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15th President of India: Draupadi Murmu

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Polity & Governance
  • Published
    22nd Jul, 2022

Context

Draupadi Murmu, a tribal woman became the 15th President of India on 21st July 2022. She succeeded Ramnath Kovind whose tenure will end on 24th July 2022.

Who is Droupadi Murmu?

  • She was born on 20th June 1958 at a place named Rairangpur in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha state.
  • She belongs to a poor Santhali tribal family. 
    • Santhals, also spelt as Santals, are the third largest scheduled tribe community in India after the Gonds and Bhils. 
    • Their population is mostly distributed in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

  • She completed her Graduation in Arts from Rama Devi Women’s College Bhubaneswar.
  • She became the second woman after Pratibha Patil was elected as President of India and also became the first tribal woman who became President of India.
  • She served as the ninth Governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021.
  • As a member of the BJP, she was elected to the state assembly twice – in 2000 and in 2009 – from the Rairangpur seat.

About the Santhals tribes

  • As per the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), Bhubaneswar, the word ‘Santhal’ is derived from two words; ‘Santha’ meaning calm and peaceful and ‘ala’ meaning man. 
  • The Santhals were a nomadic stock before they chose to settle in the Chotanagpur plateau.
  • By the end of the 18th century, they had concentrated in the Santhal Parganas of Jharkhand (earlier Bihar).
  • From there, they migrated to Odisha and West Bengal.
  • Santhals are the third largest scheduled tribe community in India after the Gonds and Bhils. 
  • Their population is mostly distributed in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The Office of the President of India

  • The President of the Republic of India is the head of the Indian state, and commander in chief of all the Indian Armed Forces.
  • The President of India is indirectly elected by the directly elected members of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, and the legislative assemblies of the states and union territories of India.
  • The President of India has been granted the responsibility and authority to protect the Constitution.

The Presidents of India

Name of the President

Tenure

Rajendra Prasad

1950-1962

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

1962-1967

Zakir Hussain

1967-1969

VV Giri

1969-1974

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

1974-1977

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

1977-1982

Zail Singh

1982-1987

Ramaswamy Venkataraman

1987-1992

Shankar Dayal Sharma

1992-1997

KR Narayan

1997-2002

APJ Abdul Kalam

2002-2007

Prathiba Patil

2007-2012

Pranab Mukherjee

2012-2017

Ram Nath Kovind

2017-2022

 

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