Who is Draupadi Murmu? Everything you should know about BJP Presidential candidate
New Delhi: Draupadi Murmu was on Tuesday nominated as the Presidential candidate of the ruling NDA. She will be pitted against former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha who was nominated as the candidate of opposition earlier in the day.
Murmu is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a tribal leader from Odisha. She was the first woman Governor of Jharkhand. The 64-year-old Murmu will also become the first tribal woman to hold the office of the President of India.
Elections to choose the next President will be held on July 18, the counting on July 21. The new President will take oath on July 25, the Election Commission has said.
Murmu was also a contender for the post and was a forerunner in the build-up to the Presidential polls in 2017 but the BJP had given its nod to then Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, who happened to be a Dalit.
The first woman Governor of Jharkhand, Draupadi Murmu started her political career as a councilor.
A two-time BJP legislator from Odisha, Murmu was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet when the Biju Janata Dal or BJD ruled the state with the support of the BJP.
She also headed the BJP's Mayurbhanj district unit in Odisha and represented Rairangpur in the Odisha assembly.
Murmu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rama Devi Women's College, Bhubaneswar. Before she joined politics in 1997, she worked as an honorary assistant professor in the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research, Rairangpur, and as a junior assistant in the irrigation department of Odisha.
Her political journey began in 1997 when she was elected councilor in the Rairangpur district in Odisha. The same year she went on to become the Vice-Chairperson of Rairangpur. Just three years later, she was elected from the same constituency of Rairangpur to the state assembly.
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Suspected drones observed along IB in Jammu's Samba, being engaged: Army
Jammu, May 12 (PTI): Security forces are engaging suspected drones observed along the International Border in Samba district of Jammu region on Monday, an Army said.
This fresh incident of drone activity along the borderline comes barely hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first address to the nation following Operation Sindoor and the meeting of the DGMOs of India and Pakistan.
The Army, however, said there is no need to be alarmed.
“A small number of suspected drones have been observed near Samba in J&K. They are being engaged,” it said.
In the backdrop of the situation, several areas witnessed blackouts in Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Jammu.
Lights were switched off at the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi and along its track as a precautionary measure, sources said.
On Monday, talks between the DGMOs were held during which issues related to the continuing commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive or inimical action against each other were discussed, the Indian Army said.
It was also agreed that both sides would consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction along the borders and in forward areas, it added.
The situation remained largely peaceful across Jammu and Kashmir, with no incidents of ceasefire violation reported along the Indo-Pak border Sunday overnight — marking the first calm night after 18 days of hostilities following the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people — mostly tourists — dead.
India and Pakistan on Saturday reached an understanding to cease all firing and military actions on land, air, and sea with immediate effect, following four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes that brought the two countries to the brink of full-scale war.
Eighteen days of intense hostilities following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, which brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war, ended with a ceasefire that restored calm along the Line of Control, the International Border, and the hinterland in Jammu and Kashmir. The Army thwarted Pakistan’s Hamas-style kamikaze drone attacks during the escalation.
Since the night of April 24, hours after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistani troops repeatedly targeted Indian positions along the LoC — beginning in the Kashmir Valley and quickly expanding to the Jammu region.
The latest hostilities began in the northern districts of Kupwara and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley, before spreading southwards to Rajouri, Poonch, Akhnoor, and the Pargwal sector along the International Border in Jammu district. The firing affected five border districts — Baramulla, Kupwara, Poonch, Rajouri, and Jammu.
The recent round of cross-border firing further undermined the ceasefire agreement reached in February 2021, which has largely been seen as ineffective due to Pakistan’s frequent violations along the 740-km-long LoC.
The April 22 terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people — mostly tourists — in Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley, triggered a strong response from the central government.
The India-Pakistan border stretches over 3,300 kilometers, divided into three segments: the International Border (IB), spanning about 2,400 km from Gujarat to Akhnoor in Jammu; the 740-km-long Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir; and the 110-km-long Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), which separates the Siachen Glacier region.
WATCH: OP Sindoor continues. Minutes after PM Speech.
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) May 12, 2025
A small numbers of suspected drones being observed near Samba in J&K. Being engaged . pic.twitter.com/jmGmRkmQ26
