Taking a broad view of how humanity had performed in the 20th century,  The past century with despair. The century of wars, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, depressions, the scourge of AIDS, environmental degradation, and other forms of exploitation was savage enough. Yet, in the midst of the misery, principally of Western making, one country stands out. And that country is India. For India, if the struggle for freedom was the primary theme of the first part of the century, the struggle to establish and maintain the largest democracy in the world was the main theme of the second part. What Europe aspires to achieve today in the form of the European Union has already been achieved by the Indian Union.

Added to the achievement of freedom, democracy and unity, India has a good reason to celebrate the emergence of Gandhi who has a valid claim to be considered the man of the past century, if not of the millennium. There were others, like Tagore and Vivekananda, whose voices claimed the attention of the world. Their voices have abiding lessons for India and the rest of the world. Martin Luther King III, the son of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote movingly some time ago that he had come to realize the importance of Gandhi’s teachings and the effect it had on his father and ultimately on his nation.

It is possible, indeed, to claim that the 20th century was the Indian century. But it is wise not to be swept off one’s feet by this grandeur. It is the irony of Indian history that the reality of this society appears fractured on all the points noted above. Independence did not come to the subcontinent without Partition. The Indian holocaust caused suffering to millions of people. Indian democracy is not free of perversions where those who are supposed to uphold it make a mockery of it. Indian unity is precarious. There is hardly any solidarity that is visible among egoists, caught up in petty feuds and petty victories and petty defeats.

We should not lose sight of the recent past. All those Indians who have travelled abroad during the last ten years cannot but fail to notice the change that has come about in the external perception of India during this time. India is no longer seen as a country of snake-charmers, sadhus and squatters. It is being increasingly recognized as a rising society with industrial might and intellectual power. This respect is not unearned. The new breed of entrepreneurs, such as N.R. Narayana Murthy, and Indian intellectuals, most visibly Amartya Sen, do their country proud. It is possible that India might turn the new century into the Indian century. Will that happen?

There are crippling problems that have to be overcome. The poverty, illiteracy and poor health of the Indian masses are not only a matter of humanitarian concern in themselves but also a concern for the further development of this country. Moreover, poor infrastructure, poor work culture and archaic rules do not promote development as is evident in a state like West Bengal. More serious than these concerns is the invisible problem of mentality. A case can be made, going back to Schumpeter, that what works in the situation of slow change may not work in the process of rapid change. This critical point has not been understood well. Thus, if H.D. Deve Gowda feels, as was evident in the controversy on the development of Bangalore, that protecting his electoral turf is important and delays are a way of life, and Narayana Murthy’s way of calculating delays operates along a different clock, more in tune with global reality, then we have a classical case of the mentality of slow change or no change proving disruptive with respect to rapid change.

There are many such disturbing acts that signal different mentalities. A case in point is the manner in which the discussion about the choice for the highest positions in the land has been carried out. It has been old business as usual of electoral calculations and petty gains. Was any thought spared for the image of the country in a situation where India is being more and more noticed as a world power? Was it considered that India needed a president and a vice-president who could, by their personalities, proudly represent the nation abroad, while upholding the integrity of their offices internally? A very parochial inward view was taken, even by the Left parties. This is sad. The Constitution of India does not impose restrictive conditions for the election of president or vice-president, except in general terms. The normal expectation is that persons considered for such positions should be persons of eminence and of proven integrity in public life.

All of us can have a wish-list for these positions. My own wish-list included A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as president, and in the event of his not willing to go in for the second term, the combination of Karan Singh as president and the person who does Bengal proud as its governor, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, as vice-president. All of them are persons of integrity who have thinking minds. They can hold their own in any company in India or abroad.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has done us proud. He is a man who has shown vision and care for the future of this country. There was no reason why he should not have been requested to serve another term. If it was important to have a new person, it was sad the manner in which Karan Singh was overlooked. Not many persons in this country can represent the high standards set by Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain better than Karan Singh. Any person who has heard him or read his writings knows the breath of vision that he brings to his understanding of the world. As far as his secular credentials are concerned, he is secular in the sense in which Vivekananda was secular. Vivekananda was steeped in the religion of his birth, fully appreciated its best elements and universal promise, and yet was critical of its failings.

Karan Singh has been active in the international arena in promoting inter-faith harmony. His vision of India and the world is best expressed by his concern to find that light within all of us which will lead us inwardly to an enlightened existence and outwardly towards peace, harmony and global consciousness. This is the best message that India can give to the world, a message that is needed in these troubled times. This is the message that Gandhi, Tagore, and Vivekananda tried to give to the world in their own ways.

