Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha

About the Organization

Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha was formed as a protest after the sad demise of a tribal girl named Chuni Kotalwho committed suicide in the state of West Bengal in 1992 while she was studying M.Sc. In Vidyasagar University, due to heinous and abusive caste hatred happened on her.In the post-seventies Bengal, the Dalit literary movements and activism are noticed to have undergone a journey jointly in such a way that they have become complementary to one another. They both had been walking forward side by side. Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha in its written constitution declared to rouse consciousness among the people marginalized socially and culturally, educationally and economically. Every year the Sanstha organizes some functions such as the celebration of the 14th April, the birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, as a ‘Day of Knowledge’ to them. The members of the Sanstha gather at the feet of the statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at Red Road of Kolkata, in a colorful procession every year. In one year, they had taken a constitutional oath at the feet of the statue that none of the members, in any way, shall involve in any kind of corruption or illegal work in their life. The said oath was administered by Dr. Gunadhar Barman, a senior most member of the Sanstha, and a committed social worker throughout his life. Dr. Barman was popularly known for his book Jugosrostha Ambedkar(Ambedkar, the Creator of a New Era). And he had been editing a weekly Atmanirikshan for a long time in order to make the society aware of reasoning and scientific knowledge.

Our Aims and Objectives

  1. To publish Literature of the Dalits, by the Dalits and for the Dalits, both in its journal Chaturtha Dunia and in books, and, thereby, spur the creative mind of the Dalits.
  2. To spread the thoughts and philosophy of Lord Buddha and the great Dalit personalities like, Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule, Sabitri Bai Phule, Dr. Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ramji Ambedkar, Guruchand Thakur, Raicharan Sardar, PanchananBarma, Sadhu RamchandMurmu, Jogendranath Mondal et al.
  3. To spread awareness through the media of Dalit Literature and, thereby, to enthuse the Dalits with self-confidence and self-respect.
  4. To raise protesting voice against the exploitation of the Dalits.
  5. To fight against injustice, inequality, orthodoxy, ignorance and superstitions.
  6. To cooperate with thelitterateurs, journalists, writers, translators, editors and researchers of Dalit literature and society.
  7. To organize conferences, meeting or seminars in Kolkata and remote places.
  8. To publish the translation of Dalit texts, from Bengali to English and vice versa.
  9. To promote Dalit history and culture.

Our Activities

Every year in June-July the Sanstha organizesits Annual General Meeting (AGM). It also organizes a memorial lecture on the day of the death of Chuni Kotal, known as “The Chuni Kotal Memorial Lecture”. So far by this time 24 lectures were organized starting from 1994 to 2019 in which reputed scholars from the fields of Sociology, Anthropology, International Relations, Education, History and Literature, irrespective of their caste and creed,were invited to deliver the Chuni Kotal Memorial Lectures.All these took place just to rouse the consciousness amongst the backward community people, who are, in an ordinary purview, seen to be the underdogs in our national social spectrum.

Every year this literary Sanstha organizes and celebrates a two-day ‘Sangiti’ or Conference at the end of the month of December, very particularly, on 24th and 25th and it happens as one of its annual routine programmes taking place from the day of its coming into existence in 1992. Why 24-25 December? The Sanstha had chosen these particular dates because of the fact that the 24th is the day of death of E V R Naikar, a revolutionary voice and pioneer of the “Self-Respect Movement” in the country(who died in 1973); and why 25th of December? This is the day of dignity to the Dalits in the history of their protests. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the builder of Dalit Identity in the country and the Father of Indian Constitution had burnt the Manusmriti on the 25th of December, 1927 in order to erase and nullify the inhuman persecutions and tortures that Manu had prescribed in his notorious book to incur upon the people of the marginal castes and classes. So far, the BDSS has organized 28 Sangitis or Conferences by this time. Every year it arranges it in the remote locality where mostly the marginal community people do live. In a usual manner, students from Dalit communities take part with lot of enthusiasm.

