Pratibha Patil

Patil was born on 19 December 1934 in Nadgaon village in Jalgaon district, Maharashtra. According to the President’s Secretariat, she received her early education at R. R. Vidyalaya in Jalgaon and then took a Master’s degree in Political Science and Economics at Mooljee Jetha College in Jalgaon. She later obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Government Law College, Bombay. As a student she took part in sport and won several shields in inter-collegiate table tennis tournaments. She continued her law studies while serving as a member of the legislative assembly.

Patil began her professional career as a lawyer at the Jalgaon District Court and was active in social work, especially for poor women. At the age of 27 she won her first election to the Maharashtra legislature from the Jalgaon constituency and was later elected four times from Edlabad, also known as Muktai Nagar, until 1985. In the Maharashtra government she was Deputy Minister for several departments from 1967 to 1972 and then held cabinet portfolios including social welfare, public health, education, and urban development and housing between 1972 and 1985. She was Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly from July 1979 to February 1980.

Patil served in the Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1990 and was its Deputy Chairperson from 1986 to 1988. She chaired the Rajya Sabha from 25 July 1987 to 2 September 1987, in the interval before the new Vice-President took over after R. Venkataraman was elected President. She was President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee from 1988 to 1990. In 1991 she was elected to the tenth Lok Sabha from Amravati. The President’s Secretariat states that she had not lost any election she contested up to the time of its profile.

Patil was Governor of Rajasthan from 8 November 2004 to 21 June 2007. She took office as the twelfth President of India on 25 July 2007 and served until 25 July 2012. The President’s Secretariat records her as the first woman elected to the office.

The President’s Secretariat lists several institutions that Patil set up, including hostels for working women in Mumbai and Delhi, an engineering college at Jalgaon, the Shram Sadhana Trust, an industrial training school for the visually handicapped in Jalgaon, schools for children of nomadic tribes and backward classes in Amravati district, and a Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Amravati. She was also involved in setting up the Mahila Vikas Mahamandal, a Maharashtra government undertaking for women’s development. She represented India at international conferences on social welfare and women, including the World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995.