Every Laturkar mourns the sad demise of legendary statesman Shivraj Patil Chakurkar. We express our heartfelt condolences and pray to the Almighty that 'May his soul attain Sadgati.' His long association and guidance to me and all people associated with him will always be remembered and will keep inspiring us in the service of the Nation. As we vividly walk down the memory lane we stand inspired with every gesture of respect and love Shri Patil Saheb treated us. On many Social occasions and assignments related to the RNLES School, the valuable time I was blessed to spend with him had left a strong influence on me. Shivraj Patil Chakurkar was a politician known for his living by principles and connected with roots. He was a determined, dedicated and result oriented statesman having 60+ years of rich experience in public life, and led almost all Institutions of government functionaries of the nation from Municipal Council to Union Minister to the Speaker of Lok Sabha and established himself as a Leader with Difference. Strong Willpower With his strong willpower to bring change in the society he served the soil and was entrusted by people in all elections. He had the rare distinction of being unanimously elected as Speaker of Lok Sabha. His tenure as 10th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996 was extraordinary. His initiatives as Speaker of Lok Sabha were applauded by various quarters. He earned special place of Respect in the heart of both the parties Ruling and oppositions. His balanced approach and voice of respect successfully helped him to defuse the tensions and ease the situations when Lok Sabha used to become tense. He was often admired by all for peacefully and fruitfully conducting the House debates. He brought various important reforms including Schedule 10 and many more which uplifted the standards of procedure for the bright future of the Nation. Important Reform I must mention that one of most important reforms Patil brought to the Lok Sabha is to upgrade the computerisation and modernisation efforts of the institutional arrangements of Lok Sabha Secretariate. He ensured that various index-based databases of information were developed to provide Objective – Reliable and authoritative data to Lok Sabha members on regular basis. He also ensured that computerization of Lok Sabha Activities and it is his tenure when Notebook Computers were firstly made available to Parliamentarians to access instant and up to date information on various matters to effectively conduct their Parliamentarian Duties. In recognition of his efforts and contribution to the Lok Sabha, outstanding parliamentarian award was launched by the Indian Parliamentarian group to be presented to a distinguished Parliamentarian for his exemplary services. He was globally acclaimed for various successful international conferences conducted in his tenure, including SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians. He was then Governor of the state of Punjab and administrator of the Union territory of Chandigarh from 2010 to 2015. I must thank him for the hospitality extended to RNLES students when they visited Raj Bhavan during educational tour in November 2013. The politician, lawyer, professor, agriculturist has other side of inspiring suthor too! He has penned popular books namely Reminiscences & Reflections, Vision Of India, Ecstasy and Agony of Presiding Officer, Fragrance of Inner Self, and Dialogues, Odyssey of My Life where he writes about the functioning of various institutions. He has special love towards reading, writing, swimming, horse riding, shooting, painting and farming. He gave credit of his success to his parents and Guru Shri Sathya Sai Baba. Patil is a pride of us all and his life is source inspiration for us all. Every Laturkar salute his dedication for the nation! And every Laturkar stand elated to be associated with you! (The writer is President of Atrivarad Pratishthan, Latur. Views personal.)
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