Ram Dayal Munda

Ram Dayal (23 August 1939 – 30 September 2011), known as R. D., was an Indian scholar, regional music exponent and activist. He was awarded the Padma Shri of the year 2010 for his contribution to the field of art. In 2007, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He died in Ranchi on 30 September 2011. and was subsequently appointed in the faculty of Department of South Asian Studies. Later, at the request of then Vice-Chancellor, Kumar Suresh Singh, he started a Department of Tribal and Regional Languages.

Activism The department was the rallying point for all social politico activists engaged in finding out ways to change the internal colonial situation the people of Jharkhand were faced with. Many students passed out from the department and formed a body "All Jharkhand Students Union" (AJSU) pushing for formation of an intellectual base for the maintenance of the Jharkhand Movement which was already going at that time. This indirectly contributed to Munda's appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University in 1985. As a result, he became a medium of political dialogue between the state and the movement of the people. Therefore, the Committee on Jharkhand Matters was formed to initiate the formation of the new state of Jharkhand. His motorcycle tour of Jharkhand with his friend B.P. Kesari has been neatly captured in the latter's travel memoir Main Jharkhand Mein Hoon. In 2017, documentary filmmakers Biju Toppo and Meghnath brought out 'Naachi Se Baanchi- Those who dance will survive', a documentary movie on the life and the works of Dr Ram Dayal Munda.