Draupadi Murmu took oath as the 15th President of India. She is now the first tribal and the second Woman to be the president of India. In the Central Hall of the Parliament, Draupadi Murmu administered the Oath by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior politicians.
Key Points
Draupadi Murmu was nominated by the National Democratic Alliance.
She was the former governor of Jharkhand and the first female governor of Jharkhand.
Her opponent in the Presidential election was Yashwant Sinha, whom she defeated by a considerable margin.
She got the lead in the second round of counting where she won 809 votes of MLAs out of 1138 in 10 states.
About Droupadi Murmu:
Draupadi Murmu was born in a Santhali tribe community of a village in Mayurbhanj district, Odisha.
She started working as a school teacher and then as a government clerk.
She joined politics in 1997 with Bhartiya Janata Party.
She was the Councilor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat, and in 2000, she became the chairman.
She also served as the National Vice President of BJP schedule Tribes Morcha.
Draupadi Murmu was appointed as the Governor of Jharkhand on 9th May 2015. She became the first female governor of Jharkhand.
Here is a look at the salary and other benefits she is entitled to as the first citizen of the country
The salary of the President of India has increased to Rs 5 lakh per month in the 2018 Union budget India.
Perks and allowances
The President will get free housing, medical care, and Rs 1 lakh annually for office expenditures.
She gets to travel free by train or by air anywhere in the world. The president also gets secretarial support from two peons, a private secretary, and a personal assistant.
Residence
Rashtrapati Bhavan is the official residence of the President. The sprawling residence has 340 rooms and a floor area of 2,00,000 square feet. The president has two official retreats where she can go on vacation. One is in Shimla’s Mashobra and the other is in Hyderabad’s Bolarum
Security
The President gets a custom-built Black Mercedes Benz S600 (W221) Pullman Guard with a state-of-the-art security system. The car, which doesn’t have a licence plate, is bullet and shockproof. It is built to withstand bombs, gas attacks and other explosives. The President is guarded by the President’s Bodyguard, an elite unit of the Indian Armed Forces.
Retirement benefits
The pension is Rs 2.5 lakh per month. The President also gets other retirement benefits including one rent-free bungalow, two free landlines and a mobile phone, five personal staff, Rs 60,000 a year for the expenses of the staff, and free travel with a companion by train or air.
