As the nation approaches its 72nd Independence Day, we bring you stories of #ForgottenHeroes of #IndianIndependence that were lost among the pages of history.

The names of Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Datta might have faded away with the sands of time, but for the people of Bengal, these were women with an iron will and nerves of steel, whose efforts to liberate India from the shackles of British colonists were as legendary as that of every other young revolutionary.

Yet, the women fail to find any mention across the pages of history textbooks.

Both these women were amongst the initial members of the armed independence movement led by prominent Bengali revolutionary, Surya Sen or Master Da, whose name in historical annals of the Indian struggle for independence will forever remain synonymous with the infamous ‘Chittagong armoury raid’ as its chief mastermind and conspirator. You can read more about Master Da here.

History books have always been biased that way, and because of this, the sacrifices of countless young men and women in India, whose love and loyalty for their motherland clubbed together with the blatant refusal to bow down to the British should have been common knowledge, slowly faded away into obscurity before being wholly erased from the public memory.

This is especially true when it comes to women radicals. What else would otherwise explain their miniscule representation in the national and international documentation of Indian freedom fighters, while most of us are aware that women were equally involved in the freedom struggle?

In fact, we have featured many extraordinary women from the independence era whose legendary exploits against the British deserve to be documented. You can read these here.

This Independence Day, we bring you the story of these unsung legends, whose legacy deserves to not just be celebrated but also made famous across the country so that they are bestowed an honourable and dignified space among the young soldiers of India who spared no effort when it came to the nation and gave their lives for its liberation.

Pritilata Waddedar

Pritilata is till date revered as the iron lady of Bengal, who chose to kill herself than surrender to the British officers in 1932, following a bloodstained encounter that left her fatally wounded. She was only 21.

If you’re already in awe of Pritalata, let me tell you that this was probably one of the least momentous acts from this exceptionally bold revolutionary. The fact that she was the first Bengali woman to pick up arms against the British and even lead several anti-British campaigns under the guidance of Master Da should give you an idea about what a fearless stalwart she was.

Born in the very village that witnessed the legendary armoury raid in 1930, Pritilata hailed from a middle-class background and her father was a clerk. One amongst six siblings, she was quite a meritorious student whose motivation to partake in the fight to end British supremacy rooted from the contemporary movements of resistance. It is said that Pritilata was greatly inspired by Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi when she decided to choose the revolutionary road for herself.

In the biographical work, Chittagong Armoury Raiders, Kalpana, who was Pritilata’s classmate and fellow woman revolutionary, wrote about the impact the fearless queen had that would go on to change their lives forever.

We had no clear idea in our school days about our future. Then the Rani of Jhansi fired our imagination with her example. Sometimes we used to think of ourselves as fearless.

The urge to resist, first surged in Pritilata when her degree in philosophy was held back by the British authorities at the Calcutta University. After completing her studies, she began teaching at a local English medium secondary school, where she was also appointed as its first headmistress.

It was around this time that she approached Master Da with the request to be recruited into his armed group of teenage revolutionaries. Although Master Da was initially quite hesitant, all his misgivings went away after being impressed by her steely resolve to overthrow the British, and he accepted her as a woman comrade in his underground group.

In fact, Pritilata was one of the principal conspirators of the Chittagong uprising, and her cleverly pieced together strategies and efforts helped Master Da and his fellows to successfully raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces that cut off Chittagong from the rest of the country and escape from right under the nose of the British.

This didn’t go down quite well with the British authorities, who following an extensive crackdown on the escapees, managed to trace them in Jalalabad hills near Chittagong four days later. With about several thousand troops surrounding them, there was little hope for the rebels—12 of them were martyred in the ensuing gunfight, and the rest including Sen managed to reorganise and disperse. It was Pritilata, who had taken charge of supplying explosives to the revolutionaries during this bloody encounter which also took down many innocent teenagers.

While each of her actions during this period was individually path-breaking as a woman revolutionary, nothing comes close to when she was chosen by Master Da to lead a mission comprising a team of 40 men to avenge the massacre in Jalalabad by torching down the Pahartali European club in 1932.

As much as the loss of the fellow compatriots in an extremely outnumbered encounter was one of the determinants for revenge, this particular club was zeroed upon because of the supremacist signboards that the club flaunted across its premises which stated, ‘Dogs and Indians are not allowed.’

Dressed as a Sardar, Pritilata was unrecognisable, while her team wore shirts and lungis as they laid siege at the European club and torched it. Sadly their moment of victory was short-lived as the British troops were quick to retaliate. Following an intense chase with gunshots from both sides, Pritilata and her team found themselves ambushed by the soldiers in a bloody encounter that would end up fatally wounding her.