Gopal Krishna Gandhi deserves to be noted not just as the youngest grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He has already found fond acceptance among the people of this state as a person with a head, heart and integrity. He came to the state as the governor with a distinguished career behind him. A governor who thinks nothing of sitting in a classroom along with normal students just because the teacher happens to teach a subject in which he is interested is no ordinary person. Like Karan Singh, he is an accomplished speaker.

India is a vast land, which has crossed the one-billion mark in population. It is a gifted land where talent exists among the poor and the uneducated no less than among those who are more privileged. Surely, there are persons who deserve to hold the highest positions as much, if not more, than Karan Singh and Gopal Krishna Gandhi. Sadly, political considerations prevailed in the choice of persons. It does not prove our secular credentials if all the three candidates proposed for the position of vice-president are Muslims. On the contrary, it shows, in a distasteful manner, how a secular image is pursued with calculation by those in a position to decide.

Was it too much to expect that national interests would be considered more important than these petty political considerations? History has its own way of forming judgments. If Jawaharlal Nehru gave us Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as president, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have shown their own stature by giving us Zail Singh and Pratibha Patil.

As the US debates its readiness to accept a woman such as Hillary Clinton as president, India has already done so, with the election of Pratibha Patil. Although in India the presidency is primarily a ceremonial post that carries less weight than that of prime minister (the position once held by Indira Gandhi), it is symbolically significant. Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the ruling Congress Party, who pushed hard to promote Patil’s candidacy primarily on gender grounds, calls this election “a special moment for women across the country.”

Moreover, India can claim a great deal of pride in the fact that the last two presidents were from minority populations — one from the lowest of castes (Harijan, formerly referred to as “untouchables”) and another one from the Muslim community.

As a daughter of a woman who fought for women’s rights during the independence movement and was instrumental in starting one of the first women’s institutions in India, I should feel a genuine sense of pride in the election of Patil.

Both of India’s last two presidents had distinguished themselves in professional careers before being elected — one in the Foreign Service and the other in nuclear physics — and their reputations were above reproach. Patil, on the other hand, is a controversial figure, with questionable qualifications. Most of India’s major news outlets highlighted in their coverage of the story charges of corruption and ineptitude. One well-respected publication even called Patil’s selection “embarrassing.”

Women hear over and over that we have to be twice as good as men to be perceived as successful, deserving leaders. Even if we disregard some of the accusations against Patil as baseless, it is hard to imagine a less powerful candidate for the highest ceremonial post in the largest democracy in the world.

All the same, I applaud Sonia Gandhi for her commitment to appointing a woman to this important position. In a country full of contradictory attitudes toward women — ranging from the worship of the powerful goddess Durga to the killing of innocent young brides — such gestures can be very powerful.

But gestures cannot be a substitute for real action, or for the hard work that is necessary to empower all Indian women. Indeed, one could argue that such symbolic acts may even create a blind euphoria that obscures the fact that, as a result of less education and lower pay, young females in India continue to have far fewer resources than their male counterparts.

While the Indian president may be only a ceremonial head of state, during periods of political instability — especially in the age of coalition governments — it is the president who makes crucial decisions about governing parties. Many past presidents have also used the position to throw their intellectual weight behind such important issues as education and India’s cultural diversity.

So President Patil has large shoes to fill. One can only hope she will prove her critics wrong. For those women in India who have proven themselves to be effective leaders, it would be wonderful if she can demonstrate early on that she has the intellectual and professional gravitas that befits the position.

Pratibha Patil has become the country’s first woman President. She was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan at a function in the Central Hall of Parliament House on Wednesday.

Pratibha Patil was today sworn in as the country’s first woman President.

She was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan at a function in the Central Hall of Parliament House here.

The function was attended by a host of VVIPs, including outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, opposition leaders, governors, chief ministers and members of the diplomatic corps.

A 21-gun salute was accorded to Patil after she was sworn-in as the country’s 12th President.

She solemnly affirmed by the oath, which she took in English.

Patil’s family members and kin were also present in the Central Hall of Parliament House.

In her address shortly after taking oath as President, Patil described herself as the republic’s “first servant” and said her sincere endeavour would be to live up to the high expectations of the people who elected her to the top post.

