Droupadi Murmu

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Droupadi Murmu
File:President Droupadi Murmu official portrait higher version.jpg
Official portrait, 2022
15th President of India
Assumed office
25 July 2022
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu
Jagdeep Dhankhar
Preceded by Ram Nath Kovind
9th Governor of Jharkhand
In office
18 May 2015 – 12 July 2021
Chief Ministers Raghubar Das
Hemant Soren
Preceded by Syed Ahmed
Succeeded by Ramesh Bais
Minister of State, Odisha
In office
6 August 2002 – 16 May 2004
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
Ministry Fisheries and Animal Resources Development
In office
6 March 2000 – 6 August 2002
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
Ministry Commerce and Transport
Member of Odisha Legislative Assembly
In office
5 March 2000 – 21 May 2009
Preceded by Laxman Majhi
Succeeded by Shyam Charan Hansdah
Constituency Rairangpur
Personal details
Born Puti Biranchi Tudu
(1958-06-20) 20 June 1958 (age 66)
Uparbeda, Mayurbhanj, Odisha, India
Political party Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s) Shyam Charan Murmu (m. 1980; d. 2014)
Children 1 (Itishri Murmu)[1]
Residence Rashtrapati Bhawan (primary)
Alma mater Rama Devi Women's University (BA)
Occupation Politician
Profession Teacher

Droupadi Murmu (née Puti Biranchi Tudu, born 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 15th and current President of India since 25 July 2022. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. She is the first person belonging to the tribal community and also the second woman after Pratibha Patil to hold the office. She is also the youngest person to occupy the post of President.[2] Prior to her presidency she served as the ninth governor of Jharkhand between 2015 and 2021, and held various portfolios in the cabinet of Government of Odisha between 2000 and 2004.[3]

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 until 1997.[4]

Personal life

Droupadi Murmu was born to a Santali family on 20 June 1958, in Uparbeda village[5] in the Baidaposi area of Rairangpur, Odisha.[6] Her father Biranchi Narayan Tudu was a farmer.[7] Her father and grandfather were traditional heads (designated Sarpanch) of the village council (Gram Panchayat).[5] Her family named her Puti Tudu. 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.[8]

Murmu studied elementary education at the local primary school in Uparbeda. At age five, she moved to Bhubaneswar for higher studies.[9] She completed secondary education from Girl's High School Unit-2, and graduated in B.A. from Rama Devi Women's College.[10]

She married Shyam Charan Murmu,[7] a banker,[9] in 1980[11][12] with whom she had two sons and a daughter. Her husband, two sons, mother, and a brother all died in a span of 7 years, from 2009 to 2015.[13][14][15] She is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement.[16]

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, Maths and Geography.[17][18] She never claimed for a full salary at the school.[9]

Political career

In 1997, Droupadi Murmu was elected as the councillor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat[18] as an independent candidate from a reserved seat for women.[9] She then joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[17]

She won the 2000 Odisha Legislative Assembly election from Rairangpur Assembly constituency and served two terms in the Odisha Legislative Assembly between 2000 and 2009.[2] 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.[18][19]

In 2007, she received the Nilkanth Award for the Best MLA of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.[20] In 2009, she lost the Lok Sabha election from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency as the BJD and BJP alliance had ended.[18] She was elected to the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) in 2013, and was the district president until 2015.[20]

Governor of Jharkhand (2015–2021)

File:Governor of Jharkhand Draupadi Murmu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.jpg
Governor Murmu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015

Murmu was sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand on 18 May 2015, becoming the first woman to hold the position.[21] 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.[22]

Ratan Tirkey, a former BJP politician and activist, said that Murmu had not done enough to make sure that the self-governance rights granted to tribal communities were properly implemented. These rights were granted under the Fifth Schedule and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 or PESA. Tirkey said, "Despite several requests, the then governor never exercised her powers to implement the Fifth Schedule provisions and Pesa in letter and spirit".[22]

Her six-year tenure as Governor began in May 2015 and ended in July 2021.[18]

Pathalgadi movement

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Main article: Pathalgadi movement

In 2016–2017, the Raghubar 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 the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. The bills were sent to Murmu for approval in November 2016.[22][23]

