Jaipal Singh Munda

Jaipal Singh Munda (3 January 1903 – 20 March 1970) was an Indian politician, writer, and sportsman.

He was the member of the Constituent Assembly which debated on the new Constitution of the Indian Union.

Jaipal Singh Munda, also known as Pramod Pahan, was born in a Munda tribal family, on 3 January 1903 in Takra-Hatudami, Pahan Toli village of what was then Khunti subdivision (now declared district) of the then district of Ranchi in the Bengal presidency of British India (in the present-day State of Jharkhand).

In childhood, Singh's job was to look after the cattle herd.

After initial schooling at the village, he was brought by a Rev. Kushalmai Sheetal to St Pauls Church school, and in 1910, he gained admission to St. Paul's School, Ranchi, which was run by the Christian Missionaries of the SPG Mission of the Church of England.

A gifted field hockey player, Singh was a brilliant student and exhibited exceptional leadership qualities from a very young age.

This was noticed by the missionaries, who took him to England for higher studies at the University of Oxford.

He graduated from St. John's College, Oxford with Honours in Economics.

Singh was a member of the Oxford University Hockey Team.

The hallmarks of his game as a deep defender were his clean tackling, sensible gameplay and well directed hard hits.

He was the most versatile player in the Oxford University Hockey Team.

His contribution to the University Hockey Team was recognised and he became the first Indian student to be conferred blue in Hockey.

He captained the Indian field hockey team to clinch gold in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.

Later, he emerged as a campaigner for the causes of Adivasis and the creation of a separate homeland for them in central India.

As a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, he campaigned for the rights of the whole tribal community.

In 1928, while he was in England, Singh was asked to captain the India hockey team for the 1928 Olympic Games.

Under his captaincy the Indian team played 17 matches in the league stage, of which 16 were won and one drawn.

However, due to a dispute with the English team manager, A. B. Rossier, Singh left the team after league phase and therefore could not play in the games in the knockout stage.

In the final, the Indian Team defeated Holland 3–0.

On returning to India, Singh was associated with Mohan Bagan Club of Calcutta and started its hockey team in 1929.

He led that team in various tournaments.

After retirement from active hockey, he served as Secretary of Bengal Hockey Association and as a member of the Indian Sports Council.

Jaipal Singh Munda married Tara Wienfried Majumdar, the daughter of P.K Mujumdar and Janaki Agnes Penelope Majumdar in 1931 in Darjeeling in a Christian marriage ceremony.

He had three children with Tara, two sons Birendra and Jayant and daughter Janki.

Tara Banarjee was counsin of General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri and grand daughter of Congress President Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee.

In 1934, he became a teacher at the Prince of Wales College at Achimota, Gold Coast, Ghana.

In 1937, he returned to India as the Principal of the Rajkumar College, Raipur.

In 1938, he joined the Bikaner princely state as foreign secretary.

Singh thought that with his varied experience he could be more useful to the country if he worked in the sphere of education.

He wrote letters to the Bihar Congress President, Rajendra Prasad, asking to be allowed to contribute to Bihar's education sector, but received no positive answers.

In the last month of 1938, Singh visited Patna and Ranchi.

During this visit, he decided to enter politics by seeing the poor condition of the tribal people.

Singh became president of Adivasi Mahasabha in 1939.

In 1940 at Ramgarh session of Congress, he discussed with Subash Chandra Bose the need to form separate state Jharkhand.

Subash Chandra Bose replied that such request will affect the freedom struggle.

After the independence of India, the Adivasi Mahasabha re-emerged as Jharkhand Party and it accommodated non-tribal people to achieve long-term goals.

He is popularly known as "Marang Gomke (meaning Great Leader) by the Adivasis of Chhotanagpur.

His second marriage was with Jahanara Jeyaratnam, the daughter of a Sri Lankan who joined the Indian Civil service in 1954 who was Sri Lankan Tamil.

He had one son with Jahanara, Ranjit Jeyaratnam.

Singh was selected to work in the Indian Civil Service, from which he later resigned.