Skip to main content

Bishnupriya Manipuris are better educated than the average Bangladeshi: Report


NEWS

Bishnupriya Manipuris of Bangladesh “are generally better educated than the average Bangladeshi. Nearly all children go to school, with a very high percentage taking the secondary school certificate (SSC) examination, and their level of literacy in Bangla is very high,” states a survey carried out by SIL International, Bangladesh.

The 100-page report gives a glimpse of the status of the 20,000 to 40,000 Bishnupriya Manipuri population living in Bangladesh: The language proficiency they have on both Bishnupriya Manipuri and Bangla, about their two main dialects 1) Rajar Gang (or king’s-village speech), and 2) Madoi Gang (or queen’s-village speech). The study also touches upon the areas and districts where the community is concentrated. It gives an insightful read to every Bishnupriya Manipuri living in India and in Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, almost all of the Bishnupriya (Manipuri) live in the flat farmlands of Sylhet division, mainly in Moulvibazar district. They also reside in a few villages in the other three districts of Sylhet division. The vast majority of Bishnupriya villages are easily accessible by a combination of public buses and/or rickshaws, as they are quite close to main roads and towns, the report states.

In the preparation of the report, the authors Amy Kim and Seung Kim have extensively used the informative web pages created by Ashim Kumar Singha.

The report cites that the Bishnupriya Manipuris in Bangladesh have a strong attachment to the traditions of the past and a deep desire to appropriate the trends of the present. As a minority community, the Bishnupriya (Manipuris) seem to have an innate sense that both are vital for their standing in the world in the future.

Full Report



Today is Imsha Imsha (Wednesday)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The 'Star' Krishankant Sinha of Space City Sigma

By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi It is a myth that the all-knowing Internet knows everything. One such myth relates to old television stuff aired on Doordarshan before 1990. Search in Google “Space City Sigma”, the search engine would throw up reminiscent results from the people who still long for those days. Those days were really golden days. Krishankant Sinha in the role of Captain Tara in Space City Singma For those who have watched Doordarshan some 15 to 20 years back, am sure they will have nostalgic memories of it. The days when possessing a now ubiquitous looking television set was a luxury. It was a neighbour’s envy product. It was a visual product to showoff, to flaunt that we have a television set . Those were the days when black and white, locked television was rarely found in homes. The days became immortal for teleserials like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Swami’s Malgudi Days (Ta-Na-Na-Na…), Ek-Do-Teen-Char (Title song: Ek do teen char, chaaro mil ke saath chale to

Bishnupriya Manipuri people in Tripura

How correct is Barak valley being connoted as the cultural and political hub of the Bishnupriya Manipuri when Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in Tripura are way ahead in every respect to their counterparts in the Silchar region. It's a big question, an intriquing question. By BN Sinha, New Delhi Being a Silcharite and also a Bishnupriya Manipuri of Barak Valley, it is quite obvious to share the same thread with the fellow BMs of Tripura. From the very childhood days we were quite familiar with the names of the places like Kailasahar, Dharmanagar etc. With the same note every non-Tripurian Bishnupriya Manipuri certainly shares the same thread linked to Tripura. We have also been seeing a sea of talents from Tripura as we see meritorious BM Tripurian topping in various institutions of North East like Cotton College , National Institute of Technology [NIT] – Silchar, Gurucharan Charan [GC] College, Gauhati Medical Colloge [GMC], Sichar Medical College [SMC], and also in other u

Sri Sri Bhubaneshwar Sadhu Thakur

By Ranita Sinha, Kolkata Sri Sri Bhubaneshwar Thakur, the great saint of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Community was born on 26th October, 1871, in a remote village of Cachar district called Baropua in the state of Assam. He was born to a Xatriya Manipuri family. His father Sri Sanatan Pandit was a Sanskrit teacher and mother Srimati Malati Devi, a house wife. Sadhu Baba from his childhood was indifferent to all worldly happenings. He was engrossed in chanting the name of Lord Krishna. Along with other students of his age, Sadhu Baba started taking lessons of grammar and other spiritual literature from his father. At a very young age he lost his mother but he was brought up with utmost love and care by his step mother. At the age of eighteen, Sadhu baba lost his father, so, to continue his spiritual education under the guidance of Rajpandit Mineshwas Swarbabhwam Bhattacherjee, he went to Tripura. But within one year he made up his mind to visit all the holy places and as such he took permis