Jharkhand: Poverty forces national karate champion to sell ‘handia’ for a living

RANCHI: National Karate Champion Bimla Munda, who has won several medals for the state including a silver in the 34th National games, is forced to sell ‘handia’ (rice bear) to earn a living for her aging parents. 

Munda, a black belt holder, said her mother used to work as a daily wage labourer but she stopped going for work due to old age and poor health conditions following which she had to take up the job to support her family.

Munda, 26, a graduate in accounts, who was passionate about karate since she was in class 5, played the first tournament in 2008 and begged her fist medal in district level tournament. In 2009, she bagged both gold and silver in a tournament organized by the Karate Association.

Munda said that she has so many medals at her home that she does not have the proper place to keep them safe, and therefore most of them are getting broken or discoloured due to lack of proper care.

“I bagged a silver medal in 34th National Games organised in Jharkhand in the year 2011. I also bagged two gold medals during Akshay Kumar International Karate Championship in 2014,” said Munda. She had been playing so far selflessly expecting that one day she will get some scholarship or job by the state government but no such thing happened in her life, she added.

The Karate champion became nostalgic looking at her certificates. She said she used to feel proud of her achievements but with the passage of time, she was made to face the reality, and finally, she put all the medals and certificates in a box and took up the job of selling ‘handia’ along with her mother.

“Due to poor financial conditions of the family, I was forced to start this business bear the expenses of my family," said Munda. 

Munda lives with her mother and maternal grandfather. “I had to work hard as a daily wage labourer to educate my children, but due to poor health, I had to quit that. Now, I am trying to fulfill their requirements by selling handia,” said her mother Somari.

Bimla Munda does not want any financial help from the state government but wants it to expedite the process of recruitment under which 33 out of 264 sportspersons, who had won medals for the State, were selected for direct recruitment in government jobs in 2019.

“We were hopeful after the earlier government announced direct recruitment of sportspersons who fetched medals for the State. But no efforts were made in this regard” said Munda. Sportspersons have always been on the bottom of the priority list of any government in Jharkhand, she added.

Meanwhile, taking a serious note over a tweet by a local journalist on Sunday, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the future of sportspersons will definitely improve with the implementation of the new sports policy of the state government.

“Take immediate cognizance and provide immediate relief to the sister Bimla Munda with the coordination of Sports Secretary,” said CM Soren directed Deputy Commissioner Ranchi through his Twitter handle.