 | « Back to article | Print this article |
President-elect Droupadi Murmu, who hails from the tribal community, will take oath as the 15th President of India on Monday.
The ceremony of the assumption of office will take place in the Central Hall of Parliament.
Murmu will be escorted by Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to the Central Hall.
Once Murmu reaches there, the National Anthem will be played in the Central Hall. Then, she will take the oath of office in the presence of Chief Justice of India N V Ramana.
On July 21, the former Jharkhand governor Murmu registered a historic win over her rival Yashwant Sinha in the Presidential election, becoming the first woman tribal candidate and the second woman in the country to occupy the highest office in the country.
Born in a Santali tribal family on June 30, 1958 in Uparbeda village coming under Mayurbhanj district in Odisha, Murmu had her education from Bhubaneswar and went on to work first as a junior assistant in the State Irrigation and Power Department from 1979 to 1983.
After this stint as a clerk, she became a teacher at Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre at Rairangpur till 1997.
Murmu commenced her journey in the field of politics in 1997 by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.
She was first elected as the councillor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat and then went on to become the chairperson of the same panchayat in 2000.
Later, she also served as the national vice president of the BJP Scheduled Tribe Morcha.
Murmu became a member of the council of ministers in the BJP and Biju Janata Dal coalition government in Odisha, first becoming the minister of state with independent charge for commerce and transportation from March 2000 to August 2002 and then minister for fisheries and animal resources development from August 2002 to May 2004.
A legislator from Rairangpur assembly constituency in the years 2000 and 2004, she was conferred Nilkhantha Award for the best MLA by the Odisha assembly in 2007.
In 2015, Murmu became the first woman governor of Jharkhand. She also became the first woman tribal leader from Odisha to be appointed as the governor of a state.
Reports earlier claimed that Murmu was shortlisted for the top position in 2017 as well.
She herself acknowledged it when the BJP leadership announced her candidature this time.
However, during her political journey, she faced several lows in her life.
Her husband Shyam Charan Murmu, passed away in 2014 and she also lost both of her sons, all in a span of just four years.
Murmu devoted her life to serving society, empowering poor, downtrodden and marginalised sections of society.
She has rich administrative experience and an outstanding gubernatorial tenure in Jharkhand.
Murmu has made a special identity in public life by spreading awareness about education in tribal society and serving the public for a long time as a public representative.