Sign In
Learn bits
History & Culture
Mahesh

01/07/24 10:36 AM IST

Santhal Hul

In News
  • June 30 marks the 169th anniversary of the Santhal Hul, one of the earliest peasant uprisings against the British.
Origin of Uprising
  • In 1832, certain areas were delimited as ‘Santhal Pargana’ or ‘Damin-i-Koh’, which comprises present-day Sahibganj, Godda, Dumka, Deoghar, Pakur, and regions of Jamtara, in present-day Jharkhand.
  • The area was allocated to the Santhals displaced from Birbhum, Murshidabad, Bhagalpur, Barabhum, Manbhum, Palamau, and Chhotanagpur, all areas the Bengal Presidency.
  • While the Santhals were promised settlement and agriculture in Damin-i-Koh, what followed was the repressive practice of land-grabbing and begari (bonded labour) of two types: kamioti and harwahi.
  • The Murmu brothers, who saw themselves as acting on the Santhal God Thakur Bonga’s divination, led around 60,000 Santhals against the East India Company and engaged in guerrilla warfare that continued for almost six months before being finally crushed on January 3, 1856.
  • More than 15,000 Santhals were killed, and 10,000 villages were laid to waste.
  • The British hanged Sidhu to death on August 9, 1855, followed by Kanhu in February 1856.
  • The insurrection ended, but the impact it left was everlasting.
The SPT and CNT Acts
  • The Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act of 1876 (SPT Act) enacted by the British, which prohibits the transfer of Adivasi lands (urban or rural land) to non-Adivasis, was the result of the Hul.
  • The land can only be inherited as per the Act, thus retaining the rights of Santhals to self-govern their land.
  • The Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, (CNT Act) enacted by the British in 1908 a result of the Birsa Movement, allows land transfers within the same caste and certain geographical areas with the approval of the District Collector.
  • This Act also restricts the sale of Adivasi and Dalit land, while allowing land transfers between Adivasi individuals from the same police station and Dalits in the same district.
Source- Indian Express

More Related Current Affairs View All

22 Aug

Uttarakhand State Authority for Minority Education (USAME) Bill, 2025

'The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday passed the Minority Education Bill, 2025, extending minority status benefits to institutions run by the Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, and

Read More

22 Aug

India needs a national space law urgently

'A nation with a strong base in science and technology is a nation with a strong backbone” — these words of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ring truer than before as India celebrate

Read More

22 Aug

Organ transplantation

'The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) recently issued a direction stating that women patients and relatives of deceased donors will receive priority in org

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps