July 21, 2022: Draupadi Murmu has been elected as India’s 15th President. She is the first tribal to occupy the country’s top office. She is the second woman to become India’s President.

Born on June 20, 1958, in Uparbeda village of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha in a Santali tribal family, Murmu married Shyam Charan Murmu, a banker who died in 2014. The couple had two sons, both of whom passed away, and a daughter Itishri Murmu.

Draupadi Murmu, 64, started out as a school teacher before entering state politics. Murmu worked as an assistant professor at the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research Institute, Rairangpur, and as a Junior Assistant at the Irrigation department of the Government of Odisha.

Draupadi Murmu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1997 and was elected as the councilor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat. In 2000, she became the Chairperson of Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat and also served as the National Vice-President of BJP Scheduled Tribes Morcha.

Draupadi Murmu took oath as the Governor of Jharkhand on May 18, 2015, and became the first woman Governor of Jharkhand. She was the first female tribal leader from Odisha to be appointed as a Governor of the Indian State.

Draupadi Murmu, in 2007, received the Nilkantha Award for the best MLA ( Member of Legislative Assembly) by Odisha Legislative Assembly.