Important Facts for Prelims (17th November 2018) | 17 Nov 2018

Recently the Chief Minister of West Bengal conferred Bengal's highest civilian award, the "Banga Bibhushan" to Binapani Devi popularly known as 'Baro-Maa' within the Matua community.
Matuas are an influential lower caste Hindu community which had mostly migrated from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) to settle in West Bengal.
In the beginning Matua-mahasangha followed simplified rituals, but later adopted Vaishnavism.
It was founded in the mid-1800s by Harichand Thakur, at Gopalganj in the Faridpur province of present-day Bangladesh. He preached love, tolerance, gender equality and non-distinction irrespective of caste, class and creed.