P. A. Chacko S.J.
Dr. Ramdayal Munda was an earnest proponent of indigenous people’s existence and identity.
He was born on Aug.23, 1939 in Diuri village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, eastern India.
Popularly known as R. D. Munda, he was a man of many parts. He was honoured with Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award in 2010 for his contribution to the field of art.
As an Indian scholar and regional musical expert, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 2007. For his tribal linguistic studies he got his PhD from Chicago University. He was subsequently appointed in the Department of South-Asian Studies.
Later, he merited to become the vice-chancellor of Ranchi University in 1985. He was also a Member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament.
His love for the cause of the tribals had led him to opt for anthropology as his subject for higher education. Later, this formation was an asset for him when he was asked by the then vice-Chancellor Kumar Suresh Singh of Ranchi University to open a department for Tribal Languages and Linguistics in the University. Through this department Munda contributed a solid intellectual base for the Jharkhand Movement that went on to give more steam to the longstanding demand for a new Jharkhand state. As beneficiaries of this department, many students graduated to form All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU).
Munda became a medium of political dialogue between the state and the movement of the people. At the UN Working Group on Indigenous People at Geneva and at the UN Forum of Indigenous Issues in New York he was a policy maker.
He retired in 1999. In his retirement age, he was overjoyed to see the formation of the new Jharkhand state on Nov. 15, 2000. He could be considered one of the main intellectual and socio-political architects of the new state which was his cherished and highly advocated dream.
As a voluminous writer, he has to his credit 53 publications dealing with various tribal issues, socio-political subjects, linguistics, music and art.
Having had occasions to meet him at meetings and listen to him, I admired him for his great tribal characteristic of geniality and friendliness. Without any anger or rancour, he would face his critics with a gentle smile and a firm answer.
As a monumental honour to Munda, Jharkhand’s noteworthy documentary film makers Biju Toppo and Meghnath Bhattacharya brought out ‘Naachi Se Baanchi – Those who dance will survive’, a documentary movie on the life and the works of Dr Ramdayal Munda.
Munda lives on in the hearts of all Jharkhandis and admirers as a milestone in the line of Jharkhand’s great heroes like Birsa Munda, Jaipal Singh and many other such noteworthy persons!