She was given a “national salute” by the President’s Bodyguards.
Earlier, setting in motion a series of ceremonial drills before the swearing-in ceremony, the Military Secretary to the President, Maj Gen Vinod Chopra, went to Patil’s 9 South Avenue residence and invited her and her husband to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

After the Presidential Bodyguards gave a national salute to Kalam, the outgoing President accompanied Patil to Parliament House, led by the horse-mounted bodyguards.

They were received at the gate by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.
The new President made her first appearance in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the Military Secretary introduced her to Defence Minister A K Antony and the three services chiefs.

She then inspected an inter-services guard of honour before she going into the study of the Presidential Palace.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who resigned as Vice President after his defeat by Patil in the presidential election, and leaders of the opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — L K Advani and Jaswant Singh respectively — too attended the swearing-in ceremony

Recognising his strong commitment to the country’s defence programme and his vision of making India a developed nation by 2020, members of Parliament on Monday gave President A P J Abdul Kalam a warm send-off at the end of his five-year term.

“The story of your journey from a tiny hamlet in Rameshwaram to Rashtrapati Bhavan is indeed inspiring,” Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said, reading out from the farewell address.

Indifferent of each others’ political differences, the MPs came together in the Central Hall of Parliament to bid farwell to one of the most remarkable occupants of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Among those present were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of Opposition L K Advani.

“The will to strive for excellence in whatever you do has been a defining feature of your multi-faceted personality,” the MPs said. They pointed to the outgoing President’s “innate simplicity and humility” and said such aspects of his personality had “lent grace and lustre to the august office”.

Acknowledging Kalam’s contributions as a scientist, they said, “Your conviction that our scientific community has the intrinsic potential to lead the nation into the third millenium will be a beacon to all those working in cutting edge technologies today.”

Responding to the MPs’ appreciation of his many roles, Kalam urged them to adopt a resolution for Vision 2020. “Adopt a resolution that India will be transformed into a safe, prosperous, happy and socio-economically developed nation before the year 2020 using National Prosperity Index as a measure,” he said. At the moment of leave taking, Kalam once again revisited his theory of providing urban amenities to rural areas (Pura) and reminded his audience that this could be the key route to turning India into a developed nation.

He called for seizing “opportunities for innovation in every aspect of governance and legislative actions”.
Taking note of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s resignation in the wake of his defeat in the bitterly fought presidential election — the V-P was substituted by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan at the function — Kalam paid tributes to Shekhawat.

He called Shekhawat “a remarkable person with a wide canvass of experience”, and pointed out that he had “received general appreciation from all for the way he conducted the Rajya Sabha”.
Kalam also held out good wishes to his successor. “I congratulate President-elect Pratibha Patil on this historic occasion and wish her all the best in her mission,” he said.

UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil on Saturday won the Presidential election by a huge three lakh margin defeating NDA-backed independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to become the first woman Head of State in a bitterly-contested poll that saw some cross voting from BJP.

In the final count, Patil got a vote value of 6,38,116 while Shekhawat secured 3,31,306 in an electoral college of 10.98 lakh.The winner got 65.82 per cent of the valid votes, Lok Sabha Secretary General and returning officer P D T Achary said at the end of counting of votes that lasted for over six hours declaring Patil elected.

In Parliament, she got 442 votes against 232 of Shekhawat. In states and union territories put together, the winning candidate bagged 2,489 votes against the loser’s 1,217.

Dashing all hopes of the BJP-led alliance for a conscience vote in favour of Shekhawat, the 72-year old former Governor of Rajasthan significantly picked up votes of the value of over 10,000 more than expected helped by cross voting in BJP-ruled Gujarat and Chhatisgarh.

In the other saffron-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh, Shekhawat did not poll even the expected votes with 11 declared invalid because of writings like ‘Om’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’, apparently indicating rebellion in the BJP voters.

A beaming Patil thanked the people for her success which she said was a “victory of the principles which our Indian people uphold”.

India holds an election for a new president on Thursday. Here are some key facts about the office.

* The president is elected to a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of members of both the houses of parliament and the state legislative assemblies. The winner of Thursday’s vote will be announced on Saturday.

* The presidency, the titular head of state, is essentially a ceremonial power. Executive power in India is exercised by the prime minister and the cabinet.

* The president does have some discretionary powers in the appointment of the government, especially when no party wins a majority in parliamentary elections. He or she can invite the political alliance most likely to provide a stable government in the case of a hung parliament.

* The president can also send back some parliamentary bills for reconsideration. But the president cannot return the bill if parliament sends it for his assent for a second time.

