Bikram Bahadur Jamatia

Bikram Bahadur Jamatia is a retired Tripura government officer and former head of the Jamatia community, known for his work among the tribal communities of Northeast India. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of social work, from Tripura ^[1].

Government service

Jamatia was born on 1 October 1939 and began his career as a supervisor of tribal colonies ^[2]. He joined the state’s civil secretariat in 1967, where he formed an organisation of tribal employees, the Tripura Upajati Karmachari Samiti, and he retired as an under secretary in 1997 ^[2].

Chief of the Jamatia Hoda

A month after retiring, he was chosen as Okra, the chief of the Jamatia Hoda, the community’s traditional council ^[2]. He found that militant groups had broken down the community’s peaceful way of life, and he organised thousands of community volunteers to resist them, working under police protection ^[2]. Over time the militants were forced out of Tripura and many surrendered to the government ^[2].

A regional forum

Leaders from other northeastern communities then asked him to help form a joint body, and in 2002 he became founding president of the Janajati Faith and Culture Protection Forum ^[2]. Its work spread to Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram, and a large gathering in Guwahati in December 2006 called for the customary laws of tribal communities to be enacted in the autonomous district council areas ^[2].

His honours include a National Integration Award in 2018 ^[2].