Birsa Munda Martyr’s Day:
Prime Minister (PM) paid tribute to Bhagwan Birsa Munda on 9th June 2025 on the occasion of his Martyr’s Day.
- Birsa Munda was a tribal leader, religious reformer, and freedom fighter who led a strong resistance against British colonial policies in the Chotanagpur region.
- He was also known as Dharti Abba (Father of the Earth), he is remembered for mobilising Adivasi communities around land rights, social reform, and spiritual unity.
- Born on 15th November 1875 in Ulihatu (Khunti district, Jharkhand) to a poor Munda tribal sharecropper family, Birsa was initially named Daud Munda due to his father’s temporary conversion to Christianity.
- Birsa mobilised tribal masses against these injustices and campaigned to reclaim their rights.
- The Ulgulan Movement (1895–1900): In 1895, Birsa Munda was arrested for rioting and jailed for 2 years; after his release in 1897, he resumed mobilising support across villages for a tribal-led self-rule movement.
- In 1899, he launched the Ulgulan (The Great Tumult) movement, which included guerrilla warfare tactics to resist British authority and promote the establishment of a self-governed tribal state known as “Birsa Raj”
- He was captured in February 1900 and died in British custody on 9th June 1900 at the young age of 25, under mysterious circumstances, officially attributed to cholera.
- His movement led to the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (1908), which recognised tribal land rights (Khuntkatti), banned land transfer to non-tribals, and abolished beth begari (forced labour).
- Since 2021, 15th November is observed as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas (Tribal Pride Day).
