Tulasi Munda Biography 
Tulasi Munda is a social activist and educator from the state of Odisha. She is popularly known as "Tulasi Apa", literally meaning "Sister Tulasi" in Odia. She has been honoured with numerous honours including Padma Shri in 2001 by Government of India, Odisha Living Legend Award by Odisha Diary Foundation etc. Kadambini Samman in 2008 and Lakshmipat Singhania - IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award are other major honours received by her. She is best known for spreading literacy among the impoverished adivasi peoples of Odisha.
Tulasi Munda was born on 15 July 1947 in Kainshi, Keonjhar, present-day Odisha into a Munda ethnic group of adivasis, the collective term in mainland South Asia for indigenous peoples. Munda didn’t have any formal education. During her childhood days, most of the parents belonging to her community hesitated to give education to daughters. However her efforts as a social worker are to educate people belonging to tribal groups, and create the awareness among them. At the age of 12, she went to Serenda village to live with her sister, where she worked in mines. In those days child labour was quite common.
Her meeting with social reformers Ramadevi Choudhury, Nirmala Deshpande and Malati Choudhury in 1961 gave a new direction to her life. She came to know the importance of education from them, and got deeply moved. She joined their move and turned a social activist who aimed at educating people belonging to her community. Two years later she met Acharya Vinoba Bhave during his visit in 1963 during the Bhoodan movement. Since 1964 she started informal education to kids at the veranda of her home, and later it became a stepping stone to her great movement in the field of education. Now she educates around 500 kids every year up to 10th standard.
Published: January 05, 2020
Updated: January 05, 2020