Upon realising that surrendering to the British was the only way out, she came up with a ploy that would open up a diversion for her comrades to escape. The love for her motherland was so deep and intense that she chose to kill herself instead of conceding and selling out her faction to the British.

21-year-old Pritilata Waddedar sacrificed her life by consuming cyanide, and even in death, she gave out a clear message to the British like a true revolutionary.

Today, except for people in West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh, the rest of the country hardly knows about the stalwart or that she was posthumously conferred her graduation certificate of merit in 2012.

Kalpana Datta

Kalpana’s memoirs were responsible for bringing every minute detail behind the blood-laced uprising of Chittagong, to the fore. One of the only surviving revolutionaries of the rebellion, she had recounted the entire course of events to her daughter-in-law Manini Chatterjee before breathing her last in 1995.

The latter was so inspired by such an intimate account of a freedom struggle that she went to author a non-fiction work on the same titled, Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising (1930-34).

Like Pritilata, Kalpana was also an educated young woman who nursed the desire to fight for her country’s independence and joined the Chhatri Sangha, a semi-revolutionary student organisation. She became one of its most active members and immersed herself in the cause. It was here that she met and forged a friendship with Pritilata, who would later introduce her to Surya Sen.

Sen’s ideals and principles enamoured the budding revolutionary, and she was inspired enough to join Pritilata as one of few other women compatriots in Master Da’s armed group of revolutionaries.

Besides being assigned the responsibility of transporting explosives and other supplies, Kalpana also became an expert in preparing gun cotton, an explosive agent.

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As much as the Chittagong Uprising had managed to shake the arrogance of the British and refocus their attention to this group of teenage revolutionaries, their fury found its vent through the bloodbath that took place in Jalalabad hills where several teenagers were shot down by the British troops.

The siege at the European club had initially involved both Pritilata and Kalpana as its key executors, but just a week before the attack, the latter was caught unawares and was detained by the British while she was on a reconnaissance trip of the area.

After being released on bail, she went underground to ensure that the plan, which would now be taken forward by Pritilata, would continue without any obstacles. Sadly, the officers were on high alert, and they easily ambushed the rebels right after they torched the Pahartali club.

Kalpana managed to escape, and even when the British finally managed to locate the hideout that captured Master Da in 1933, Kalpana managed to run for her life. Three months later, she was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in the second supplementary trial case of the Chittagong Armoury Raid incident. She was released after six years of imprisonment, and following independence, she led a relatively quiet life until her death in 1995.

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Ashutosh Gowariker’s period drama film on the Chittagong uprising is probably one of the few movies that shed light on the freedom struggle led by Surya Sen and his student group of revolutionaries.

Both Kalpana and Pritilata play prominent roles in the plot and were skilfully portrayed by actors Deepika Padukone and Vishakha Singh.

We salute these unsung women heroines from the independence era, whose fearlessness, strong will, and refusal to give in to British pressure needs to be remembered and celebrated.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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The awareness about increasing pollution levels has prompted people in urban areas to take up ‘greening’ measures to make their surroundings more verdant. Green cities are being planned out to encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle in urban areas and to maintain a balance between urban development and environment.

New Town in West Bengal is the latest addition to such ‘green’ cities.

The fast-growing satellite city has been recognised as a ‘Green City’ by the Indian Gold Building Council (IGBC). IGBC is a part of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and issues certificates to buildings that are recognised by the state government of Bengal.

New Town is certainly showing West Bengal the green way forward in the area of urban development, and here are six reasons why it secured the Green City tag:

1. Located just north of Kolkata, New Town is a planned satellite city. The area has large areas of cultivable plots and water bodies which have been developed in a planned manner.

2. The township is focusing efforts on solid waste management. The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has launched 20 waste management vehicles that have the GPS system installed in them. This helps municipal officials track the vehicles to check if they have collected and transported waste in their designated areas.

3. New Town has a brand new fleet of 20 electric buses. These air-conditioned 32-seater buses can be charged at the four charging points set up in the township.

According to the Millennium Post, the bus fare for these buses that will reach every area of the township is only Rs 10.

4. 480 acres of land and 112 acres of water bodies have been converted into a well-maintained Eco-Park. The park also carried replicas of the seven wonders of the world that have become a major tourist attraction.

5. The city also has three water ATMs at the Eco-Park. Anyone living in the township can go to the nearest ATM throughout the day to collect water.

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6. The township has also launched a cycle-hiring system so people can cycle to close destinations instead of taking polluting vehicles.

Focussing on green infrastructure boosts healthy living around nature. Ecologically friendly alternatives to polluting vehicles, a focus on waste management and exposure to eco-parks will also improve the standard of living of the residents.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Any one can learn from a book. But a #TerrificTeacher can make the difference between passing an exam and learning a life lesson. The Better India salutes those for whom teaching is not a job but a higher calling.

