Agragami Adivasi Samiti ("Forward Tribal Association"; ) is an organisation for

Adivasi The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...

people in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The organisation is linked to the

All India Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a Left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a Political faction, faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose, and was strongest ...

History

The organisation was founded at a convention in

Bankura Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district. Etymology It comes from the old Austric word ráŕhá or ráŕho which means “land of red soil”.P.R. Sarkar Rarh - ...

January 28–29, 2009. The Bankura convention elected Jatin Soren and Nishikanta Mehta as joint presidents and Biswanath Kisku and Rebati Bhattacharya as joint general secretaries, as leaders of a 39-member State Committee. The Bankura convention adopted a twenty-one point list of demands; that the Forest Dweller Act provisions on the right to water-forest-land be implemented, that tribal certificates be given to all Adivasi families, reservation of seat in the Development Committees in Adivasi villages, that landless Adivasi families be given government lands; providing ration cards for Adivasis, development of the

Ol Chiki script The Ol Chiki () script, also known as Ol Chemetʼ (, , ), Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santali alphabet is the official writing system for Santali language, Santali, an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language recognized as an of ...

, institution of a 500

rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

pension for poor handicapped persons, free medical centres, agricultural aid, drinking water, electricity and compulsory primary education in all Adivasi villages, stipends for forming cooperatives and self-help groups and development of cottage industries."". ''Towards Socialism''. February 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2011.

Incidents

On 16 December 2010 seven activists of Agragami Adivasi Samiti were killed by the

Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a banned Marxist–Leninist-Maoist communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the Republic of India through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 S ...

. The seven were abducted from four separate villages in

Purulia District Purulia district () is one of the twenty-three districts of West Bengal state in Eastern India. Purulia is the administrative headquarters of the district. Some of the other important towns of Purulia district are Raghunathpur- Adra, Manbazar ...

. The killed had been prominent members of the organization locally. Following the killings, the CPI (Maoist) distributed posters claiming that the seven victims had aided security services. The murders were condemned by the All India Forward Bloc and the CPI (Marxist). The All India Forward Bloc organised a 24-hour

bandh Bandh () is a form of protest used by political activists in South Asian countries such as India and Nepal. It is similar to a general strike. During a bandh, a political party or a community declare a general strike. For example, a ''Bharat (t ...

in Purulia District in protest.Seven FB Adivasi Leaders killed by Maoists
. ''Ganashakti''. Left parties condemn Purulia killings
". ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

''. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2011.

References

{{reflist Organisations based in West Bengal All India Forward Bloc Political parties established in 2009 2009 establishments in West Bengal