As a kid, Baby Das would spend all her time observing her mother work in paddy and mustard fields in a remote village in West Bengal. She’d watch her mother plant seeds meticulously, replant damaged crops and water them just the right amount. But she would find, despite all the hard work, there would never be enough money at home. Later, her efforts not only uplifted her own life but also brought significant positive changes to the farming communities in Sundarbans and Bagdha.
At the age of 16, she was married off. A year later, she was blessed with a son. The following year, she separated from her husband. Even as she dealt with the social, physical and mental repercussions of separation in a conservative society, she was diagnosed with severe asthma, which would require her to use the inhaler 8-10 times a day.
“My parents supported me but who can stop the community from talking? People spoke about my failed marriage and the criticism was harsh. I had no hope, nothing to look forward to in the future,” Baby Das shares, “I was completely depressed.”
She adds, “When you are depressed, you become numb to the worsening situation around you. I felt like I was failing as a daughter, as a sister and worst of all, as a mother. It was a vicious cycle as those negative thoughts and my asthma problems made me feel even more depressed.”
Finding the Ground Beneath Her Feet
At this time, her brother insisted she attend The Art of Living’s Happiness Program which focuses on tools and techniques to improve one’s mental and physical state through breathing techniques, meditation, yoga and spiritual wisdom.
“My breathing got better after the sessions. Slowly, the past began to blur and I started looking forward to life.”
Destiny Calling
“I found my long-lost passion for farming in the Art of Living’s agricultural service projects and started teaching their natural farming workshops to farmers in remote locations in West Bengal,” Das shares. Baby Das was trained in making natural fertilizers, enzymes like Jeevamrut, a natural biostimulant that promotes fertility of soil, made using dung, cow urine, flour of pulses and jaggery; Agnihotra homa (the fire of agnihotra practice purifies the air and benefits the human and plants while enhancing the growth and resilience of the crop) and other techniques.
Das was now on a mission to reach out to the farmers who had been far removed from this life-changing knowledge. She decided to visit Sundarbans and Bagdha on the Indo-Bangladesh border. “People in both the places faced extreme poverty, they had no facilities and there was the problem of excess use of Urea in their agriculture which was harming the quality of the soil and their health in the long run,” Das says.
She would travel 5 hours from Kolkata to reach the Sundarbans forest and the Indo-Bangladesh borders to train farmers in natural farming training multiple times a week. As Das reached out to more farmers, she realized, “Not much has changed for farmers since my childhood days when farmers had little water and even less earnings. I met farmers near the India- Bangladesh border with earnings as little as Rs 40/month.”
The farmers in the area have been facing the brutal brunt of extreme weather events related to climate change with issues like salt water ingress and extreme flash floods making farming unviable for many, who have been forced to take up jobs as labourers in the nearby towns and cities.
Das explains the solution, “Farmers spend so much money on water to sow the crops despite not having enough water even to bathe. We have proposed a new model where instead of paddy which is a water-intensive crop, we are training them to grow vegetables. This will help them grow more crops and help them earn more money, as part of the natural farming training.”
So far, Das has trained thousands of farmers across the state in adopting the natural farming method, which involves near zero input costs, generating higher income for the farmer per acre, intelligent reutilization of waste generated on the farm, multiple cropping and climate resilient farming techniques.
“I’m planning to take this model to more villages like Lakikantapur in Bonga where the agricultural problems have been acute. “When I think of the farmers toiling so hard in the sun, without getting much income, being reliant on erratic monsoons, I get emotional and feel helpless. But my purpose gives me strength.”
Das shares that farmers initially resisted the change. “I understood because change involves risk. But we explained the benefits of natural farming, especially the amount of money that can be saved. In just six months, the fields can be certified for NF. The soil will become better and the crop quality will increase a lot. Today consumers are willing to pay for good quality produce. Everyone deserves to eat healthy food.”
Attitude of gratitude
Das talks about the immense change the mission has brought to her own life. “As I have pursued this mission, my personal life has also transformed. From having nothing, today I am earning a respectable income. My son is going to a good school, learning spiritual values and I am reconstructing the old home that I lived in. But more than that, I have a large family, something to look forward to, a cause to work towards. I have only Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and The Art of Living to thank for this.”
“Nobody should go hungry. I have been there and I don’t want anyone to be in that situation. When you have been hungry, you know the value of every morsel of food. I know and value the change in the quality of my life that has come from learning and teaching natural farming and I am eager to share this with more of my farmer brothers and sisters. It can bring them out of poverty, and lack and improve their physical and mental health.”
Farmers from Bagdha and Sundarbans today seek her guidance. Today, farmers from these areas are practising natural farming and are growing chemical-free varieties of rice and vegetables in Sundarbans and Bagdha. Farmers have noticed changes in the quality of their soil and produce.
A young farmer from the region, Manoranjan shares, 'Our condition was very bad. We used to do sowing only 2 times a year and the rest of the time we would have no work. After the training, we have now worked towards converting our land to natural farming land and that has changed the way of life for us.'
