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Draupadi Murmu is an amazing a woman of tribal (Santhal) origin, the BJP nominee for President of India and the ex-Governor of Jharkhand.
Draupadi Murmu, a formidable bosslady, whose absence creates an undeniable hollow in Jharkhand, could usher a new era in Odia rajniti (politics). She has recently been nominated as the BJP candidate for the position of President of India.
A woman with an illustrious career, Draupadi Murmu has transcended all stereotypical bounds, and deserves to be lauded.
Draupadi Murmu started her career as a teacher, and went on to become the first woman to hold the office of Governor in Jharkhand, and is the first tribal leader to hold this office in any Indian state. Her presence is widely known to transpire a positive and lively aura around her.
An alumnus of the Rama Devi Women’s college, she is known widely for her proactive contribution to social and philanthropic causes, and community upliftment.
Draupadi Murmu was the only one, among three siblings, who pursued higher education in Odisha’s capital city. She would dream of studying and supporting her family, an aspiration that her grandmother too shared with her. However, poverty was the least of her problems.
Post marriage, she did not have adequate support from her in-laws to continue her job. So, she took up the honorary position of Assistant Professor at Shri Aurobindo Integral Education & Research, Rairangpur, where she continued to work on a pro-bono basis to promote social, cultural and educational rights.
Soon after, she joined the irrigation department of Odisha as a Junior Assistant and continued to advocate tribal rights, child rights, and women’s empowerment. Murmu has been heard saying in an interview that she could have never imagined traversing the path of politics to reach such heights that she has achieved today, back in those times.
Making her political debut at a time when politics was a difficult career choice for women, she won the seat of Councillor and Vice-Chairman of Rairangpur Notified Area Council (‘NAC’) in 1997. She has never turned back since.
Today, she strongly advocates 50% reservation for women in politics.
An astute politician hailing from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community, she also became the Vice-President of State Scheduled Tribes wing of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in 1997. She won her first legislative assembly seat from Rairangpur in 2000 and became a minister of state in the Naveen Pattnaik led coalition with BJP.
During the ministerial stint, she remained in charge of the Dept. of Transport & Commerce until 2002. She continued as a minister of the Dept. of Fisheries & Animal Husbandry under Govt. Of Odisha until 2004.
It is pertinent to note that Draupadi Murmu held prominent positions in the party, conventionally held by men, in the decade of 2000 to 2010. She became a National Executive member of BJP ST wing in 2002 and went on to become the State President of the wing until 2009.
She was then elected as District President, BJP of Mayurbhanj (Odisha) in 2010, and re-elected in 2013. Furthermore, she continued in the position until she became the Governor of Jharkhand in 2015.
It must be noted that she was awarded the prestigious ‘Nilakantha award’ for the best MLA in 2007 by the legislative assembly of Odisha.
She is the first Governor of Jharkhand to complete the five-year term, and had also been projected for the Presidential candidature.
Having lost her husband and two of her children, Draupadi Murmu’s personal life has been through and out, marked with tragedies that too failed to deter her aspirations. She has, despite all setbacks, remained a woman of mettle and an epitome of resolve and tenacity for everyone, irrespective of caste, class, or gender.
Swift as a deer, and blessed with the vision of a hawk, the state of Odisha witnesses the homecoming of its unsung heroine.
Draupadi Murmu presenting Samvidhan: Ek Vishleshan- a book on the Constitution of India, by the acclaimed Maithili author Shri Vidyanand Jha, to the President of India His Excellency Ram Nath Kovind and his wife, Savita Kovind.
She is the second person (first person from Scheduled Tribe Presidential nominated candidate was Purno Sangma), belonging to a scheduled tribe, to be nominated as a candidate to the post of President of India.
She became President of India and was elected as the head of state in a historic moment that took place in June 2022. The election of a president signifies the trust and confidence that the people have placed in her leadership abilities.
She took office on July 25th of 2022, becoming the first tribal president who also happened to be the youngest person to hold her position and the second female president of India.
As the president, Draupadi Murmu is responsible for representing the nation, upholding the constitution, and making decisions that impact the country’s direction. Her election as the first tribal president marked a significant milestone in her political career and course of Indian history. She is representing a key moment in the democratic process of this country.
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Author’s note: The aforementioned facts are based on publicly available information only.
Image source: The office of the President of India
Trisha is an Advocate & Columnist. She is also a member of the academia at Harvard Business Review and Cambridge University Press. read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Being a writer, Nivedita Louis recognises the struggles of a first-time woman writer and helps many articulate their voice with development, content edits as a publisher.
“I usually write during night”, says author Nivedita Louis during our conversation. Chuckling she continues,” It’s easier then to focus solely on writing. Nivedita Louis is a writer, with varied interests and one of the founders of Her Stories, a feminist publishing house, based in Chennai.
In a candid conversation she shared her journey from small-town Tamil Nadu to becoming a history buff, an award-winning author and now a publisher.
Nivedita was born and raised in a small town in Tamil Nadu. It was for schooling that she first arrived in Chennai. Then known as Madras, she recalls being awed by the city. Her love-story with the city, its people and thus began which continues till date. She credits her perseverance and passion to make a difference to her days as a vocational student among the elite sections of Madras.
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