Mujraparty
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A big salute to Pratibha Patil as she bows out of office without a single act of constitutional impropriety to mar her record. Which is to say that she did nothing that would leave a mark, apart from occupying slot no 12 on the list of India's presidents.
This is how it should be. The president is not supposed to be proactive or active, in India's constitutional scheme of things. The office articulates the policies of the government of the day and puts the imprimatur of India's state authority on decisions, laws and interactions with foreign dignitaries.
Now that the Supreme Court and Parliament are agreed that even declaration of president's rule in a state under Article 256 has to be ratified by Parliament, the president is left with just two functions where the office is expected to act independently.
One is at the time of government formation after elections: the president has to call upon the leader of the largest group that he/she believes would be able to form a stable government (the Constitution does not require the government to have a majority, so long as a minority government is not voted out by the Opposition).
The other is when the president exercises the discretion to return a bill that Parliament has sent him/her for his signature, for more informed reflection.
All other functions of the president are purely symbolic and meant to reflect, without distortion or amplification, the will of the government elected by the people. Pratibha Patil was discretion personified in the discharge of all these responsibilities.
True, President Patil had a habit of including random members of her family in her entourage on foreign jaunts. And her initial choice of a retirement home raised eyebrows, all the way into the hairline. But, otherwise, she visited the far outposts of our armed forces, pinned medals on soldiers and boy scouts and stolidly watched the Raj live on inside the erstwhile viceregal lodge, in the hirsute form of kilted bagpipers at state dinners.
She wrote on this page on rainfed agriculture and talked often of women's empowerment. As she merges gracefully into the twilight, she becomes a beacon of the model presidency for her successors as they chart their own course.
Pratibha Patil: A beacon of model presidency for her successors - The Economic Times
This is how it should be. The president is not supposed to be proactive or active, in India's constitutional scheme of things. The office articulates the policies of the government of the day and puts the imprimatur of India's state authority on decisions, laws and interactions with foreign dignitaries.
Now that the Supreme Court and Parliament are agreed that even declaration of president's rule in a state under Article 256 has to be ratified by Parliament, the president is left with just two functions where the office is expected to act independently.
One is at the time of government formation after elections: the president has to call upon the leader of the largest group that he/she believes would be able to form a stable government (the Constitution does not require the government to have a majority, so long as a minority government is not voted out by the Opposition).
The other is when the president exercises the discretion to return a bill that Parliament has sent him/her for his signature, for more informed reflection.
All other functions of the president are purely symbolic and meant to reflect, without distortion or amplification, the will of the government elected by the people. Pratibha Patil was discretion personified in the discharge of all these responsibilities.
True, President Patil had a habit of including random members of her family in her entourage on foreign jaunts. And her initial choice of a retirement home raised eyebrows, all the way into the hairline. But, otherwise, she visited the far outposts of our armed forces, pinned medals on soldiers and boy scouts and stolidly watched the Raj live on inside the erstwhile viceregal lodge, in the hirsute form of kilted bagpipers at state dinners.
She wrote on this page on rainfed agriculture and talked often of women's empowerment. As she merges gracefully into the twilight, she becomes a beacon of the model presidency for her successors as they chart their own course.
Pratibha Patil: A beacon of model presidency for her successors - The Economic Times
