Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Patil (Marathi, born December 19, 1934) is the 12th and current President of India. She is India’s first female president.
She was sworn in as President of India on July 25, 2007 by the Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan. She succeeded Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
She won the presidential election held on July 19, 2007 defeating her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat by over 300000 votes.
A trained lawyer, Patil represented Edlabad constituency in Jalgaon District, Maharashtra as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (1962-1985), and was deputy chairwoman of the Rajya Sabha (1986-1988), Member of Parliament from Amravati in the Lok Sabha (1991-1996), and the 24th, and the first woman Governor of Rajasthan (2004-2007).
She received her M.A. from Mooljee Jaitha (M.J.) College, Jalgaon and obtained a law degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai. She married educator Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat on July 7, 1965. The couple have a son and a daughter.
Pratibha Patil began her political career in 1962 at the age of 27. Under the mentor ship of senior Congress leader and ex-Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan, she became a deputy minister for education after re-election in 1967 (in the Vasantrao Naik ministry).
In her next terms (1972-78) she was a full cabinet minister for the state. In successive congress governments, she handled the portfolios of tourism, social welfare and housing under several chief ministers, Vasantdada Patil, Babasaheb Bhosle, S. B. Chavan and Sharad Pawar.
In 1985, Patil was elected to the Rajya Sabha, and served as its deputy chairwoman from November 1986 to November 1988. Her term expired in April 1990.
In November 2004, eight years after she had completed her term in the loth Lok Sabha, Pratibha Patil was recalled from political hibernation to become the first womanGovernor of Rajasthan.
Pratibha Patil resigned as the Governor of Rajasthan on June 21, 2007, due to her presidential candidacy.