On Teacher’s Day, it does seem a touch odd to begin with the Naxalite movement of the late 1960s and early 70s. After all, what does a call for violent revolution against the Indian State have anything to offer a sober democracy?

Dr BR Ambedkar once said that if India were to maintain democracy not “merely in form, but also in fact,” it must abandon calls for a violent revolution.

“The first thing in my judgement we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution,” he once wrote.

Subhash Chandra Kundu from Basirhat is a living embodiment of Ambedkar’s call for change, rejecting Naxalism for a life of teaching science to the masses.

The septuagenarian has contributed three decades of his life to teaching the wonders of science to underprivileged students in and around the Basirhat area of West Bengal, and that too, for free.

Most students who come to his Institute of Physics, which is a two-storeyed red building in Basirhat, belong to families who cannot afford to send their ward to college, let alone pay tuition fees.

Thanks to his efforts, many have stepped out of poverty and are now teaching at top institutions like the IITs and St Xavier’s College in Calcutta. Compare this to the vile, money-making and exploitative coaching centres that have mushroomed all around the country.

“I am here to spread the knowledge of science, especially among students from low-income families. How can I slap them with the burden of fees? Science is the way forward for these boys and girls. This can make them employable,” said Kundu to the Telegraph, a Kolkata-based daily.

It was in 1988 when Kundu established the Institute of Physics on a small plot of land he purchased from his siblings. Before setting up the institute, as a teacher at Basirhat High School, he would take tuition classes from students without any desire for remuneration.

Kundu believes that his modest salary as a government teacher was enough to sustain him, and following retirement, he relies on his pension. Thanks to generous contributions from former students and well-wishers, the institute has grown over the past three decades, although serious challenges remain since he does not take any fees from his students.

In the beginning, his students made small contributions, but the remaining funds to develop the institute came from the many loans he took. Today, the institute houses six rooms—two classrooms on the ground floor, while the rest of the rooms contain laboratories that he built and various scientific instruments donated and bought over the years.

“If you are from Basirhat and don’t know where the Institute of Physics is located, then it’s a matter of shame,” says Sayan Ganguly, a resident of Basirhat, speaking to The Better India.

“Kundu Sir is a teacher with an indomitable passion for education and only education, an institution. A man of extreme calibre, he knows no stopping. To every student irrespective of age from Basirhat and nearby areas, ‘Sir’ is akin to a demi-god and more of a parent than their real parents, and to the general public, he is a living legend. The magnificent physics laboratory set up at his home entirely by himself speaks volumes for him. His care, dedication, diligence and determination are a lesson for lives to come,” says Rajib Shil, a former student.

What inspired Subhash Chandra Kundu to undertake this noble responsibility of teaching students the value of science? Strangely enough, it was his time in the Naxalite movement.

“I was into active politics between 1968 and 1971, when I was teaching at Basirhat College. The movement floundered as we tactically pursued the wrong line. My biggest takeaway from the movement was being infused with the spirit to serve. After being released from the Dum Dum correctional centre in 1974, I decided to pursue a mission not through the path of armed revolution but by spreading science education among the poor,” he informed the Telegraph.

For him, teaching the wonders of science for free is an extension of his politics, which is to serve the poor and dispossessed.

“What should have been demanded through the ballot and not the bullet is accountability of such failures of the State as its inability to conquer poverty and inequality,” says Kundu in another interview. From Naxalism, this is a return to the principles of Ambedkar.

Also Read: Using Internet & Rs 7L from Own Pocket, Gujarat Teacher Gives Free Tuitions to Poor Kids!

Kundu repudiates the path the movement took, but at the same time, his experience there showed him the way forward, which is to serve the poor.

Despite suffering partial paralysis, a decade ago due to a cerebral stroke, he has not only continued his work but has also held exhibitions and quizzes across the district. He undertakes these activities to further generate interest in the sciences among the general population.

“My advice to them (teachers) would be to just do your job honestly and motivate the students. As I realised after coming out of the Naxalite stint, Albert Einstein is as relevant in Basirhat as he is in Europe or America. There is no impurity in education. So just keep teaching,” Kundu told the Telegraph.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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The once-thriving tea gardens in the fertile Dooars region which encompasses the plains of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts of West Bengal have now fallen on hard times.

These tea plantations, first set up by the British colonialists in the 19th century, are today unable to keep up with global competition primarily coming in from Sri Lanka and China.

Falling yields, excessive dependence on human capital over mechanisation which results in high cost of production, and the proliferation of small growers in the area have eaten into the profits of particularly the major tea plantations.

It was during the mid-1990s when small growers began to flood the tea market emerging out of the Dooars region.

