Jamshedpur: Kurmi leaders announce rail blockade on September 20 in demand for ST status

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Aug 10:  The Central Committee of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj has announced a large-scale agitation to press for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and other long-pending demands. In a meeting held on Sunday at Kurmi Bhawan in Dobo-Rugadi under Chandil block, the committee resolved to stage a simultaneous rail blockade at 100 locations across Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha on September 20, 2025.

The meeting, chaired by Central President Shashank Shekhar Mahato, was addressed by Mulkhunti Moolmanta and convener Ajit Prasad Mahato. They said the movement was being intensified to safeguard the Kurmi community’s identity, existence, and rights. The four key demands included granting ST status to Kurmis, inclusion of the Kurmali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, implementation of the Kurmali traditional PESA law, and extension of the Chhotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act to Kurmi lands in West Bengal and Odisha.

Committee members from Jharkhand, Bengal, Odisha, and Assam attended the meeting, which also discussed tribal culture and natural religion. A special agenda was set for the upcoming rail blockade and the implementation of the traditional PESA law. It was also decided to form additional organizations under the Kurmi Samaj to strengthen the movement.

The resolutions passed in the meeting include rail blockade at 100 points in Greater Chhotanagpur on September 20, 2025, immediate implementation of the Kurmali traditional PESA law by the state government, recording Kurmali as mother tongue, Kurmi as caste, and Adivasi or Animism as religion in the 2026 census and extension of the CNT Act to Kurmi lands in West Bengal and Odisha.

The decision-making panel comprised Ajit Prasad Mahato, Central President Shashank Shekhar Mahato, and Central Vice-President Dr. Sujit Kumar Mahato. Leaders vowed that the September 20 protest would be historic and peaceful but determined.