Droupadi Murmu

Droupadi Murmu (born Durgi Tudu; 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has served as the president of India since 2022. She won the 2022 presidential election from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is the first person belonging to a tribal community and also the second woman, after Pratibha 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.

Previously, she served as the 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. in the Baidaposi area of Rairangpur, Odisha. Her father Biranchi Narayan Tudu was a farmer. Her father and grandfather were traditional heads (designated Sarpanch) of the village council (Gram Panchayat).

Murmu studied elementary education at the local primary school in Upar Beda. At age five, she moved to Bhubaneswar for higher studies. She completed secondary education from Girl's High School Unit-2, and graduated in B.A. from Rama Devi Women's University.

She married Shyam Charan Murmu (1 April 1958 – 1 August 2014), with whom she had two sons and a daughter, Itishree Murmu. 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 Centre in Rairangpur, where she taught Hindi, Odia, mathematics, and geography. She never claimed a full salary at the school. 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. The BJP was in power in the Jharkhand Government for most of her six-year tenure as a governor and was also in power in the Union Government throughout her tenure. She administered the oath of office to Hemant Soren as Chief Minister of Jharkhand in 2019.

Her six-year tenure as Governor began in May 2015 and ended in July 2021.

The tribal people had strongly objected to the proposed law. During the Pathalgadi movement, protests were held against the proposed amendments to the tenancy acts. 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.

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 a Scheduled 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. 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.

Presidency (2022–present)

On 26 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu took the oath as the 15th President of India which was administered by the 48th Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana in the presence of former presidents, the vice-president, prime minister, and other delegates.

She is the first person from India's designated tribal communities to be elected president. She is the youngest and first individual born after India's independence in 1947 to have been elected president. Murmu is the second woman after Pratibha Patil to serve as president.

In September 2022, she launched a government program 'Pradhanmantri TB mukht Bharat' – an initiative to eradicate tuberculosis from the country. She became the first president of India to inaugurate the 'Mysuru Dasara', a ten-day state festival in Karnataka. In the initial months, Murmu paid visits to the north-eastern states of the country including Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim and engaged in ceremonies of various development projects.

In November 2022, she paid her first visit to her home state Odisha 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 of Puri Jagannath Temple.

In April 2023, she took a historic flight in a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet at Tezpur Air Station in Assam, 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".

Droupadi Murmu takes a historic sortie in a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station.

In May 2023, a row arose when the New Parliament House, under the Central 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".

She expressed her anguish and despair against the continuous crime committed against women in the country, when reacting to the 2024 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.

On 22 January 2024, President Murmu visited Ayodhya to attend the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Mandir, along with other dignitaries. The event marked a historic cultural and religious moment in India.

On 29 February 2024, she addressed the inaugural session of the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) and emphasized India's commitment to global cooperation in building resilient infrastructure.

On 8 March 2024, President Murmu presented the Nari Shakti Puraskar at Rashtrapati Bhavan on International Women's Day. She commended the awardees for their outstanding contributions to women's empowerment across various sectors.

On 27 June 2024, Murmu addressed a joint sitting of the Parliament of India at the beginning of the 18th Lok Sabha. She hailed the record voter turnout and the participation of all sections of society, including the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and lauded their commitment to strengthening Indian democracy.

On 9 March 2025, she inaugurated the second edition of Vividhta Ka Amrit Mahotsav at Rashtrapati Bhavan, a cultural festival celebrating South Indian traditions, crafts, and cuisines. The event aimed to promote unity in diversity and local artisanship. After the inauguration of C. P. Radhakrishnan as the new vice president, she became the first president to serve with three vice presidents.

Electoral history

Awards and honours