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.[24] In one incident, the protest turned violent and the tribals abducted the security detail of the BJP Member of Parliament Karia 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 activist Stan Swamy. Murmu was criticized for her soft stand on police aggression against tribal communities during the movement.[22] 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.[22]

File:The Governor of Jharkhand, Smt. Draupadi Murmu calling on the Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, in New Delhi on August 11, 2017.jpg
Murmu with Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi in 2017

Murmu had received total of 192 memorandums against the amendments in the bill.[22] Then opposition leader Hemant Soren had said that the BJP government wanted to acquire tribal land through the two amendment Bills for the benefit of corporates. Opposition parties Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Indian National Congress, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and others had put intense pressure against the bill.[24] 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.[22]

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.[25]

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.[25]

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 for social impact assessments was dropped for some types of infrastructure projects.[25]

Presidential campaign

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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.[4] During her election campaign, Murmu visited various states seeking support for her candidature. Several opposition parties like BJD, YSRCP, JMM, BSP, SS, JD(S) among others had announced support for her candidature prior to polling.[26][27] 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.[28]

She was elected as the President of India and assumed office on 25 July 2022. She took oath of office on the Central Hall of Parliament by the Chief Justice N. V. Ramana.[29]

Presidency (2022–present)

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Main article: Presidency of Droupadi Murmu
File:Chief Justice N.V. Ramana administering the oath of the office of the President of India to Droupadi Murmu.jpg
Chief Justice N. V. Ramana administering the oath of the office to President-elect Murmu.

She is the first person from India's designated tribal communities to be elected president.[30][31][2][32] She is the youngest and first individual born after India's independence in 1947 to have been elected president.[33] Murmu is only the second woman after Pratibha Patil to serve as President of India.[3]

File:The President, Smt. Droupadi Murmu addressing the Nation on the eve of 76th Independence Day, in New Delhi on August 14, 2022.jpg
President Murmu addressing the Nation on the eve of 75th Independence Day on August 14, 2022.

Murmu addressed the nation for the first time as the President of India, on 14 August 2022, Independence day eve. She greeted the citizens of the country on the 75th Independence.[34]

In September 2022, she launched a government program 'Pradhanmantri TB mukht Bharat' - an initiative to eradicate Tuberculosis from the country.[35] She became the first ever President of India, to inaugurate the 'Mysuru Dasara' a 10 day state festival in Karnataka.[36]

File:The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Ms. Sheikh Hasina calling on the President, Smt. Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on September 06, 2022.jpg
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Ms. Sheikh Hasina calling on the President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on September 06, 2022

Political positions

She follows the BJP party line on making Hindi the national language of India and their support of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva). She supports BJP's 2020 Indian agriculture acts (commonly known as the farm laws).[18][37]

Murmu has expressed admiration for India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She has hailed Mahatma Gandhi and also B. R. Ambedkar for his contributions in making the Constitution of India.[18]

Electoral performance

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This section is transcluded from Rairangpur Assembly constituency. (edit | history)

Rairangpur Assembly constituency

Rairangpur Assembly constituency

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This section is transcluded from Mayurbhanj (Lok Sabha constituency). (edit | history)

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This section is transcluded from Rairangpur Assembly constituency. (edit | history)

Rairangpur Assembly constituency

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This section is transcluded from 2022 Indian presidential election. (edit | history)
Results of the 2022 Indian presidential election[38][39]
Candidate Coalition Individual
votes		 Electoral
College votes		 %
Droupadi Murmu National Democratic Alliance 2,824 676,803 64.03
Yashwant Sinha United Opposition 1,877 380,177 35.97
Valid votes 4,701 1,056,980 98.89
Blank and invalid votes 53 15,397 1.11
Total 4,754 1,072,377 100
Registered voters / Turnout 4,809 1,086,431 98.86

See also

References

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Further reading

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External links

Unrecognised parameter
Preceded by
Laxman Majhi
 Member of the Legislative Assembly for Rairangpur
2000–2009		 Succeeded by
Shyam Charan Hansdah
Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Jharkhand
2015–2021		 Succeeded by
Ramesh Bais
Party political offices
Preceded by National Democratic Alliance nominee for President of India
2022		 Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by President of India
2022–present		 Incumbent
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