Digamber Hansda

Digamber Hansda (born 16 October 1939) is a tribal activist from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India,  who has worked for the social and economic upliftment of the underprivileged communities in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha. In 2018, Hansda was awarded the Padma Sri civilian honour by the President of India, for his work in the field of literature and education.

Hansda was born in a small place situated outside of Jamshedpur named Dovapani. His parents were farmers, and from a young age, Hansda helped his parents on the farm. He completed schooling from Rajdoha Middle School and Manpur High School. He did his graduation and post-graduation studies in political science from Ranchi University.

He is a retired professor, and he continues to columns for newspapers to highlight the plight of the tribal communities. He is a pioneer of the Santhali language literature, and he is the founding member of Santhal Sahitya Akademi. He has developed the intermediate, post-graduate and under-graduate courses in the Santhali language under the directive of the state government. In 2005, he translated the Constitution of India to Santhali language from the Devanagari script.

In 2018, Hansda was awarded the Padma Sri civilian honour by the President of India, for his work in the field of literature and education. This was followed by the Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by the All India Santali Film Association (AISFA).