* Incumbent A P J Abdul Kalam in 2006 returned for reconsideration a bill to prevent the disqualification of members of parliament holding “offices of profit”. He signed it into law after parliament passed the bill again without changes.

India is set to elect its first female president Thursday in an election that has seen more controversy and mudslinging than any recent contests.

Pratibha Patil, governor of the northwestern state of Rajasthan, is the candidate of the ruling Congress party and its allies, but her nomination has surprised many political observers because she lacks national stature and has been dogged by embarrassing scandals.

Analysts say Patil’s main qualification for the presidency is her unswerving devotion to Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, and Gandhi’s powerful family, which has historically controlled the party.

“Loyalty seems to have been the major criterion here,” said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan.

Patil, 72, is pitted against Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, 84, the candidate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the serving vice president.

But the election is a mere formality.

The president is elected by lawmakers in the Indian parliament and members of state legislatures. The Congress party and its allies have enough lawmakers and state legislators to get their candidate elected.

The position of the Indian president is largely ceremonial, but it’s vested with powers that can be significant in times of political crisis. The president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces.

Patil’s election campaign has seen an unprecedented level of personal attacks.

She was called “a person unfit to occupy the highest constitutional office” by L.K. Advani, a senior leader of the BJP, in a statement addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Her critics pounced after a court in Maharashtra state decided to hear a case linking her husband, Devisinh Shekhawat, to the suicide of a schoolteacher seven years ago, and after her brother was linked to a murder.

The opposition, led by the Hindu-nationalist BJP, also alleged a bank she set up went under when her family members defaulted on huge loans.

The Congress party reacted by questioning her opponent Shekhawat’s patriotism, claiming he had been part of the British-run police force in 1942 when India’s freedom struggle was at its peak, The Times of India reported recently.

Patil’s own words have also come back to haunt her. She upset Islamic leaders by asking Muslim women to abandon their head scarves, saying women started wearing them in India to save themselves from 16th century Muslim invaders.

Historians disagreed with Patil. They said women wearing scarves in the presence of outsiders was already widespread in India in the 13th century.

“This is an election that is bereft of real political issues,” said Rangarajan. “There seems to be a poverty of ideas on both sides and it’s an election that is largely about mudslinging.”

Patil would be the first female president of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the massive 340-room, colonial era presidential palace.

Choosing a presidential candidate is a symbolic gesture by political parties seeking to display their secular and progressive credentials.

Hindu-majority India has had three Muslim presidents, including incumbent A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, since winning independence from Britain in 1947. It has also had a president from the minority Sikh community. Kalam’s predecessor, K.R. Narayanan, came from the bottom of the caste hierarchy.

Patil was a lawyer before she joined politics and became a member of the state legislature in 1962. She was appointed a minister several times in the Maharashtra state government between 1962 and 1985. In the following decade, she served as a member of Indian Parliament.

India’s independent Election Commission will count the presidential votes on July 21.

The Election Commission on Tuesday said that the UNPA cannot direct its legislators to abstain from voting in the presidential election. The observation was made quoting Article 171 C of the Constitution.

The NDA had objected to the UNPA’s move to abstain from voting saying large parts of the electorate would remain unrepresented.
In a clarification, the Election Commission said voting in the election to the Office of the President of India was not compulsory like voting in the elections to the House of the People and state legislatures.
“The electoral right of a voter is defined in Section 171A (b) of the Indian Penal Code to ‘mean the right of a person to stand, or not to stand as, or to withdraw from being, a candidate or to vote or refrain from voting at election’. Thus, every elector at the presidential election has the freedom of making a choice to vote for any of the candidates or not to vote at the election, as per his free will and choice,” it said.
It would equally apply to the political parties and they were free to canvass or seek votes of electors for any candidate or requesting or appealing to them to refrain from voting.
‘Let members decide’
“However, the political parties cannot issue any direction or whip to their members to vote in a particular manner or not to vote at the election leaving them with no choice, as that would be tantamount to the offence of undue influence within the meaning of Section 171C of the IPC,” it said.
The commission also said that voting at election to the office of president is different from voting by a member of Parliament or State Legislature inside the House and that, as held by the Supreme Court, the provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India might not apply to the voting at the presidential election.

