Kariya Munda (born 20 April 1936) is an Indian politician and the former

Deputy Speaker The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

of the

15th Lok Sabha Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee. Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previou ...

. He has been a former minister in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

, in the Governments led by the Janata Party in 1977 and by Bhartiya Janata Party, from 1999 onwards.

Early life

Munda was born in

Khunti district Khunti district is one of the twenty-four districts in South Chotanagpur division of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The district of Khunti was carved out of Ranchi district on 12 September 2007. , it is the second least populous district of Jhark ...

, near the State capital of Ranchi of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

state in India. Khunti is among the predominantly tribal belt in the central-eastern part of India. Incidentally, the village 'Ulihatu' near Khunti, is also the birthplace of the legendary, great tribal leader called

Birsa Munda Birsa Munda (15 November 1875 – 9 June 1900) was an Indian tribal freedom fighter, and folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe. He spearheaded a tribal religious millenarian movement that arose in the Bengal Presidency (now Jharkhand) in ...

. Munda passed his M.A. examination from

Ranchi University Ranchi University is a public state university in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. It was established in 1960 by an Act of the Bihar legislature. Ranchi University offers degrees in undergraduate, post-graduate, M.Phil. and doctorate programs. History ...

, in Anthropology, a subject which also predominantly studies the tribals in India and elsewhere.

Political career

Lok Sabha elections

Munda was 1st elected to the

6th Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. The 6th Lok Sabha, which ran from 23 March 1977 to 22 August 1979 was elected in February and March 1977. 11 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 6t ...

in 1977 from

Khunti Khunti is the headquarter of Khunti district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is in South Chotanagpur division and one of the 24 districts in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The district of Khunti was carved out of Ranchi district on 12 Sept ...

constituency in

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

state (presently, in

state). He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2009 from the same constituency of Khunti. In between, he was also elected and served as MLA to the Legislative Assemblies of Bihar and later, Jharkhand. Needless to say, being a representative of the people so repetitively, he has been equally popular among all sections of the society. He was inducted into the

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

government in 1977 and given the portfolio of Steel Ministry, in the capacity as the Minister of State. He was a cabinet minister in the ministry headed by

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

, including the famous stint in the 13 days' government in 1999 and afterward. He has now been among the senior leaders of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

, rising from the days of the 'Jansangh' and have witnessed many ups and downs in Indian politics, particularly since the days of emergency. He was one of the candidates in the race to become first

Chief Minister of Jharkhand The Chief Minister of Jharkhand is the chief executive of the Indian state of Jharkhand. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief ministe ...

at the time of its establishment in November 2000 but lost of

Babulal Marandi Babulal Marandi (; born 11 January 1958) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand and current Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. He was the founder a ...

and became the Minister for Agro and Rural Industries from September 2001 to January 2003 and Minister of Coal and Non-Conventional Energy Sources in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's third cabinet. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he lost

seat to

Sushila Kerketta Sushila Kerketta (27 April 1939 – 19 October 2009) was a member of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha from 1985 to 2000 and also in Lok sabha from Khunti. She held several important portfolios in the Bihar government. She was minister of state for irri ...

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. He won the Khijri Vidhan Sabha seat in

2005 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election The 2005 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election was held in three phases from 3 to 23 February 2005 to elect the 81 members of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. It was the first election held in Jharkhand to elect the Second Jharkhand Legislat ...

. During

, Munda was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha. He won the Khunti constituency for the 7th time in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Pathalgadi movement against tribal land law amendments

In 2016–2017, the

Raghubar Das ministry This is a list of minister from Raghubar Das cabinets starting from 28 December 2014. Raghubar Das is a politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 28 December 2014. On 28 December 2 ...

was seeking amendments to the ''Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908'', and the ''Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949.'' These two original laws had safeguarded the rights of the tribal communities on their land. According to the existing laws the land transactions could only be done between the tribals. The new amendments gave the tribals the right to allow the government to make commercial use of the tribal land and to take the tribal land on lease. The proposed bill amending the existing law had been approved by the

Jharkhand Legislative Assembly The Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha or the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Jharkhand. List of assemblies See also *List of Chief Ministers of Jharkhand *List of constituencies of the Jharkhand Legislative Asse ...

. The bills were sent to Murmu for approval in November 2016. The tribal people had strongly objected to the proposed law. During the Pathalgardi rebellion, protests were held against the proposed amendments to the tenancy acts. In one incident the protests turned violent and the tribals abducted the security detail of BJP MP Karia Munda. Police responded with violent crackdown on the tribals, that caused the death of a tribal man. Criminal cases were filed against more than 200 people including the tribal rights activist Father

Stan Swamy Stanislaus Lourduswamy, SJ (26 April 1937 – 5 July 2021), popularly known as Stan Swamy, was an Indian Catholic priest, a member of the Jesuit order, and a tribal rights activist for several decades. Swamy was the oldest person to be accuse ...

. Murmu, was criticized for her soft stand on police aggression against tribals during the movement. Being a tribal herself, Murmu was expected to speak up to the government in support of the tribals but it did not happen, and instead she appealed to the Pathalgarhi agitation leaders to repose faith in the constitution. Murmu had received total of 192 memorandums against the amendments in the bill. Then opposition leader

Hemant Soren Hemant Soren (born 10 August 1975) is an Indian politician from Jharkhand, who is currently the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Previously, he had also served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from July 2013 to December 2014. He is also the presid ...

had said that the BJP government wanted to acquire tribal land through the two amendment Bills for the benefit of corporates. Opposition parties Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and others had put intense pressure against the bill. On 24 May 2017, Murmu relented and refused to give assent to the bills and returned the bill to the state government along with the memorandums she had received. The bill was later withdrawn in August 2017.

2019 Lok Sabha elections

He was one of the few elderly leaders of

who was denied a ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Notes

References

Biographical Sketch: Member of Parliament: 13th Lok Sabha
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munda, Kariya Living people 1936 births Munda people Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Jharkhand Deputy Speakers of the Lok Sabha People from Khunti district Jharkhand MLAs 2005–2009 India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2014–2019 Ranchi University alumni Lok Sabha members from Jharkhand Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in public affairs Coal Ministers of India