Droupadi (Tudu) Murmu

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Biography

Droupadi (Tudu) Murmu was born in India

Droupadi Murmu is the current president of the Republic of India (2023).

Youth and Childhood

Droupadi Murmu was born Puti Biranchi Tudu, 20 June 1958, to a Santali family in the village of Uparbeda in Mayurbhanj, Odisha, India. Her father, Biranchi Narayan Tudu, was a farmer who, like his own father, was Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat (traditional head of the village council).

Puti attended elementary education first at the local primary school in Uparbeda, and then at Bhubaneswar. It was one of her teachers who gave her the name Droupadi. She completed secondary education from Girl's High School Unit-2, and graduated in B.A. from Rama Devi Women's College.

Marriage and Family

Droupadi married Shyam Charan Murmu, a banker, in 1980. They had two sons and two daughters.

Their eldest daughter died as a child in 1984.

In October 2009, their son, Laxman, was found unconscious in his bed at his aunt and uncle's home in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha rushed to one hospital and then another, before being declared dead under what have been referred to "mysterious circumstances". He was just 25 years old.

The couple's second son, Sipun, died in a road accident in January 2013.

The couples only surviving child, Itishree, in a banker in India. Shyam Murmu died of cardiac arrest, 1 Aug 2014.

Droupadi Murmu is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement.

Early Career

From 1979 to 1983, Droupadi worked as a junior assistant at the Irrigation Department of the Government of Odisha, before taking time off to raise her young family.

From 1994-1997, she worked as a teacher at the school Sri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research Centre in Rairangpur, where she taught Hindi, Odia, Math, and Geography.

Political Career

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

In 2000, she won the Odisha Legislative Assembly election from Rairangpur Assembly constituency and served two terms in the Odisha Legislative Assembly between (2000-2009). During the BJP and BJD coalition government in Odisha, she was the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Commerce and Transportation and later Fisheries and Animal Resources Development. In 2009, she lost the Lok Sabha election from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency as the BJD and BJP alliance had ended. She was elected to the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) in 2013, and served as the district president until 2015.

On 18 May 2015, Droupadi was sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Her six-year tenure as Governor ended in July 2021 and in June 2022, the BJP nominated her as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s candidate for President of India. On 21 Jul 2022, Droupadi defeated opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha with 64.03% of the total vote, and on 26 Jul 2022, was sworn in as the 15th President of India. She is the first person from India's designated tribal communities to be elected president. She is also the youngest and the first individual born after India's independence in 1947 to have been elected president. She is only the second woman after Pratibha Patil to serve as President of India.

Sources

• Wikipedia entry for Droupadi Murmu

Acknowledgements

• This profile has been contributed to by the members of the WikiTree 15 Nations Global Tour of 2023