Click to play videoNew Delhi: Pratibha Patil, the President seldom seen and little heard, is trying to change her image.
Patil’s predecessor, the laptop-toting and email-responding Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, endeared himself to people and earned himself the sobriquet of people's President. Patil’s election was marked by controversy and the news kept going against her.
Two years after her election, Patil is going in for an image makeover. So goodbye the staid president and enter the new hi-tech, people-friendly, grievance redressing Rashtrapati.
“She's a hands-on person. She was a minister for 15 years and became an MLA at 27. She never got defeated (in elections) anytime. She knows the pulse of the people and how to get across with them,'' says Dr Christy Fernandes, secretary to the President.
You can log on to the Rashtrapati Bhawan’s helpline portal and directly address your complaints to the President. She will help you by marking your complaint to the ministries concerned, follow up the action taken and even write her own remarks. And why?
“When people look up to you with the fond hope that who can help--to meet that expectation is going to be a major goal in the context of a citizen-centric presidency,” says Fernandes.
The online system will also give you details of which officer, in which ministry is in charge of your petition. For Patil this connecting with the people is important. Kalam bonded with the people by opening the doors of the Rashtrapati Bhawan to children. Patil is trying reach out to the common man through technology.
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