Banish malnutrition, female foeticide: President Patil

In her first public address after taking oath as countrys 12th President, Pratibha Patil, today urged people to uproot malnutrition, social evils and female foeticide.

New Delhi, July 25 : In her first public address after taking oath as country's 12th President, Pratibha Patil, today urged people to uproot malnutrition, social evils and female foeticide.

Addressing members at the Central Hall of the Parliament here today, Patil said that she was fully committed to the protection of rights of the child, and added: "We must banish malnutrition, social evils, infant mortality and female foeticide."

Patil, who made history today by becoming the country's first woman President, called for spreading modern education and cherished the desire of seeing every person "touched by the light of modern education."

Urging people to follow the principles enshrined in the Constitution, Patil also called for the empowerment of women, and for the socially inclusive sustained growth of economy.

"Our combined endeavour should be to ensure that the rate of economic growth is sustained and it is socially inclusive," she said, adding, "We must also ensure that every region of the country participates in and benefits from the process of economic growth."

Calling herself as the "Republic's first servant", Patil said: "It will be my sincere endeavour to live up to the expectations of all those who have elected me. We must ensure that every section of society, particularly the weak and the disadvantaged are equal partners in and beneficiaries of the development process."

''We must all stand united in the fight against divisive and destructive tendencies like communalism, casteism, extremism and terrorism. Empowerment of women is particularly important to me as I believe it is important for empowerment of the nation,'' she added.

Earlier in the day, Pratibha Patil took oath of office administered by the Chief Justice of India, Justice K G Balakrishnan.

Outgoing President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, members of the Council of Ministers, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee, the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Governors, Chief Ministers, Chairperson of the ruling UPA Sonia Gandhi, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, Members of Parliament and principal civil and military officers of the Government of India attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Prior to the ceremony, Both Kalam and Patil were escorted by the President's Bodyguard in a car cavalcade out of Rashtrapati Bhavan down Rajpath towards Parliament House.

A thousand armed forces personnel lined both sides of the designated route and saluted the two as they passed by in a ceremony filled with pageantry and glamour.

At Parliament House, Chief Justice Balakrishnan, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, M. Rahim Khan and presiding officers of Parliament received Kalam and Patil.

The two were then escorted into Parliament where its Members greeted them.

After the dignitaries took their respective seats, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta sought President Kalam's permission to read out an Election Commission notification certifying Pratibha Patil's election as the 12th President of India.

ANI