Around 95% of these families living in a sorry state in Khulna’s Koyra are landless
The British rulers brought the Mundas from West Bengal and Orissa to Khulna's Koyra area in the mid-eighteenth century. In Bangladesh, Mundas are present in the Sylhet region and the northern districts of Bogra, Naogaon, Rajshahi and Dinajpur, said 80-year-old Atul Munda.
They are hardworking and punctual. From fishing in the Sundarbans to planting and collecting crops in the fields, women are the main drivers of change but yet neglected and discriminated against.
When a natural disaster like an embankment collapse, river erosion, storm, tidal wave or cyclone comes, the Mundas have to deal with the first blow from the front. They live on the banks of the Sundarbans of Koyra. Many of them do not have enough wealth to own a piece of land.
Anjali Munda of Patharkhali village said that due to living on the banks of the river, they are affected by disasters. But they remain in the back row when it comes to getting compensation. They have to get nominal compensation by protesting to public representatives.
Another elderly Munda, who did not want to be named, said that they are deprived of all the support provided by the government, including Tk10 per kg of rice, VGD and VGF schemes. Women cannot know about all these things because they cannot go out. Many of them do not even get the old-age allowance.
Earlier, their main livelihood was cutting trees in the Sundarbans to build human settlements, fishing in rivers and farming. Many of them have left their original professions and opted for other lines of work. People of this community are adept at working hard in adverse environments.
The British rulers had brought them to this country to build clean markets and cities and also to cut down the forests of the plains and make them suitable for agriculture. Over time, the profession of the Munda community also changed the way of work. Since then, they have built settlements along the various rivers of the region.
At present, there are more than 490 families in this underprivileged community in Koyra Sadar, North Bedkashi and South Bedkashi unions. In Satkhira, around 420 Munda families live in Shyamnagar. Around 95% of these families are landless, said Ashikuzzaman, head of the Global Development and Research Initiative (GDRII), a private organization working with adivasis in Koyra. Throughout the country, their number is 15,000-20,000.
Wage disparity
The Munda community is still a male-dominated society, for which women are still lagging. They cannot make decisions or comment. If the male member goes out for work, the women and children of the family are in danger. They are abused and humiliated in their own homes. There are also instances of rape.
Saraswati Munda and Kakali Munda said that most of the Munda women of Koyra are day labourers. Both husband and wife are traditional labourers.
Birinchi Munda said that the male Mundas believe that women can do less work, and the discrimination in labour wage continues.
Nikhil Munda said his family lives at the confluence of the Kapotaksha and Shakbaria rivers. The storms cause damage to houses. Five years ago, his house was destroyed in a storm. Then he built a new house, but it was damaged in Cyclone Amphan.
Sandhya Rani Munda said she works on other people's land all day and in return, she gets one meal and Tk250 wage. Even though they do equal work with male workers in the field, they do not get equal wages.
She said she is struggling to run a family with a son and a daughter on her husband's income. For this, she went to work with her husband's permission.
A 40-year-old Munda woman, who asked not to be named, said she cannot go out of the house without her husband's permission. Due to poverty in the family, she now works in the paddy fields, cuts soil, and works in brick kilns and even as a mason.
She said ignoring storms, rain and cold, she worked hard on the land. But the wage is less than that of the men. She has been doing rice planting, harvesting and threshing in the land for a long time.
Female Vice Chairman of Koyra Upazila Parishad Masima Alam admits that there has been wage inequality between male and female workers in Koyra for a long time.
“The labour that women do, if calculated in terms of money, is supposed to be more than that of men. Women workers are always neglected in this region. Social awareness can eliminate this disparity.”
Various backward communities (tribals Munda, Mahato, Bagdi, Dalit, Sweeper) live scattered in the South-Western region. They are victims of gender discrimination, and economic injustice, according to Initiative for Right View (IRV) Executive Director Marina Juthi.
But the government is implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and five-year plans with the motto "Leaving no one behind".
“However, in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to ensure the effective participation of all the disadvantaged groups in the marginal areas of the country, especially women, eliminate wage inequality, increase access to government incentives, and increase access to information,” Masima said.
Koyra Upazila Women's Affairs Officer Reshma Akhtar also admits that women work hard, but are not getting the same wages as men. It is very unfortunate. But the Munda families get various assistance including VGD and VGF from the government according to the ratio.
Upazila Executive Officer Md Mominur Rahman said that the government is providing various support for the development of tribal Mundas of Koira.
Lifestyle
The tribal customs of the Mundas are also very interesting. In terms of religion, they belong to the Sanatan religion. Among the four Vedas, they follow Rigveda.
There has been a drastic change in the spread of education among the minority families of the North Bhedkashi Union of Koyra. Not only boys but also girls are now very advanced in education. Some 100 children among Mundas are now highly educated. Due to the spread of education, there has been a lot of change in their lifestyle. But the number of educated unemployed among them is increasing day by day.
The young generation is forgetting the Shadri language. Children are dropping out after primary school due to the inadequate school system and the discouragement of their own family and linguistic practices. But now the Mundas have started sending their children to school through various NGOs and social leaders.
Due to the lack of necessary infrastructure, the Mundas are not able to practice their cherished culture for a long time.
Belonging to the Austro-Asiatic language family, which is older than the Indian Aryan languages, numerous Munda words exist in the Bengali language, especially in regional languages. Munda language has influences on the Bengali dialect too.
There are about 10 million people who speak Munda in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. Som 3,000-4,000 years ago, the Mundas first used their language as a pidgin for business and livelihood purposes.
Although some non-government organizations are implementing various development projects in Koyra, no one has any special projects for the Munda community. Some of the Mundas are beneficiaries of the activities of some NGOs.
At one time, the Mundas did not think of anything outside the communities. But, to develop their way of life, they first started bringing other people to different events.
There are mainly 13 Munda clans mentioned in India. There are traces of the Munda settlement pattern in various villages of Koyra and Dumuria upazilas of Khulna and Debhata and Tala upazilas of Satkhira adjacent to the Sundarbans.
Constitutional rights
Article 23 (a) of the Constitution says the State shall preserve, develop and develop the characteristic regional culture and heritage of various tribes, ethnic minorities, ethnic groups and communities.
Also, Article 28 of the Constitution mentions that the State may make any arrangement for the advancement of any backward section of the people, and no other provision of the Constitution shall prevent it. Such as education, job, business, higher education opportunities abroad, BCS recruitment quota, etc.
