
Droupadi Murmu is an Indian politician and former teacher who is serving as the 15th and current President of India since 2022. She won the 2022 presidential election as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Born: 20 June 1958 (age 65 years), Uparbeda
Previous offices: Governor of Jharkhand (2015–2021), MORE
Children: Itishree Murmu, Laxman Murmu, Sipun Murmu
Education: Ramadevi Women’s University
Presidential term: 25 July 2022 –
Office: President of India since 2022
Nationality: Indian
Previously, she served as the 8th Governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021, being the longest serving Governor for that state. As a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Rairangpur Assembly constituency from 2000 to 2009, and as Minister of State (Independent Charge), Government of Odisha from 2000 to 2004. Before entering politics, she worked as a clerk in the State Irrigation and Power. Department from 1979 to 1983, and then as a teacher in Rairangpur from 1994 until 1997
Personal life
personal life
Droupadi Murmu was born to a Santali family on 20 June 1958, in Uparbeda village in the Baidaposi area of Rairangpur, Odisha. Her father Biranchi Narayan Tudu was a farmer. Droupadi Murmu’s father and grandfather were traditional heads (designated Sarpanch) of the village council (Gram Panchayat). Her family named her Durgi Tudu, after her paternal grandmother, and her nickname was Batti which eventually became Puti. She was renamed by her school teacher to Droupadi, and her name was changed several times to those including Durpadi and Dorpdi in the past.
Murmu studied elementary education at the local primary school in Upar Beda. At age five, she moved to Bhubaneswar for higher studies.[10] She completed secondary education from Girl’s High School Unit-2, and graduated in B.A. from Rama Devi Women’s College
She married Shyam Charan Murmu (1 April 1958 – 1 August 2014), a banker, in 1980 with whom she had two sons and a daughter. Her husband, two sons (Sipun died in a road accident and Laxman died in mysterious circumstances), mother, and a brother all died in a span of 7 years, from 2009 to 2015.She is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement.
Murmu is an admirer of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She has also hailed Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar.
Early career
From 1979 to 1983, Murmu worked as a junior assistant at the irrigation department of the Government of Odisha. From 1994 to 1997, she then worked as a teacher at the school Sri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research Center in Rairangpur, where she taught Hindi, Odia, mathematics, and geography. She never claimed a full salary at the school.
political career
In 1997, Droupadi Murmu was elected as the councilor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat. as an independent candidate from a reserved seat for women. She then joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
She won the 2000 Odisha Legislative Assembly election from the Rairangpur Assembly constituency and served two terms in the Odisha Legislative Assembly between 2000 and 2009. During the BJP and BJD coalition government in Odisha, she was the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Commerce and Transportation. from 6 March 2000 to 6 August 2002, and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development from 6 August 2002 to 16 May 2004.
In 2007, she received the Nilkanth Award for the Best MLA of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. In 2009, she lost the Lok Sabha election from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency as the BJD and BJP alliance had ended. She was elected to the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) in 2013, and was the district president until 2015.
Presidential campaign
Main article: 2022 Indian presidential election
In June 2022, the BJP nominated Murmu as the National Democratic Alliance . (NDA)’s candidate for President of India for the 2022 election the following month. Yashwant Sinha, was nominated as the candidate for president by the opposition parties. During her election campaign, Murmu visited various states seeking support for her candidature. Several opposition parties like BJD, YSRCP, JMM, BSP, SHS, JD(S) . among others had announced support for her candidature prior to polling. On 21 July 2022, Murmu secured a clear majority in the 2022 Presidential election . Defeating common opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha with 676,803 electoral votes (64.03% of total) in 21 of the 28 states (including in the union territory of Puducherry) to become the 15th. President of India