| 12th President of India | |
|---|---|
| In office 25 July 2007 – 25 July 2012 |
|
| Prime Minister | Dr. Manmohan Singh |
| Vice President | Mohammad Hamid Ansari |
| Preceded by | Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| Succeeded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Governor of Rajasthan | |
| In office 8 November 2004 – 23 June 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Madan Lal Khurana |
| Succeeded by | Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Pratibha Devisingh Patil 19 December 1934 Nadgaon, Bombay Presidency, British India (now in Maharashtra, India) |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Other political affiliations |
United Progressive Alliance |
| Spouse(s) | Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat (1965–present) |
| Alma mater | Pune University University of Mumbai |
| Website | www |
Pratibha Devisingh Patil is the daughter of Narayan Rao Patil. She was born on 19 December 1934 in the village of Nadgaon, in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, India. She was educated initially at R. R. Vidyalaya, Jalgaon, and subsequently was awarded a master’s degree in Political Science and Economics by Mooljee Jetha College, Jalgaon (then under Pune University), and then a Bachelor of Law degree by Government Law College, Mumbai, affiliated to the University of Mumbai. Patil then began to practice law at the Jalgaon District Court, while also taking interest in social issues such as improving the conditions faced by Indian women.
Patil married Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat on 7 July 1965. The couple have a daughter and a son, Raosaheb Shekhawat, who is also a politician
The BBC has described Patil’s political career prior to assuming presidential office as “long and largely low-key”. In 1962, at the age of 27, she was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the Jalgaon constituency. Thereafter she won in the Muktainagar(formerly Edlabad) constituency on four consecutive occasions between 1967 and 1985, before becoming a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha between 1985 and 1990. In the 1991 elections for the 10th Lok Sabha, she was elected as a Member of Parliament representing the Amravati constituency. A period of retirement from politics followed later in that decade.
Patil had held various Cabinet portfolios during her period in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and she had also held official positions while in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. In addition, she had been for some years the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee and also held office as Director of the National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies and as a Member of the Governing Council of the National Co-operative Union of India.
On 8 November 2004 she was appointed as the 24th Governor of Rajasthan, the first woman to hold that office and according to the BBC was “a low-profile” incumbent
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