Born in 1972, Nirmala Putul Murmu is many things: a distinguished poet, activist, and second-time Sarpanch or the village head in the local government of Kurwa Gram Panchayat, Dumka, Jharkhand. Writing in Santali and Hindi, her work transcends linguistic barriers and is translated into multiple languages, including English, Marathi, Russian, and Korean. She has been honored with prestigious awards like the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation and the Rashitrya Yuva Samman by the Sahitya Academy.  To paint an image of what Putul’s immediate residence and work landscape looks like, the Dumka district covers an area of 24.93 square kilometers in Jharkhand. Kurwa Panchayat includes three villages: Bagnocha with less than 5%, Karayachak Raghunathganj with 11-20%, and Kurwa with 76℅ above ST population as per the 2011 Census. The villages under this Panchayat barely have any government-built canals or artificial irrigation facilities to help the tribal farmers afford a year of…

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