NEW DELHI, 26 July 2007 — Pratibha Patil was sworn in yesterday as the first woman president of India and promised to fight for the rights of women and an end to the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses.
Pratibha, 72, also said the country’s hundreds of millions of poor should reap the benefit of India’s blistering economic growth of over nine percent.
“India stands at the threshold of a new era of progress, and it should be a combined endeavor. We must ensure that all sections of the society are equal partners in the development process,” she said.
“Our combined endeavor should be to ensure that the rate of economic growth is sustained and it is socially inclusive,” Pratibha said after taking the oath as India’s first woman head of state since independence from the British 60 years ago.
“A developing country of over a billion people should live together and move forward together,” she said as she assumed the largely ceremonial position.
Under India’s constitution, the prime minister wields executive power but the president plays a role in forming governments at state and federal levels, making the post hotly contested in India’s fractured political landscape.
Pratibha was plucked from relative political obscurity by Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of former Premier Rajiv Gandhi and the powerful head of the ruling Congress party.
She was elected by federal and state legislators last week, and replaces missile scientist Abdul Kalam, a 72-year-old respected for his populist style.
But Pratibha endured a bruising campaign, with the opposition accusing her of protecting her brother in a murder probe, shielding her husband in a suicide scandal and involvement in a slew of financial scams. Pratibha, who was governor of the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, denied all wrongdoing, saying the allegations were politically motivated.
In her speech, Pratibha promised to use her influence to focus on India’s stubborn list of social ills.
“We must banish malnutrition, social evils, infant mortality and female feticide,” said Pratibha, who was dressed in a white sari with a green border. “We must fight poverty, ignorance and disease.” India loses an average of 7,000 girls every day through abortions because of a traditional preference for sons, according to a UNICEF report last year. “I am deeply committed to the cause of education... the empowerment of women is particularly important to me,” Pratibha added in the speech to Parliament.
After the ceremony, Pratibha was driven in a black stretch limousine accompanied by horse-mounted bodyguards to the presidential palace, where she was given a 21-gun salute.
Cabinet Approves N-Deal With US
India’s Cabinet yesterday approved a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation accord with Washington, the first in a series of approvals required before the deal can be implemented.
The deal, allowing the United States to sell atomic technology and fuel to India, still requires the nod from India’s Congress-led government’s Communist allies.
The Communists have been bitterly critical of the deal, but their support is needed for it to clear the Indian Parliament.
“All concerns of India have been reflected and have been adequately addressed,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after two Cabinet committees both “approved the agreement.” The accord is aimed at helping India meet its soaring energy demands.
