Droupadi Murmu[a] (bornDurgi Tudu;[b] 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has served as thepresident of India since 2022. She won the2022 presidential election with the backing of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[4] She is the first person belonging to atribal community and also the second woman, afterPratibha Patil, to hold the office. She is also the youngest person to occupy the post (at 64) and the first president born in independent India.[5][6]
Droupadi Murmu was born to aSantali family on 20 June 1958, in Uparbeda village[8] in the Baidaposi area ofRairangpur, Odisha.[9] Her father Biranchi Narayan Tudu was a farmer.[10] Her father and grandfather were traditional heads (designatedSarpanch) of the village council (Gram Panchayat).[8] 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.[11]
Murmu studied elementary education at the local primary school in Upar Beda. At age five, she moved to Bhubaneswar for higher studies.[12] She completed secondary education from Girl's High School Unit-2, and graduated in B.A. fromRama Devi Women's University.[13]
She married Shyam Charan Murmu (1 April 1958 – 1 August 2014),[10] a banker,[12] in 1980[14][15] with whom she had two sons and a daughter, Itishree Murmu.[16][17] 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.[18][19][20] She is a follower of theBrahma Kumaris spiritual movement.[21]
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 Centre inRairangpur, where she taught Hindi,Odia, mathematics, and geography.[24][22] She never claimed a full salary at the school.[12]
In 2007, she received the Nilkanth Award for the Best MLA of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.[26] In 2009, she lost theLok Sabha election fromMayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency as the BJD and BJP alliance had ended.[22] She was elected to the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) in 2013, and was the district president until 2015.[26]
In 2016–2017, theRaghubar Das ministry was seeking amendments to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. These two original laws had safeguarded the rights of tribal communities on their land. According to the existing laws, land transactions could only be done between tribal communities. The new amendments gave the tribals the right to allow the government to make commercial use of tribal land and to take tribal land on lease. The proposed bill amending the existing law had been approved by theJharkhand Legislative Assembly. The bills were sent to Murmu for approval in November 2016.[28][29]
The tribal people had strongly objected to the proposed law. During thePathalgadi movement, protests were held against the proposed amendments to the tenancy acts.[30] In one incident, the protest turned violent and the tribals abducted the security detail of the BJPMember of ParliamentKaria Munda. Police responded with a violent crack-down on tribal communities, that caused the death of a tribal man. Criminal cases were filed against more than 200 people including the tribal rights activistStan Swamy. Murmu was criticised for her soft stand on police aggression against tribal communities during the movement.[28] According to woman tribal rights activist Aloka Kujur she was expected to speak up to the government in support of the tribals but this did not happen, and instead she appealed to the Pathalgarhi agitation leaders to repose faith in the constitution.[28]
Murmu had received total of 192 memorandums against the amendments in the bill.[28] Then opposition leaderHemant Soren had said that the BJP government wanted to acquire tribal land through the two amendment Bills for the benefit of corporates. Opposition partiesJharkhand Mukti Morcha, theIndian National Congress, theJharkhand Vikas Morcha and others had put intense pressure against the bill.[30] On 24 May 2017, Murmu relented and refused to give assent to the bills and returned the bill to the state government along with the memorandums she had received. The bill was later withdrawn in August 2017.[28]
Religion and land bill
In 2017, she approved the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2017, and the bill to amend the Land Acquisition 2013 Act passed by the Jharkhand Assembly.[31]
The new religion bill makes it an offence subject to a penalty of three years in prison, to coerce or lure a person to convert their religion. If the person coerced is a member of aScheduled Caste or Tribe, a minor, or female, the prison term increases to four years. Fines can be levied in any case. The bill also made it mandatory for voluntary converts, to inform the Deputy Commissioner about their conversion, and to give full details about the circumstances.[31]
