Even before she could step in to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Pratibha Patil has the new agenda awaiting her for the next five years.
Even before she could step in to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Pratibha Patil has the new agenda awaiting her for the next five years. Being the first woman to get elected as President of India, prominent leaders across the political parties have already set their wish-list for her consideration. Whether it be the issues of skewed sex ratio, increased violence against women across the caste and class or malnutrition of girl child, she is expected to change the face of the woman for better.
Or else how does one explain, when chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh defines her elevation to the highest post as a victory of stree shakti. Even NCP president Sharad Pawar defines her appointment as the President “a big step forward in women empowerment.” Whether it is state Congress chief Prabha Rau or Shiv Sena executive president, Uddhav Thackeray, every one expressed joy about a woman from Maharashtra making it to highest seat of power.
Those acquainted with her area of work admitted that when Patil’s image comes to their mind, women welfare comes naturally. Patil’s close associate and Congress leader Kripa Shankar said, “Madam will have to shoulder the responsibility of the entire nation, cutting across party barriers. Being the first woman president, the country expects her to take some extraordinary decisions on policies related to women in her tenure.”
The long-pending women’s reservation bill obviously comes to the fore. The Bill, promising 33 per cent reservation to women in electoral politics from panchayat to parliament, is awaiting the political consensus since 1996. With a woman President at the helm, women MPs/MLAs and organisations are gearing up to take the matter to its logical end.
According to BJP (MLC) Vinod Tawde, “Women welfare is definitely on the top, but being from Maharashtra we will also like her to take note of important issues related to agriculture and power crisis in the state. Interestingly, both these departments are held by state leaders - Sharad Pawar (union agriculture minister) and Sushilkumar Shinde (union power minister).
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