Jharkhand Government launches Shaheed Gram Vikas Yojana

The state government of Jharkhand launched the ‘Shaheed Gram Vikas Yojana’ on 18 September 2017 to develop villages of freedom fighters.

The initiative was inaugurated by Amit Shah along with Jharkhand Chief Minister at Ulihatu Village of the state, where Jharkhand's tribal icon and freedom fighter - Birsa Munda was born. Speaking on the occasion, Amit Shah said, “If we can't give a developed village to the descendants of the great Birsa Munda and so many others like Nilamber-Pitamber and Siddo Kanu, then we will not be able to return their debt. Not only Jharkhand, but entire India is indebted to their sacrifice, as they kept raising their voices against the British from time-to-time.”

Key Highlights

• Under the scheme, villages of many tribal freedom fighters will be developed and their habitants will be provided with basic amenities.

• The concerned villages have remained inaccessible for a long time after Independence because of Left-wing extremism.

• The current scheme will now provide the inhabitants of the Ulihatu village with 136 pucca houses.

• The pucca houses will include two rooms, a verandah, bathroom and a toilet each.

Besides this, Shah gave away gas connections, solar lamps to some of the descendants of the freedom fighter. He also planted saplings at the site along with Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

About Birsa Munda

• Birsa Munda was an Indian tribal freedom fighter, religious leader and folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe.

• He is known for spearheading an Indian indigenous tribal religious millenarian movement that arose in the tribal belt of modern-day Bihar and Jharkhand in the late 19th century against British Raj.

• He led a series of revolts and uprisings to assert rights of the Mundas as the real proprietors of the soil and the expulsion of middlemen and the British.

• He is the only tribal leader with the honour of having  his portrait hung in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament.

• He was arrested by the Britishers on 3 February 1900 and died in mysterious conditions on 9 June 1900 in Ranchi Jail. The British government declared that he died because of cholera even though he didn’t show any symptoms of the disease.

• Birsa in his short lifespan of 25 years managed to arouse the mind-set of tribals and mobilise them in a small town of Chotanagpur against the British rule.