Page 10 - Lessonnote_ Social Movement

JHARKHAND

 Jharkhand is one of the newly formed states of India, carved out of south Bihar in the year
2000. Behind the formation of this state lies more than a century of resistance.
 The social movement for Jharkhand had a charismatic leader in Birsa Munda, an adivasi
who led a major uprising against the British.
 After his death, Birsa became an important icon of the movement. Stories and songs about
him can be found all over Jharkhand. The memory of Birsa’s struggle was also kept alive by
writing.
 Christian missionaries working in south Bihar were responsible for spreading literacy in the
area. Literate adivasis began to research and write about their history and myths.
 They documented and disseminated information about tribal customs and cultural
practices. This helped create a unified ethnic consciousness and a shared identity as
Jharkhandis.
 Literate adivasis were also in a position to get government jobs so that, over time, a
middle-class adivasi intellectual leadership emerged that formulated the demand for a
separate state and lobbied for it in India and abroad.
 Within south Bihar, adivasis shared a common hatred of dikus – migrant traders and
money-lenders who had settled in the area and grabbed its wealth, impoverishing the
original residents.
 Most of the benefits from the mining and industrial projects in this mineral-rich region had
gone to dikus even as adivasi lands had been alienated.

 Adivasi experiences of marginalisation and their sense of injustice were mobilised to
create a shared Jharkhandi identity and inspire collective action that eventually led to the
formation of a separate state.

The issues against which the leaders of the movement in Jharkand agitated were:
 Acquisition of land for large irrigation projects and firing ranges;
 Survey and settlement operations, which were held up, camps closed down etc.
 Collection of loans, rent and cooperative dues, which were resisted;
 Nationalisation of forest produce which they boycotted

THE NORTH EAST

 The process of state formation initiated by the Indian government following the
attainment of independence generated disquieting trends in all the major hill districts in
the region.
 Conscious of their distinct identity and traditional autonomy the tribes were unsure of
being incorporated within the administrative machinery of Assam.

 One of the key issues that bind tribal movements from different parts of the country is the
alienation of tribals from forest lands.