Pratibha Patil

After I retire, for some time at least, I will spend my time with my grandchildren and my family members, because all these years, 50 years, I have not been able to give my time to them.

When I took over, I thought that I must do something for the empowerment of women.

One should be always ready to face difficult situations and take risk also.

Often, we are quick to find blame with others but yet are unable to give constructive responses. There seems to be a tendency to doubt almost everything. Do we not have faith in our own people's strengths and in our institutions? Can we afford distrust amongst ourselves?

All issues, therefore, must be resolved through dialogue and there can be no place for violence. Negativity and rejection cannot be the path for a vibrant country that is moving to seek its destiny.

There is simply no way our nation can progress if its women population is left behind.