Pratibha Patil

Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician who served as the 12th

President of India from 2007 to 2012; she was the first woman to hold the office. She was sworn in

as President on 25 July 2007, succeeding Abdul Kalam, after defeating her rival Bhairon Singh

Shekhawat. She retired from the office in July 2012. She was succeeded as President by Pranab

Mukherjee.

Career

She started her career as a practicing lawyer at Jalgaon District Court. At the age of 27 years, she

was elected to the Maharashtra State Legislature from Jalgaon Assembly Constituency. For four

consecutive years, she was elected as the MLA from the Edlabad (Muktai Nagar) Constituency. She

has held various positions in the Government as well as in the Legislative Assembly of

Maharashtra. From 1967 to 1972, she served as the Deputy Minister of education and has held

several other ministerial portfolios- from Public Health to Tourism to Parliamentary Affairs and

more. Smt. Pratibha Patil worked as the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of

Maharashtra. Apart from that, she has served as the Chairperson of Committee of Privileges and the

Member of Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha. Smt. Pratibha Patil became the Governor

of Rajasthan on 8 November 2004 and remained in the position until June 2007. On 25 July 2007,

she was sworn in as the 12th President of India. She won the Presidential Elections after defeating

her competitor Bhairon Singh Shekhawat by more than 300,000 votes.

Besides her achievements in politics, she has been connected with various organizations and was

the Chairperson of Maharashtra State Water Pollution Control Board from 1982 to 1985. From 1988

to 1990, she served as the President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). Apart

from being on the position of Director and Vice-Chairperson of National Federation of Urban

Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies, Smt. Pratibha Patil also worked as the Member of

Governing Council of National Cooperative Union of India and the Chairperson of 20-Point

Program Implementation Committee, Government of Maharashtra. Besides this, she has also

attended the International Council on Social Welfare Conferences at Nairobi and at Puerto Rico. In

1985, Smt. Patil was appointed as a Member of the AICC (I) Delegation to Bulgaria and in 1988,

she became the Member of Commonwealth Presiding Officers Conference in London. She also led

the Indian delegation to the Conference on the 'Status of Women', which was organized in Austria,

and in September 1995, she was chosen as the representative at the World Women's Conference,

Beijing, China.