Pratibha Patil’s position is unconstitutional!!

Pratibha Patil is the first woman President of India but there is no Constitutional provision for her to be the President!!. Shocking…well it is like this Article 53 of the Constitution states that “The executive power of the Union

shall be vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officer subordinate to him in accordance with this constitution”. Article 56 states that “President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office….” And so on…

Pratibha Patil we understand is “her” but the constitutional provision is for “him”!!. The Judiciary or Legislature or Bureaucracy may have agreed among themselves that “him” can be “her”. The problem however is what is agreed on by the policy makers is not even valid at the street level. See it is like this I being “him” cannot go to “her” toilet, I would be thrashed!!. Clearly “him” is not “her”. Vice versa also true.

What is further shocking is that each word was carefully discussed, debated in the Constituent Assembly before placed in the Constitution. The Constitution of India that gives entity to India and its people as it exists now is blatantly gender insensitive document. It has no provision for women whether as MP, MLA or as Chairman. Recently Australian Parliament passed a communiqué making “him” as “him or her”. This might sound routine for many but it is a very significant step. A step that should have been taken few decades back. I recall when in school during Civics class (I guess it was in 6th Std) we used to make fun of the girls, by saying that ‘this not for you’!!. It was very difficult for them to defend, irony was girls were toppers. I don’t know whether I carried the guilt but years later when I was working in a Publishing Company I was told to write few chapters on Constitution as they were coming out with a Book (I guess it was on Public Administration), and I found it extremely difficult writing “him” so I wrote “him or her” but soon coded it as (s)he since I was tired of it, as I had to hand write 100 odd pages (don’t know what Editor thought about it as I had quit by then). It is time that Government of India made the Constitution gender sensitive and these be added into school texts as early as possible. Why this not been done in last 60years is amazing.

Post Script: I worked in the publishing company for three or four months, this probably the only job where I send a resignation letter (most others I told to get lost!!, was some hot headed dude) since I wanted to freelance for them. I did take interviews for the Magazine for six months or so most cases I spend more than I earned. It was quite tough those days but I carried on since I enjoyed it. Below is the interview of two lady Army officers I took, this one page interview looks innocuous but it took almost a year (plz click on it to enlarge). First I thought it was an easy thing just drop into their office and fix an interview but I was told to go to PRO – South Block and many phone calls later, probably after two months it was arranged. I had to record the interview and then convert into writing which actually is laborious. Unlike the interview published it was not this dry nor was it one page!!. I was really upset when I got my copy!. Also the interview was taken somewhere in February 1998 (the plan was to get it in Women’s day edition of March) but it came in December by the time I had forgotten about it. Anyway it was a good experience for me. Apart from such Interviews I also recall going to cover Acting school somewhere in Noida (run by one Kapoor…there are too many to remember!!. And yes this one also had acted in movies!!). He showed me around the building, even asked some of his students to demonstrate their acting skills for me. I recall giving appreciative nods!!