Nirmal Munda

Nirmal Munda (1893 - 2 January 1973) was an Indian agrarian leader, a freedom fighter and a World War I veteran. He was the leader of the Munda agitation of 1937–39, who organised the tribals of Gangpur to refuse to pay exorbitant taxes and demanded khuntkatti rights.

Early life Munda was born in 1893 in Bartoli village in the former princely state of Gangpur (now in Sundergarh district, Odisha) in the Munda family of father Marha Munda and mother Gomi Munda. He received lower primary education at Bartoli. For his upper primary education, he went to Rajgangpur. After completion of upper primary education, he went to Karanjo (now in Jharkhand) for middle education. After that, in 1917, he went to Ranchi GEL Church High School. While studying in high school, he was recruited by the British Army and left for France on 17 November 1917, during the First World War. He returned to Bartoli in July 1919. Soon, scuffles broke out and the crowd armed with lathis, axes and other crude weapons resisted the arrest of their leader. The police, finding the situation unfavorable, opened fire upon the crowd. This led to the death of 49 and injured many. The dead bodies were given a mass burial at Brahmanmaara. Some sources suggest that the number of deaths were higher.

Commemoration Proposed Statue of Nirmal Munda at Vedvyas Chowk