Pratibha Patil

Smt. Pratibha Devising Patil
assumed office as the 12th President
of India on July 25, 2007.
She is the first woman to have
been elected to this august office.
Smt. Pratibha Patil was born
on December 19, 1934 in
Nadgaon village of Jalgaon District,
Maharashtra.
Immediately prior to election
as the President of India, Smt.
Patil was the Governor of
Rajasthan from November 8,
2004 till June 21, 2007.
Education
Smt. Patil received her
early education from RR
Vidyalaya, Jalgaon and later obtained
her Master’s degree in Political Science
and Economics from the Mooljee Jetha College,
Jalgaon. Later, she obtained the degree of Bachelor
of Laws (LL.B.) from Government Law College,
Bombay (Mumbai).
While in college, she took active part in
sports, excelled in table tennis and won several
shields at various Inter-collegiate tournaments.
Even as an MLA, she pursued her studies as a
law student.
Smt. Patil started her professional career as a
practicing lawyer at the Jalgaon District Court
and simultaneously devoted herself to various
social activities, especially, for the upliftment
of poor women.
Political Career
At the young age of 27 years, she successfully
contested her first election to the
NEWS UPDATE
India’s First Woman President
Pratibha Patil
Smt. Pratibha Patil
407
Maharashtra State Legislature
from the Jalgaon Assembly constituency.
Subsequently she was
continuously elected four times
as MLA from the Edlabad
(Muktai Nagar) constituency till
1985.
Thereafter, she served as a
Member of Parliament in the
Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1990
and later elected as a Member
of Parliament to the 10th Lok
Sabha in the 1991 General Elections
from the Amravati constituency.
She enjoys the unique distinction
of not having lost a
single election that she contested
till date.
Smt. Pratibha Patil in her long
stint in Maharashtra has held various positions
both in the Government and the Legislative Assembly
of Maharashtra.
While in the Rajya Sabha, Smt. Patil was the
Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha from 1986 to
1988 and also served as the Chairperson, Rajya
Sabha from 25.7.1987 to 2.9.1987 when
R. Venkataraman got elected as President of
India.
Family Life
Smt. Patil is married to Dr. Devisingh
Ramsingh Shekhawat.
Dr. Shekhawat obtained his Ph.D. in the discipline
of Chemistry from Haffkine Institute,
Mumbai. An educationist and a social worker in
his own right, he became the first Mayor of
Amravati Municipal Corporation and he has also
represented Amravati constituency as its MLA.

408
Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
(27-12-2007)
Benazir Bhutto, 54,
Chairperson of the Pakistan
People’s party, was killed in
a gunfire attack – cum- suicide
bombing minutes after
she finished addressing an
election really at Rawalpindi
on 27-12-2007.
Ms. Bhutto had descended
the stage at Liaquat
Bagh, the venue of the rally,
and got into a waiting car
behind the stage. The vehicle,
accompanied by several
other escort cars with
her supporters and PPP
bodyguards, was leaving the
venue when the explosion
took place, about 5-20 PM.
Benazir was critically
injured in the attack and her
car took her to the
Rawalpindi General Hospital.
There doctors battled to
save her about 40 minutes. At 6-15 PM, doctors
announced that Benazir was dead.
Benazir’s father Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, was
the Prime Minister of Pakistan during 1971 to
1977.
On 5 th July 1977 a military
coup occurred against
Bhutto and Army Genneral
Zia-ul-hug captured the
power.
Despite an international
clamour for clemency,
Bhutto was hasily executed
on 4 April 1979 at
Rawalpindi Central Jail.
The eldest of Bhutto’s
Benazir Bhutto with family
Zulfiquar Ali
Bhutto
four children, Benazir was
educated at Harvard and
Oxford Universities. She
married Asif Zardari in July
1987.
Gen Zia was killed following
the crash of his air
craft on 17 th August 1988.
In the general election
which as held in December
1988, Benazir win and became
the first women
Prime Minister in Islamic
World. But her government
was short-lived, collapsing
in 1990 on charge
of corruption. In 1993,
Benazir was returned to
office to head a coalition
government, which was
again dismissed, in 1996,
on grounds of corruption.
Then she was living in
western countries with her
family.
Benazir returned to Pakistan on 18-10-2007
from eight years of self-imposed exile to participate
in the general election.
On the next day, a procession was held in
Karachi welcoming Benazir. At that time an assassination
attempt by
bomb blasts took place
which killed 139 people but
Benazir escaped.
But, in their second attack
the terrorists killed
Benazir.
After Benazir’s death,
her 19 year old son Bilawal
Asif Zardari Bhutto Zardari is named
PPP Chairman.

