Droupadi Murmu was sworn in in 2022 as the 15th President of India. She is the second Indian woman to hold the position after Pratibha Patil. At 64, she is not only the first President to be born in independent India, but also the first to hail from a Scheduled Tribe of India. Here’s all you need to know about her.
Born into a Santhal family in Uparbeda village, Rairangpur district, Odisha on June 20, 1958, Murmu grew up fighting against poverty and other discriminatory circumstances in one of India’s most underdeveloped areas. Her father, Biranchi Narayan Tudu, was a farmer, and members of her family held local administrative positions.
Murmu did her initial schooling in Uparbeda, then moved to Bhubaneshwar for higher studies. She graduated from Ramadevi Women’s College, Bhubaneshwar. She served as a junior assistant between 1979 and 1983 in the Odisha government’s Irrigation and Power department. Between 1994 and 1997, Murmu taught at the Sri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research Centre, Rairangpur, where she reportedly never drew a full salary.
Her political career started in 1997, when she was elected as the Councillor in the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat. She contested the election as an independent candidate. In 2000, she won the Odisha Legislative Assembly election from the Rairangpur constituency, and went on to serve two terms. She was also appointed the Minister of State handling portfolios like Commerce and Transportation (March 2000 to August 2002) and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (August 2002 to May 2004). In 2007, she was given the Nilkanth Award for the Best MLA in the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
In 2013, Murmu was elected to the BJP National Executive Morcha. In 2015, she was the first woman and tribal leader to be appointed Governor of Jharkhand. Her tenure ran from 2015 to 2021. In June 2022, Murmu was nominated as the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate for the President of India. In July 2022, she won a clear majority in the election, beating her opposition candidate, Yashwant Sinha to become the 15th President of India. Murmu assumed office on July 25, 2022, and was sworn in by Chief Justice NV Ramana.