good practices of conservation and efficient use of energy are encouraged.

One of the major achievements of Roshni has been setting up of 5 Self Help Groups within the President’s Estate where women are making vermi-compost, organic compost, paper bags and envelopes, masala grinding, etc. These Self Help Groups have not only empowered these women economically but have also enhanced their self esteem. Similarly, setting up of – a crèche, named Sopan for children of casual labourers working in Rashtrapati Bhavan, has enabled these children to get nutritious meals and basic education while their mothers work to earn their livelihood.

Following the launch of Roshni, the President’s Estate became the first Urban Habitat to be awarded the “ISO 14001:2004 Certification”, for its Environment Management System.

Smt Patil attempted to universalize the Roshni model of environment management by prodding the Raj Bhavan’s in state capitals to make similar endeavours. She also a chaired a seminar on “Universalization of Roshni- a Green Innovation for Sustainable Urban Habitat” at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in February 2011. This one day Workshop was aimed at inspiring various gated communities like IIMs, IITs, PSUs, Defence Establishments, etc. to adopt similar environment related projects in their campuses.

People are welcome
Smt.Pratibha Devisingh Patil, will also be remembered for opening up the gardens of the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad to public viewing, on the lines of Mughal Gardens in New Delhi. Similarly, the public got an opportunity to view the traditional Change of Guard Ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan every Satrurday, which has since become a major tourist attraction in the national capital.

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Source: Glimpses of Presidency, Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi

PIB Mumbai /MD/SB