India names first female president

[oberliner]

Source: Associated Press

NEW DELHI - India elected Pratibha Patil as the country's first female president Saturday in a vote seen as a victory for the hundreds of millions of Indian women who contend with widespread discrimination.

Patil received 65.82 percent of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators, said Election Commission head P.D.T. Achary. She had been widely expected to win.

Patil, the 72-year-old candidate of the governing Congress party and its political allies, defeated incumbent Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

"I am grateful to the people of India, to all the men and women of India," Patil said in a brief statement to reporters. "This is a victory of the principles of which our Indian people uphold," she said flashing the victory sign to her supporters.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070721/ap_on_re_as/india_president;_ylt=Ar1X1oXl1CdYycVmaigH0S2s0NUE

[genie_weenie]

1. India is a terrible Democracy!

Where they have multiple parties (SIX National and at least 50 provincal) and they put women in high positions. Thank GAWD we don't do that here in Democracy Prime!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Yeah!

Think about it--if there were six strong political parties here in the US, it would be so difficult for the lobbyists to bribe all of them!

[JI7]

9. India has a parliamentary proportional rather than winner take all of America

nations with those systems are more favourable to many parties without worry of one extremist party taking it all .

[MLFerrell]

19. HA HA!

You said "Democracy Prime"! Now THAT'S humorous!

:hi:

[Ian David]

3. Quote of the day : Shobha De

"If Pratibha Patil does make it to Rashtrapati Bhavan, how will it benefit the women of India? Will it lead to fewer thrashings, beatings, torture, murders? Give me a break. This 73-year-old lady deserves to spend her retirement years with more dignity than as a puppet of her long-term patrons. Zail Singh had his jhaddoo. What will Pratibhatai use? Her pallav?"

http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/06/quote-of-day-shobha-de.html

[SemperEadem]

5. I dare say I need a bit of translation with that one

what's a jhaddoo? What's a pallav? Is "hatai" at the end of a name the same as "san" at the end of a name in Japanese?

[Ian David]

6. I figured they were just made-up words (I'm kidding)

Pallu
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Pallu may refer to:

* the loose end of a sari, draped diagonally in front of the torso

[cosmicone]

20. Help for you!

jhaddoo = broom
pallav/pallu = loose end of a saree draved over the orso and flung over the shoulder
tai = sister

[JI7]

10. those things are already illegal in India the problem is a lack of enforcement

what they need is to fund the right things such as education, and law enforcement organizations. and do something about the high level of corruption in the country.

[Ian David]

4. "Please, Mister Bush...

"Please, Mister Bush... do NOT try and give me a massage."

[JVS]

7. What was Indira Gandhi's office then? I thought she was their first female president.

[Alexander]

8. Prime Minister.

[JVS]

11. Thanks.

[freeplessinseattle]

12. k & R n/t

[CatWoman]

13. India Names Its First Female President

Source: ap news

NEW DELHI (AP) - India chose its first female president Saturday in an election hailed as a victory for women in a country where gender discrimination is deep-rooted and widespread.

Still, it's not clear how much 72-year-old Pratibha Patil - a lawyer, congresswoman and former governor of the northern state of Rajasthan - can or will do in the mostly ceremonial post to improve the lives of her countrywomen.

Patil won 65.82 percent of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators, said P.D.T. Achary, the secretary general of Parliament. She had the support of the governing Congress party and its political allies, and had been expected to win.

"It is a special moment for us women, and men of course, in our country because for the first time we have a woman being elected president of India," said Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who hand-picked Patil and was one of the first to congratulate her.

Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070721/D8QH4Q100.html

[Deja Q]

14. Hmmm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/21/world/main3085108.shtml

Look through responses made by "winnerindia". Such as

Like Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan spread corruption everywhere, so is this our respectful Indian president woman will do and the same will happen if Hillary is made the president or alike. Jesus save us from these mad,corrupt ladies.

and

In our country, this woman is not described with very good words.
She is accused of giving a shield to her brother (a murderer & rapist) and her husband for criminal activities in India.

Given the person's from India, and I've read other posts from him, I'm more inclined to listen to him than anyone else.

Though why he's worried about Hillary, I wouldn't know. She's supportive of unlimited H1Bs...

[Faygo Kid]

15. This is terrific, but let's not forget Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

I was a teen in the '60s, and remember being very, very impressed that a nation that size would have a woman as prime minister. She was the first woman world leader I remember, and that was really something. I think she was Nehru's daughter, but was still a strong leader (too late to Google it on Saturday for me, Catwoman).

[nam78_two]

16. Yes she was indeed Nehru's daughter

And apparently not a very good leader. My parents are of Indian origin and they tell me she had some fascistic tendencies-when she was in danger of losing an election she declared a state of "Emergency" through out India:

http://www.blonnet.com/2005/06/25/stories/2005062501140900.htm

My parents who lived through it said it was a very scary time in their lives, because for all its problems India had had a mostly functioning (deeply flawed but still functional) democracy until then and that the lost freedoms were suddenly and very harshly felt (you couldn't criticize the government very publicly anymore, it wouldn't be advisable to write letters to the editor, the press was really suppressed etc.-and of course this was felt much more harshly by the poorest people-forced vasectomies being the worst of the government's tyrannies.)

However I think her popularity with large segments of India's populace, at some points in Indian history, is undeniable. She certainly won her position due to her popularity on her own right, not just as Nehru's daughter.

[CGowen]

17. "vasectomy camps" yuk... Is it possible that a "dalit" or low caste will be elected into office?

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0039-3665%28197208%293%3A8%3C177%3AKPEIMV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage

[cosmicone]

21. Info for you

Two dalits have held the high office in India already .. one as a PM and another as a President.

The current chief justice of India's supreme court is a dalit.

[shenmue]

18. This is a step forward

:patriot: