By Mumtaz Alam, IndiaTomorrow.net,

New Delhi / Ranchi, 19 May 2015: The 57-year-old Draupadi Murmu, who took oath as the Governor of Jharkhand on Monday, is the first woman to get the highest post in the 14-year history of the state, and is also perhaps the youngest of all governors in the country today.

Odisha native Draupadi, who comes from the Scheduled Tribes community, began her career in government service. After serving as Honorary Asst. Teacher in Shri Aravindo Integral Education and Research, Rairangpur, Odisha and then as Jr. Asst. in the Irrigation and Power Dept., Govt. of Odisha, Droupadi moved to politics and never turned back.

Born in June 1958, Draupadi holds a Bachelor Degree.

She made her political debut in 1997 when she won as Councillor and became Vice- Chairperson of Rairangpur NAC (Notified Area Council or Nagar Panchayat).

The same year she became Vice-President of Odisha Scheduled Tribes Morcha of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently ruling the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Droupadi has since been moving up in the state and national leadership hierarchy of BJP.

She entered the Odisha state assembly in 2000 as she won Rairangpur seat on BJP’s ticket and became minister in the Naveen Patnaik government, of which BJP was a coalition partner. 

In 2013, she was appointed National Executive Member of S.T. Morcha of BJP – the post she held till 10th April 2015.

On 18^th May, Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court Justice Virendra Singh administered Draupadi the oath of office in Raj Bhavan. Dignitaries present on the occasion included Chief Minister Raghuvar Das, several ministers and former chief ministers Arjun Munda and Shibu Soren.

She has succeeded Syed Ahmed, who will take over as Governor of Manipur.