The amendments in the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, involved changes in the compensation duration and requirements for social impacts assessment. According to the passed law, monetary compensation for government acquisition of tribal land must be paid within six months of acquisition. The requirement forsocial impact assessments was dropped for some types of infrastructure projects.[31]
In June 2022, the BJP nominated Murmu as theNational Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s candidate forPresident of India for the2022 election the following month.Yashwant Sinha, was nominated as the candidate for president by the opposition parties.[7] During her election campaign, Murmu visited various states seeking support for her candidature. Several opposition parties likeBJD,YSRCP,JMM,BSP,SHS,JD(S) among others had announced support for her candidature prior to polling.[32][33] On 21 July 2022, Murmu secured a clear majority in the 2022 Presidential election defeating common opposition candidateYashwant Sinha with 676,803 electoral votes (64.03% of total) in 21 of the 28 states (including in theunion territory ofPuducherry) to become the 15th President of India.[34]
Presidency (2022–present)
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(April 2024)
On 26 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu took the oath as the 15th President of India which was administered by the 48thChief Justice of IndiaN. V. Ramana in the presence of former presidents, the vice-president, prime minister, and other delegates.[35]
She is the first person from India's designated tribal communities to be elected president.[36][37] She is the youngest and first individual born after India'sindependence in 1947 to have been elected president.[38] Murmu is the second woman afterPratibha Patil to serve as president.[6]
Murmu addressed the nation for the first time as president on 14 August 2022, the eve of the 75th Independence Day.[39]
In September 2022, she launched a government program 'Pradhanmantri TB mukht Bharat' – an initiative to eradicatetuberculosis from the country.[40] She became the first President of India to inaugurate the 'Mysuru Dasara', a ten-day state festival in Karnataka.[41] In the initial months, Murmu paid visits to the north-eastern states of the country includingAssam,Mizoram,Nagaland andSikkim and engaged in ceremonies of various development projects.[42]
In November 2022, she paid her first visit to her home stateOdisha after assuming the office of the President to participate in the launch of various programmes. She visited her alma mater and later met school children along the sideways of the road and walked two kilometres to pay obeisance to the deities ofPuri Jagannath Temple.[43]
President Murmu at the President's official residence,Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In April 2023, she took a historic flight in aSukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet atTezpur Air Station inAssam, the third president ever to fly in a sortie fighter jet. She flew for around 30 minutes over the Brahmaputra and Tezpur valleys also covering the Himalayan ranges. She described it afterwards as an "exhilarating experience".[44][45]
In May 2023, a row arose when theNew Parliament House, under theCentral Vista Project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The opposition demanded it to be inaugurated by Murmu as the constitutional head of state, and boycotted the ceremony. However later, Murmu stated that the "Prime Minister symbolises parliament's trust, and she was proud and deeply satisfied with the inauguration".[46][47]
She expressed her anguish and despair against the continuous crime committed against women in the country, when reacting to the2024 Kolkata rape and murder incident. She stated "enough is enough" and stated that the incident had left the nation shocked, and condemned violence and crime against women.[48]
On 22 January 2024, President Murmu visitedAyodhya to attend thePran Pratishtha ceremony of theRam Mandir, along with other dignitaries. The event marked a historic cultural and religious moment inIndia.[49]
On 29 February 2024, she addressed the inaugural session of theInternational Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) and emphasizedIndia's commitment to global cooperation in building resilient infrastructure.[50]
On 27 June 2024, Murmu addressed a joint sitting of theParliament of India at the beginning of the18th Lok Sabha. She hailed the record voter turnout and the participation of all sections of society, including the people ofJammu and Kashmir, and lauded their commitment to strengtheningIndian democracy.[52]
On 9 March 2025, she inaugurated the second edition ofVividhta Ka Amrit Mahotsav atRashtrapati Bhavan, a cultural festival celebratingSouth Indian traditions, crafts, and cuisines. The event aimed to promoteunity in diversity and local artisanship.[53] After the inauguration ofC. P. Radhakrishnan as the new vice president, she became the first president to serve with three vice presidents.
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