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Chuni Kotal was a Dalit Adivasi of Lodha Shabar tribe, a Scheduled Tribes of India, who in 1985 became the first woman graduate among the Lodha Shabars. Her death through suicide on August 16, 1992, after years of harassment by officials, united the Lodha Shabar community in a big way. Eventually her story was highlighted by noted writer-activist Mahasweta Devi in her book in Bengali, ''Byadhkhanda'' in (1994), ( ''The Book of the Hunter'' (2002)) 〔(Forgotten tales ) The Hindu, July 7, 2002.〕 ==Biography== Born in 1965, in village Gohaldohi, in Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, into a poor Lodha family, Chuni Kotal survived a childhood of impoverishment to become the first woman from a 'primitive' tribe to complete High School. Thereafter, she got her first job as a Lodha Social worker in 1983 at Jhargram ITDP office, surveying local villages. Eventually she graduated in anthropology from Vidyasagar University, in 1985.〔''Economic and Political Weekly'', Published by Sameeksha Trust., 1985. ''Page 1467''〕〔''Dust on the Road: The Activist Writings of Mahasweta Devi'', by Mahasveta Devi, Maitreya Ghatak. Published by Seagull Books, 1997. ISBN 81-7046-143-X. ''The Story of Chuni Kotal - Page 136''.〕 Two years after graduating, she was appointed as a Hostel superintendent at 'Rani Shiromoni SC and ST Girls' Hostel' at Medinipur, here again she had to face the social stigma attached with her tribe.〔 Trouble really began for her when she joined the Masters course (M.Sc.) at the local Vidyasagar University. Here she was continuously discriminated against and insulted by her upper caste Brahmin professors (like Professor Falguni Chakraborty and others) and university administrators, who refused to give her the requisite pass grades, despite her having fulfilled the criteria, who opined that a low-born person coming from a "criminal tribe", a Denotified tribe of India, hence did not have the social privilege and pre-ordained destiny to study "higher discourse" like the social sciences.〔(Introduction ) ''Contested Belonging: An Indigenous People's Struggle for Forest and Identity in Sub-Himalayan Bengal'', by B. G. Karlsson, Published by Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0-7007-1179-1. ''Page 18-19''.〕 In 1991, after losing two years at the course, she complained, and a high level enquiry commission was set up by the state Education minister to no avail, once the fact that she belonged to a former criminal tribe came to light.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chuni Kotal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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