Guru Nanak
409
Sikhism founded on the teachings of
Nanak and nine successive gurus in fifteenth
century Northern India, is the fifthlargest
organised religion in the world This
system of religious philosophy and expression
has been traditionally known as
the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the
gurus) or the Sikh Dharma.
The principal belief of Sikhism is faith
in Vâhigurû—represented using the sacred
symbol of çk ôaEkâr, the Universal
God. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of
salvation through disciplined, personal
meditation on the name and message of
God. A key distinctive feature of Sikhism
is a non-anthropomorphic concept of God,
to the extent that one can interpret God as the
Universe itself.
Sikhism’s traditions and teachings are distinctively
associated with the history, society and
culture of the Punjab. Adherents of Sikhism are
known as Sikhs and number over 23 million across
the world. Most Sikhs live in the state of Punjab
in India and, prior to the country’s partition, millions
of Sikhs lived in what is now known as the
Punjab province of Pakistan.
Guru Nanak Dev Birth and early life
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born 20 October
1469 into a Hindu Khatri family, in the village of
Rai Bhoi Ki Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib
(after the Guru), near Lahore, Pakistan. Today,
his birthplace is marked by Gurdwara Janam
Asthan.
His father, Kalidas Chandarana, later known
as Kalyan Das Bedi, also known as Mehta Kalu
was the patwari (accountant) of crop revenue
for the village of Talwandi under the Muslim landlord
of the village, Rai Bular, who was responsible
for collecting taxes. Guru Nanak’s mother
was Tripta Devi and he had one older sister,
Nanaki.
After Nank’s birth, an astrologer who came
Guru Nanak
to write his horoscope insisted on seeing the
child. On seeing the infant, he is said to have
worshipped him with clasped hands.
At the age of five years Nanak is said to have
voiced interest in divine subjects. At age seven,
his father Mehta Kalu enrolled him at the village
school as per the norm. Notable lore reccounts
that as a child Nanak astonished his teacher by
describing the implicit symbolism of the first letter
of the alphabet, which is almost straight stroke
in Persian or Arabic, resembling the mathematical
version of one, as denoting unity or oneness
of God. Other childhood accounts refer to
strange and miraculous events about Nanak such
as a poisonous cobra being seen to shield the
sleeping childs head from the harsh sunlight.
Marriage and family life
Guru Nanak was married to one Sulakhni. His
marriage took place with her in the town of Batala.
The marriage party had come from the town of
Sultanpur Lodhi. He had two sons from this marriage;
Sri Chand and Lakhmi Chand. The former
was a deeply spiritual person and founded a
renunciate/ascetic subsect known today as
Udasis. The younger son grew up to become
immersed in worldly life.
Nanak’s teachings come down today

410
foremostly in the Guru Granth, a vast collection
of revelatory verses recorded in sloaks.
From these some common principles seem
discernable. Firstly a supreme Godhead who although
incomprehensible manifests in a variety
of religious forms, the Singular ‘Doer’ and formless
source of all forms. It is described as the
industructable or timeless form and in both impersonal
and personal forms. Salvation or liberation
depends on the grace (‘nadir’- glance) of
God alone and although outside the power of
the individual, manifests through the individual
whom is seen to be unceasing in their efforts.
Religious awakening is compared to undergoing
a living death.
Nanak describes the dangers of the self
(haumai- ‘I am’) and calls upon devotees to engage
in worship through God’s name and singing
of God’s qualities, discarding doubt in the
process. However such worship must be selfless
(seva)- which could be said to be similar in
principle to the nishkaam worhsip elaborated in
the Bhagavad Gita.
Guru Nanak in Mecca
For over twenty years beginning about 1497,
Guru Nanak traveled by foot throughout
Hindustan. He traveled as far east as Assam and
Burma. To the South he went as far as Sri Lanka
(Ceylon). To the north he ventured even to
places outside India like Tibet and China.
He went towards the west to visit Muslim
countries. He chose Mecca as the first such place
to visit.
Last years of Nanak
As his end approached Nanak would frequently
test the devotion of his sons and nearest
followers and in doing so demonstrate their
state of mind to one another. There were numerous
such occasions and one particular devotee,
Lehna, rose to eminence because he never faltered
in his faith in Nanak.
Nanak proclaimed Lehna as the successor
Guru, renaming him Angad, meaning ‘limb’ or
‘ones very own’. This successorhood wasnot a
mere gesture. Via a transformation, compared in
Sikh tradition as the passing of a flame from one
candle to another, the Guru-aspect of Nanak descended
upon Angad. Angad became Nanak. In
the Guru Granth this is described as having even
a physical manifestation whereby Angad in person
suddenly appeared to look like Nanak.
(To sikhs, although there were ten separate
Gurus in physical form, there was actually only
one single Guru whose metamorphosised light
moved from one successor or vessel to the next,
granting a kind of rebirth to those personalities
on their initiation. Hence they all held the original
name of Nanak.)
Shortly after proclaiming Lehna as the next
Guru, Nanak announced that his death had arrived,
and retreated to a tree whereby he sat in
the lotus position and the praan (life-force) was
guided upwards and liberated from his body. The
date was said to be 22 September 1539 according
to the western calender.
Golden Temple