New Delhi: On Monday, the country got its youngest and first tribal woman President Droupadi Murmu. Born on 20 June 1958 in a Santhal family in Baidaposi village of Mayurbhanj in Odisha, she became the first President born in Independent India.
Droupadi Murmu was sworn in as the 15th President on Monday by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana in the Central Hall of Parliament here.
For her early education, Murmu went to a school in Uparbeda, a small village in Kusumi tehsil in Mayurbhanj. She is an arts graduate from Rama Devi Women's College, Bhubaneswar.
Her father and grandfather were traditional heads of the village council.
Droupadi Murmu married a banker in 1980 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. After this massive tragedy, Droupadi Murmu dedicated her house for a school where she used to teach children. The boarding school is still functioning.
Her daughter Itishri Murmu is married and lives in Bhubaneswar.
From 1979 to 1983, Murmu worked as a junior assistant at the irrigation department of the Government of Odisha. She then worked as a teacher at the school Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre, Rairangpur and taught Hindi, Odia, Maths and Geography.
From Rairangpur to Rashtrapati Bhavan
The journey of President Droupadi Murmu from a Rairangpur councillor in 1997 to the highest constitutional position of the President of the country in 2022 has been quite eventful as well as exemplary.
Murmu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rairangpur and in 1997 she was elected as the councillor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat.
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.
During the BJP and BJD coalition government in Odisha, she was the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Commerce and Transportation from March 6, 2000, to August 6, 2002, and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development from August 6, 2002, to May 16, 2004.
Murmu was sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand on 18 May 2015.
Murmu is the second woman President after Pratibha Devi Singh Patil who graced the Raisina Hill during 2007-2012.