List of Annual Sangitis

  1. First in 1992 at the village Vayna,District- Nadia,
  2. Secondin1993 in Hridayapur, District- North 24 Parganas,
  3. Third in 1994 in village Khannan,District- Hooghly,
  4. Fourth in 1995 at the village Pakuahat,District- Malda,
  5. Fifth in 1996 in Raghunathpur High School,District- South 24 Parganas,
  6. Sixth in 1997 in Thakurnagar H.S.School,District- North 24 Parganas,
  7. Seventh in 1998 in Adra Railway Community Hall,District- Purulia,
  8. Eighth in 1999 at Kamar Kundu,District- Hooghly,
  9. Ninth in 2000 in Kripasharan Hall, District- Kolkata,
  10. Tenth in 2001 in GocharanSitanath High School,District- South 24 Parganas,
  11. Eleventh in 2002 in Basantia High School,District- Midnapore, 
  12. Twelfth in 2003 in Hazarduari,District- Murshidabad,
  13. Thirteenth in 2004 in Vivekananda High School,District- North 24 Parganas,
  14. Fourteenth in 2005 in Ranaghat Usuff Institution,District- Nadia,
  15. Fifteenth in 2006 in Dr. Ambedkar Prathamik Vidyalaya,PurbaPanchannagram in Kolkata,
  16. Sixteenth in 2007 at Tarinimajhir Ghat of Salt Lake Stadium, Salt Lake, Kolkata,
  17. Seventeenth in 2008 in Vivekananda College of Thakurpukur, Kolkata,
  18. Eighteenth in 2009 at thevillage ofCharanpur,District- Burdwan,
  19. Nineteenth in 2010 in Poundra KshatriaUnnayanParisad of Garia, Kolkata,
  20. Twentieth in 2011 in the village Kalaiberia,District- Bankura,
  21. Twentyfirst in 2012 in Friends’ Mission of Durganagar,District- North 24 Parganas,
  22. Twentysecond in 2013 in BrajabasiSadan, New Barrackpur, District- North 24 Parganas,
  23. Twentythird in 2014 in ChandmariJanakalyan H.S.School, District- Nadia,
  24. Twentyfourth in 2015 in Bamangachi Balaka Bhavan,District- North 24 Parganas,
  25. Twentyfifth or the Silver Jubilee Sangiti in 2016 in Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Mission,Hridayapur,District- North 24 Parganas,
  26. Twentysixth in 2017 in Krishnapada Ghosh Memorial Hall, Sealdah, Kolkata (only for one day on 24th of December from 10 a.m.to 5 p.m.),
  27. Twentyseventh in 2018 at Vidyasagar Hall, Gosaba, District- South 24 Parganas.
  28. Twentyeighth in 2019 in Jhargram Balaka Manch, District- Jhargram.

In each of the conferences the declared two-day programme (two conferences being of one day each) includes various activities; the local school students, litterateurs and the commonplace Dalit people are associated in the programmes. Short story and poem writing competitions, recitation, songs and dance, sit-and-draw competition for the children, debates on various social problems— all these take place; likewise face to face conversation with the writers, artists, social activists and dramatic personalities, extempore, topic-based speeches, reading of poems by the concerned poets— everything is held every year. Apart from these, Dalit dramas are also enacted in the conferences.

Chuni Kotal Memorial Lectures

The Sanstha has been arranging “Chuni Kotal Memorial Lectures” every year since 1994. Narrated chronologically the lectures are as follows and it is noticed, many reputed personalities delivered their lectures on many complex subject-matters. Till date (2019) twenty-five lectures have been organized.

  1. Topic (1994): The Origin and Consequence of Caste System. Speakers: Shyamprit Singh, Jayantanuj Bandyopadhyay and Pasupati Prasad Mahato.
  2.  Topic (1995): The Concept of Women’s Emancipation in Light of Dalit Movement. Speaker: Dr. Gunadhar Barman.
  3. Topic (1996): The Position of Women in Bengali Literature of the Middle Ages. Speaker: Dr. SatyabatiGiri.
  4. Topic (1997): The Internal Formation and Caste Animosity in the Period of the Charyapada.  Speaker: Dr. Prathama Roy Mandal.
  5. Topic (1998): Atrocities against Dalit Women: Social Causes and Its Remedies. Speaker: Dr. Upendra Nath Biswas.
  6. Topic (1999): Women’s Reservation Bill and Our Constitution. Speakers: Kiran Talukder and Sukriti Ranjan Biswas.
  7. Topic (2000): Tribal Woman in Life Struggle. Speaker: Dr. Prabodh Kumar Bhowmick.
  8. Topic (2001): Begum Rokeya and the Flow of Development of the Bengali Muslim Society. Speaker: Dr. Miratun Nahar.
  9. Topic (2002): Crime-prone Community and the Lodha Community. Speakers: Dr. Atul Krishna Biswas and Dhirendra Nath Baske.
  10. Topic (2003): Ten Years of Chuni Kotal’s Death: The Development of the Tribal Society. Speaker: Debi Chatterjee.

