President nurtures NGOs, husband Kalam's pet plants

APJ Abdul Kalam need have no twinges of anxiety. His carefully nurtured tulips, the herb garden he planted in Mughal Garden in Rashtrapati Bhavan and the vast collection of bonsai plants are in safe hands.

It is President Pratibha Patil's husband Devi Singh Shekhawat, with all the right credentials "" he has a doctorate in botany "" who is seeing to it that the garden is not neglected.

The president, it appears, has no time for her estate. She's been to Mughal Garden only once. It is her husband who is a regular visitor and has held several rounds of discussions with the horticulture officials in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The country's first family, now settled in their new house, has asked the government to cut down on avoidable frills of protocol for Shekhawat. Sources say the president's husband has refused to use a railway saloon and prefers to stay at his son's residence while in Mumbai rather than in the state guest house.

The president, by contrast, has a heavy work schedule. Despite that, she is ready to meet all visitors and two weeks ago, in the middle of accepting flowers and greetings from all those waiting to meet her outside Rashtrapati Bhavan, she chatted at length with a group of NGO leaders from rural India.

Interestingly, it was veteran Socialist and inveterate protester Mohan Dharia who called on Patil, under the auspices of the Confederation of NGOs for Rural India (CNRI). The CNRI was cobbled together to confront the government's policies at a time liberalisation was posing a threat to the livelihood of rural people.

LV Saptarishi, co-chairman, CNRI, said Patil proposed that the group should co-opt NGOs which were already working for women in rural areas. She asked CNRI leaders to set up women's forums in all its 2,000 affiliate NGOs.

Patil also suggested that the CNRI should organise regional meetings of NGOs to figure out the burning issues of rural India. "The president offered to address these meetings,'' Saptarishi said.