JD(S), TC MIGHT ABSTAIN
Bangalore/Kolkata, DHNS: The “non-aligned” Janata Dal (S) in Karnataka, which is being wooed by the two groups supporting Pratibha Patil and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the presidential post, is likely to abstain from voting during the election scheduled to be held on July 19. JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, who has been authorised by his party to decide on the party’s stand, left for New Delhi on a “request” from the prime minister Manmohan Singh for a meeting. (Details on Page 4)
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TC), too might abstain from the poll, party sources indicated. Sources close to Banerjee indicate she might ask the party legislators and MPs to skip the voting. “We’ll announce our stand after a couple of days and not before that,” Banerjee said. The TC has a strength of 30 legislators and three MPs including Ms Banerjee who are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
According to sources, Banerjee’s ire with the BJP stems from the fact that it was she who urged the BJP to back President A P J Abdul Kalam for a second term.

The voting, marred by weeks of mudslinging involving candidates Pratibha Patil, 72, and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, 83, will begin at 10 a.m. in the parliament building for MPs and in state assemblies across the country for MLAs, the members of the state legislative assemblies. The exercise will end at 5 p.m.

Although 4,120 MLAs and 776 MPs constitute the electoral college, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) decision to keep away from the battle means the number of voters is going to come down.

The total value of the electoral college is calculated as 1.09 million votes. The value of an MP’s vote is 708 while that of an MLA’s varies on the basis of the population of a state.

The Election Commission, which conducts the once-in-five-years presidential election, has prepared Room 62 in parliament house for MPs to vote. Most MPs are already in the national capital.

Unlike in the general election, voters get to vote for more than one candidate – the first preference candidate and second preference candidate in this case.

They can write ‘1′ in the space opposite the name of the candidate they pick as their first choice. In addition, they can mark ‘2′ for the candidate of their second choice.

The votes will be counted on Saturday.

The campaigning has witnessed unprecedented mudslinging that everyone admits has already damaged the dignity and prestige of the country’s highest office.

Patil is the joint candidate of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Left parties and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is backing Vice President Shekhawat as an independent candidate but the NDA is already a house divided.

The ruling alliance combine has 631,464 votes against the NDA’s 314,411. The third grouping, UNPA, has 105,000 votes.

Although Patil’s victory is a foregone conclusion because of numbers, the BJP is still hoping for a miracle.

In any case, the traditional feel-good factor that accompany presidential elections has given way to charges of fraud, malpractices and improprieties that the two sides have flung at each other.

Although Patil, until recently the Rajasthan governor, and Shekhawat, one of India’s most experienced politicians, have themselves not indulged in any mudslinging, their supporters have spread venom against one another.

The BJP has even launched a website – knowpratibhapatil.com – to highlight what it says are the many shortcomings of Patil, whom it has accused of financial improprieties and shielding a brother who is facing murder charges.

The Congress has denounced Shekhawat for not quitting the post of vice president before entering the poll fray and raked up his past in a bid to dent his image.

One reason for Patil’s plight is that she was the last minute choice of the Congress and its allies after the Left parties that extend vital support to the government vetoed Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s first choices.

This is in sharp contrast to 2002 when Kalam, a missile scientist, was elected jointly by ruling and opposition parties with only the Left refusing to back him.

Kalam, who had an eventful five-year in Rashtrapati Bhavan, had expressed keenness for a second tenure when the UNPA pledged to support him. However, he withdrew from the race after the UPA and Left made it clear that they did not want to give him a second term.

The Indian president serves a mainly ceremonial role as the titular head of state. But he plays an important role if there is a political crisis triggered by a hung parliament.

The president also has the power to delay bills passed by parliament before they become law.

The new president will take charge July 25.

The Election Commission  issued a notification formally setting in motion the process for the August 10 Vice Presidential poll to elect a successor to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

With the issuance of notification, the filing of nominations for the poll began  and will go till July 23.

While the scrutiny of nominations will take place on July 24, the last date for the withdrawal of candidature will be on July 26.

Counting of votes would also take place on August 10 evening, the same day of polling.

The election is being held close on the heels of the Presidential poll on July 19 where Shekhawat is locked up in a straight fight with UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil.

The electoral college for the poll consists of a total of 790 Members of Parliament, including 543 members of the Lok Sabha and 233 from the Rajya Sabha. Twelve nominated members from the Rajya Sabha and two from the Lok Sabha are also voters in the poll.

Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha has been appointed as the Returning Officer for the poll.

Shekhawat’s term ends on August 18.

The names of West Bengal Governor Gopal Gandhi and Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Mushirul Hasan are doing the rounds in the political circles as possible candidates of the UPA-Left for the Vice Presidential election.