Other Programme

In this year there was another programme on the same platform, “Recollection of Hool Day”, and the topic of discussion was “Poet Sadhu RamchandMurmu’s Life and Literature” discussed by Purna Chandra Soren.

  1. Topic (2004): Social Security and Dalit Women. Speaker: Santosh Rana.

In this year there was another programme on the same platform, “Recollection of Hool Day”, and the topic of discussion was “Fifty-Seven Years of Independence and the Crisis of the Tribes’ Existence”, discussed by Kalipada Sardar.

  1. Topic (2006): The Role of Sri Sri Guruchand Thakur in Rights of Women and Awareness of the Dalits. Speaker: Dr. Nanda DulalMohanta.
  2. Topic (2007): The Picture of the Deprivation of the Dalits in West Bengal and the Counter Movements. Speakers: Dr. BiratBairagya and Arun Maji.
  3. Topic (2009): The Probability of Annihilation of Caste and Feasibility in Light of Anthropology. Speaker: Dr. Pratibha Mandal.
  4. Topic (2010): The Literature of the Black People. Speaker: Manohar Mouli Biswas.
  5. Topic (2011): The probability of social and economic development of the aboriginal lower caste people in the changed political scenario. Speaker: Sukanta Mandal.
  6.  Topic (2012): How Much Necessary is the Re-writing of the History of India? Speaker: Dr. Indra Mohan Mandal.
  7. Topic (2013): Titas Ekti Nadir Naam: The Women of the Malo Community. Speaker: Shampa Sarkar.
  8. Topic (2014): The Present Condition and Future of Dalit Literature. Speaker: Dhurjati Lashkar.
  9. Topic (2015): Dalit Literary Movement is Necessary in Securing Social Justice. Speaker: Dr.Suranjan Midday.
  10. Topic (2016): The One Hundred Sixty Second Year of Santhal Revolt and its Significance.  Speaker: Dr.MeroonaMurmu.
  11. Topic (2017): Dalit Awareness and their Voice. Speaker: Dr. Debi Chatterjee.
  12. Topic (2018): Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule and Sabitri Bai Phule in Awakening the Dalits. Speaker: Dr.SanatNaskar.
  13. Topic (2019): The Self-Respect Movement of Periyar. Speaker: Dr. Rup Kumar Barman.
  14. Topic (2020): The Search for Crimes and Criminals in Bengal. Speaker: Dr. Atul Krishna Biswas.

(In 2005 and 2008 “The Chuni Kotal Memorial Lectures” could not be organized because of the financial crisis of the organization. Otherwise the lectures were organized every year on 16th of August, the date of her death. In 2020, due to pandemic caused by Covid 19 the lecture was organized online and about 100 people attended it).

Our Outlet

We have a stall in College Street area, Kolkata. Address: Stall No. 22, Bhabani Dutta Lane (College Street), Kolkata-700073. The stall remains open only on Thursday (from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.). Dalit books and journals especially Chaturtha Dunia is sold here.

Membership

Anybody belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes (B) can be the life member of the Sanstha by submitting the duly filled in application form along with the copy of her/his category (SC, ST, OBC) certificate and the membership fees. (Please download the Membership Application Form here).

Our Journal

Chaturtha Duniya
Chaturtha Duniya

The name of our journal is “Chaturtha Dunia”. It is a Bengali journal published at least twice a year. The maiden issue was published in 1994. The electronic copy of all the issues will soon be available on our website.

OUR PRESENT WORKING COMMITTEE (2022)

President: Sri Amar Krishna Biswas

Vice President: Sri Shyamal Kumar Pramanick

General Secretary: Sri Debasish Mondal

Assistant Secretary: Smt. Smiritikana Hawlader

Treasurer: Dr. Asit Biswas

Auditor: Smt. Manju Bala

Other Members: Manohar Mouli Biswas, Smritikana Howlader, Kalyani Thakur, Sukanta Mondal, Subho Kumar Sikder, Purbasha Mondal.

Chaturtha Duniya Editorial Board

Editor: Manohar Mouli Biswas

Other Members: Kalyani Thakur, Swapan Kumar Biswas, Purbasha Mondal, Sukanta Mondal.

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