Droupadi Murmu President of India

Record · Awards and Recognition

Honours conferred

One award from her own legislature, three state honours from foreign republics, one civic honour and four honorary doctorates. Every entry below is verified; nothing has been added to lengthen the list.

A necessary note

Who confers, and who receives

India’s civilian honours — the Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards — are conferred by the President. They are not conferred on a sitting President. The same is true of the gallantry decorations of the armed forces, which are presented by the President as Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces.

What appears below, therefore, is of two kinds: the award made to her by the Odisha Legislative Assembly during her legislative career, and the honours conferred on her as Head of State by other countries and their institutions during State visits.

I — India

Recognition by her own legislature

  • 2007Odisha Legislative Assembly

    Nilkantha Award — Best Member of the Legislative Assembly

    Conferred by. The Odisha Legislative Assembly.

    Context. The award recognises the best member of the House for the year. It is decided within the legislature on the assessment of a member’s conduct, attendance and contribution to proceedings, rather than by public vote or party nomination.

    Significance. It remains the principal domestic distinction of her career, and the only one conferred during her years in electoral politics. She received it three years after leaving ministerial office and two years before her unsuccessful parliamentary contest.

President Droupadi Murmu with the President of Fiji, who wears the collar of the Order of Fiji, and members of the Indian and Fijian delegations
Suva, August 2024. With the President of Fiji during the first visit by an Indian Head of State to the country.

August 2024 · Fiji

Companion of the Order of Fiji

On 6 August 2024, during the first visit by an Indian Head of State to Fiji, President Droupadi Murmu was made a Companion of the Order of Fiji — the highest civilian honour the Republic of Fiji confers — by President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere.

On the same visit she addressed the Parliament of Fiji. The relationship between the two countries rests substantially on a shared history: Indians were brought to Fiji under the indenture system from 1879, and their descendants form a large part of the country’s population.

The full record of State visits

II — State honours conferred abroad

Three republics, three orders

A state honour conferred on a visiting Head of State is a diplomatic act as much as a personal one. In each case below the honour is the highest, or among the highest, that the conferring country awards.

  • 5 June 2023Paramaribo, Suriname

    Grand Order of the Chain of the Yellow Star

    Conferred by. President Chandrikapersad Santokhi of the Republic of Suriname.

    Context. Conferred during the first State visit by an Indian President to Suriname, which coincided with the commemoration of the arrival of Indian indentured labourers in the country in 1873. It is Suriname’s highest national honour.

  • 6 August 2024Suva, Fiji

    Companion of the Order of Fiji

    Conferred by. President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere of the Republic of Fiji.

    Context. The highest civilian honour of Fiji, conferred during the first visit by an Indian Head of State to the country. She also addressed the Parliament of Fiji on the same visit.

  • 10 August 2024Dili, Timor-Leste

    Grand-Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste

    Conferred by. President José Ramos-Horta of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

    Context. The highest civilian award of Timor-Leste, conferred during the first visit by an Indian President to the country. The citation recognised her public service and her work in education, social welfare and the empowerment of women.

III — Civic honour

The freedom of a city

  • April 2025Lisbon, Portugal

    Key of Honour of the City of Lisbon, and honorary citizenship

    Conferred by. The City of Lisbon.

    Context. Presented during the first State visit by an Indian President to Portugal in twenty-seven years, in the year marking fifty years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

IV — Honorary doctorates

Conferred by universities abroad

Four universities have conferred honorary degrees during State visits. The citations consistently name the same three grounds: public service, social inclusion, and the education and empowerment of women.

  • 2024University of Mauritius

    Honorary Doctor of Civil Law

    Conferred during her State visit to Mauritius in March 2024, when she was Chief Guest at the country’s National Day celebrations.

  • October 2024Algiers, Algeria

    Honorary Doctorate in Political Science

    Conferred by the Sidi Abdellah Science and Technology Pole University during the first visit by an Indian President to Algeria in thirty-nine years.

  • April 2025Nitra, Slovakia

    Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa)

    Conferred by Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, in recognition of her career in public service and governance, her advocacy of social justice and inclusion, and her contribution to education, the empowerment of women, and the preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity.

  • July 2026Bucharest, Romania

    Honorary Doctorate

    Conferred by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies during her State visit to Romania, in recognition of her contribution to public life, education and social inclusion, and to the strengthening of relations between India and Romania. She used the occasion to call for closer academic cooperation between the two countries.

Verification. Every honour listed on this page is drawn from announcements of the President’s Secretariat, the Ministry of External Affairs, the conferring government or institution, or contemporaneous reporting of the visit at which it was conferred. Honours that could not be verified against such a source have been omitted.

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Reference Milestones The full chronology, with context for each entry. The Record Official Engagements The visits at which these honours were conferred. Assessment Legacy Historical significance, considered carefully.