A group of ex-servicemen are agitating against the allotment of defense land to President Pratibha Patil in August 2011.

The ex-servicemen are alleging that for building a comfortable retirement home for the president after her term would require spending Rs 8 crore of public money, destroying two defense bungalows and allocating 261,000 square feet of cantonment land.

Onboard, Oct 8 : Admiring the Central government''s efforts to tackle corruption, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has said the government was sincere in passing the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Talking to mediapersons on a flight en-route to India, President Patil said the Congress led government is seriously working for the passage of a strong and effective Lokpal Bill.

Salzburg (Austria), Oct 7 : Austrian politicians Gabi Burgstaller and Heinz Schaden hosted a banquet in honour of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil upon her arrival in Salzburg city on Thursday.

Burgstaller, the governor of Salzburg and Schaden, the Mayor of the city welcomed Patil and were seen interacting with her.

Earlier Patil visited the Austrian Parliament in Vienna and met Barbara Prammer President of the National Council of Austria.

Vienna, Oct 6 : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who is on a four-day state visit to Austria, said that India''s relations with Pakistan would improve if a conducive atmosphere is created between both countries.

Discussing India''s neighbourly relations with her Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer, President Patil also said that relations with China have moved forward with the passage of time.

Berne, Oct 4 : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must reflect on contemporary geopolitical realities in order to combat global security challenges better.

Bern, Oct 3 : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today greeted the nation on the occasion of Durga Puja.

In her message, she said, "On the auspicious occasion of Durga Puja, I extend my greetings and good wishes to all my fellow citizens".

"Durga Puja represents the triumph of truth, righteousness and virtue over evil. May this great festival inspire us to work for the unity and well-being of the country, and build a society in which peace and harmony always prevail," she added.

New Delhi, Sep 30 : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Friday left for a state visit to Switzerland from September 30 to October 4 and Austria from October 4 to 7 to enhance bilateral relations with both the nations.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot and Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma saw off the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

New Delhi, Sep 28 : Stating that India has a constitution whose principles and institutions have served the nation well, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday said ''we are committed to greater transparency and accountability in governance, as also to a policy of "zero tolerance" towards corruption''.

Raipur, Sep 6 : US President Barack Obama, President Pratibha Patil, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul... amongst the several leaders whose photographs were found in a deserted Maoist camp in Chhattisgarh, police officials said Tuesday.

The photographs, also including those of Chief Minister Raman Singh and some ministers, were found pasted at a camp in a jungle area in Raipur district that was deserted by Maoists after a fierce 15-minute gun battle, officials at the police headquarters told IANS.

The belief of many Indians was echoed by the President Pratibha Patil when she urged the government to work more effectively with campaigns against black money. The comments by Pratibha Patil came during the 150th anniversary of Income Tax.

During the celebration, all top Income Tax Officers were present. Patil said an environment of voluntary tax compliance has to be fostered and nurtured in the country. "This could best be done perhaps by inculcating voluntary tax compliance as a core duty," she said.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil stated that pharmacy education in India should be continuously revised and adjusted to meet up tomorrow's challenges.

While lecturing at the National Seminar on Recent Trends in Pharmacy Education and Practice in national capital, Patil stressed that there is a requirement to create awareness about the role of druggists in the health care delivery.

In a meeting by the standing committee for three days since President Pratibha Patil instated the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri East, and the corporators lift lying under the subject of discontented terms of agreement between Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the hospital.

As the hospital is being advertized as Asia's largest private hospital but in fact it is a public private partnership (PPP) project and also the land of the hospital belongs to BMC.

Visiting Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, stressing that economic cooperation is the central element of Sino-India ties, on Monday called on the business communities of both countries to work together to further expand and strengthen bilateral business ties.

Addressing the India-China Business Forum on the last day of what she described as a 'very memorable' five day visit to China, Patil hoped that India and China would achieve the two-way turnover target of 60 billion dollars in 2010.

Indian President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil will give away the 56th National Film Awards for 2008 on 19 March, 2010 evening at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Bengali movie 'Antaheen' by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, was declared as the Best Feature Film.

Antaheen has also recived Best Cinematography, Best Female Playback Singer awards and Best Lyrics. Shreya Ghosal was nominated as the Best Female Playback singer for Antaheen and for Marathi flick 'Jogva'.

Bina Kalindi, 12, wants to meet President Pratibha Patil. She also wants to go to school and become a teacher, an ambition that drives her father Parikshit Kalindi into fits on anger that often end in her being beaten up.

Pariskshit, a daily labourer who also weaves baskets for a living, would rather his daughter got married and raised a family like her elder sister Saraswati Kalindi, 14, did two years ago.

Grooms have come to their mud house five times seeking Bina’s hand, but each time the gutsy girl said no, threatening to run away if forced into a marriage.

President Pratibha Patil Monday said the central government will bring in legislation for such a move, giving force to the idea of allowing foreign universities to set up shop in India.

Patil said in her address to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament on the opening day of the budget session," The government is endeavoring to bring forward an appropriate legislation for facilitating the participation of globally renowned and quality academic institutions in our higher education sector, and for bringing in foreign education providers for vocational training and skill development."

President Pratibha Patil said Monday while also stressing that the security situation in the state had improved "significantly" in the state as well as in the northeast though Militant incursion from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir had gone up.

She was addressing the joint session of parliament at the beginning of the budget session.

According to her the overall internal security, law and order and the communal situation remained largely under control during the last year.

New Delhi, Feb 22 - The government's financial stimulus had yielded "handsome results" and the economic growth of India was likely to improve around 7.5 percent despite the meltdown, President Pratibha Patil said Monday.

"The global economic slowdown was met by strong policies of administering a domestic stimulus to the economy which has yielded handsome results," Patil said in her address to the joint session of parliament that began its budget session Monday.

"(The) economic growth which had slowed to 6.7 percent in 2008-09 is likely to improve to around 7.5 percent in 2009-10," she said.

"At a time when industrialised countries have experienced negative growth, India has countinued to grow at an impressive rate," the president said.

Expressing hopes about Constitution in Nepal, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Tuesday said that it would be ready soon.

Patil said in her address at a banquet hosted for visiting Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav," Nepal has crossed several important milestones on its journey to a stable and inclusive multiparty

democracy. We hope that the remaining tasks would be completed expeditiously, so that the new Constitution of Nepal is adopted."

The parliament budget session will start on Feb 22 with a lengthy break of over three weeks in between.

Lok Sabha Secretary General P. D. T. Achary stated that President Pratibha Devi Patil will address the combined session of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, marking the opening of the fourth assembly of the 15th Lok Sabha.

In a statement, he said, "In order to enable the Standing Committees to consider the demands for grants of ministries, departments and prepare their reports, the house will adjourn March 16 to meet again April 12."