Amid debate over Adivasi identity, recalling the icon who helped define it: Birsa Munda

📌 Summary:

• On Birsa Munda's death anniversary (June 9), tribal organisations in Jharkhand pledged to "protect his legacy" amid renewed demands for "delisting" — removing tribal converts to Christianity/Islam from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list
• The latest delisting demand was raised at a tribal gathering attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah; the debate centres on Adivasi identity, religion, land rights and self-governance
• Birsa Munda (b. Nov 15, 1875, Ulihatu, Khunti district): revered as "Dharti Aba" (Father of the Earth); led the Ulgulan ("Great Tumult"), a movement against colonial rule and "diku" (non-tribal outsider) zamindars
• Cause: colonial land policies (e.g., Permanent Settlement, 1793) empowered revenue intermediaries, eroding customary tenure systems like Khuntkatti → indebtedness, dispossession, forced labour among Munda/Oraon Adivasis
• Influences: his father associated with the earlier Sardari movement; Birsa studied at missionary schools (Christian name "Daud"/David) before articulating a distinct vision of Adivasi identity, autonomy and self-rule (Adivasi disum)
• Historiography: K S Singh (Birsa Munda and His Movement) saw him as religious reformer + social mobiliser + political leader; Joseph Bara stresses he was more than an agrarian-uprising leader
• His prominence grew around the creation of Jharkhand (2000); today a central icon in debates on tribal identity and rights

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS1 History (tribal movements against colonialism) and Society (tribal identity, ST delisting debate); links to Forest Rights and self-governance (PESA) themes.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Birsa Munda: born Nov 15, 1875, Ulihatu (Khunti, Jharkhand); led the Ulgulan; titled "Dharti Aba"
• "Diku" = non-tribal outsiders; "Khuntkatti" = traditional Munda communal land tenure
• Permanent Settlement, 1793 — colonial revenue system that eroded Adivasi land rights
• Jharkhand created in 2000; Nov 15 observed as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas / Birsa's birth anniversary

🔑 Key Term: Ulgulan ("Great Tumult") — Birsa Munda-led 1890s revolt asserting Adivasi land rights and self-rule against colonial and zamindari encroachment.