As per data published by Tea Board India, the number of tea plantations in North India (which includes West Bengal, Assam and all the North-Eastern states) jumped from 3,141 in 1994 to 36,836 in 1999. In the Dooars alone, this number jumped from 168 to 532 during this period, rendering the cost structures of these major plantations unviable.

However, more than tea garden owners it is their workers who have suffered immensely. Reports of starvation deaths of workers emanating from the plantation’s inability to pay their wages and supply food grains on time are nothing short of devastating. Add petty corruption and an insensitive bureaucracy to the mix and what you have is a recipe for disaster.

This issue also has political ramifications in the state.

In recent years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made regular visits to the region, directing local officials to reportedly ensure that tea plantation workers have access to the welfare schemes and benefits introduced by the government.

With 63 tea gardens falling under the jurisdiction of Nikhil Nirmal IAS, the District Magistrate of Alipurduar, the task before his administration is enormous. Of the 63 tea gardens, 5 have closed down while another 20 are struggling to maintain their finances.

For the civil servant who grew up among tea plantations in his home district of Ernakulam, this was an issue he understood well. “During my formative years, I witnessed first-hand the suffering of tea garden workers and the circumstances surrounding them,” he said, speaking to The Better India.

As a result, his administration on July 22 started “Apnar Bagane Proshason” (administration in your garden), an effective public awareness and grievance redressal initiative for poor workers in stressed/closed tea garden areas in the Dooars region. The first such camp was held at Madhu Tea Garden (closed since September 2014) on July 22, 2018.

Since these workers have little to no alternative sources of livelihood, Nirmal says that the district administration is trying to find a way through which state development initiatives reach these vulnerable people without the usual bureaucratic red tape that comes along with it.

Where do these workers come from?

Speaking to TBI, Suman Mohanty, an IAS officer working on probation under Nirmal, said that most of these workers are tribal migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam who arrived generations ago and have settled in these parts.

“These workers are economically backward with poor human development indicators, particularly when it comes education, nutrition and healthcare. Many of them aren’t even covered under the ambit social security schemes and depend on exploitative touts to acquire benefits from government-related programs,” he said.

In order to break the stranglehold of touts/ intermediaries, the Alipurduar district administration under Nikhil Nirmal, who took over the reins in June 2018, took the following steps:

1) Identify closed and stressed tea gardens and set up camps in and around them at least once a week.

2) Bring officials from 16 line-departments under whom the benefits of government-related schemes and tasks including MGNREGA, Nirmal Bangla (sanitation), Kanyashree (girl child empowerment through education), Rupashree (prevention of child marriage through provision of state money when they reach 18 years of age), Sabuj Saathi (provision of saplings to ensure afforestation and income security), Anandadhara (bank-credit linkage), payment of unpaid wages, food ration card enrolment and provision of SC/ST certificates on the spot, among others, are disbursed.

3) Officials from District Administration/Block/Gram panchayat converge on the spot.

4) To attract workers, a free health camp is organised at the particular tea garden. Immunization of mother and child, standard health check-ups, blood group checking, treatment for sickle cell anaemia, vector-borne diseases—malaria, dengue, tuberculosis—and alcohol and tobacco de-addiction are just some of the services on offer.

Moreover, disability check-up camps are conducted on the spot to identify disability parameters for registration to Manabik pension schemes (for disability). Announcements for these camps are also made in the Sadri (spoken across different tribal communities), Hindi and Bengali.

5) The District Magistrate personally attends these camps and listens to their grievances. He informed TBI that he also took the trouble of learning Sadri to interact with these workers.

6) These meetings are held on tea garden holidays or over the weekend. Ever week the district administration holds these redressal sessions at one particular tea garden or a nearby spot.

It’s been a little over a month, but the administration’s efforts are seemingly bearing some fruit.

“We are very thankful that the DM held this camp. we received important information about old-age and widow pension related issues and their documentation, while the disbursal of unpaid MGNREGA wages and demands for a community hall were fulfilled,” said Vasant Thapi, who attended a camp at a government school in Bandapani village, Madarihat Block.

Another former tea garden worker (who did not wish to be named), meanwhile, spoke of how she was finally able to apply for a ration card and government schemes like Sabuj Saathi, Rupashree and Kanyashree with all the necessary documents at another camp last month.

Since the start of this initiative, the district administration has conducted 12 such camps. These are early days, and the road ahead is very long, but drastic measures are already taking place.

In certain instances, at these camps, officials were fired for indulging in corruption.

“The official concerned was a casual and temporary staff member employed in a ration shop and was consistently engaged in corrupt and dishonest practices about which the district magistrate had received many complaints. After holding camp in Madarihat Nirmal Sir went to the shop, confronted the man, and upon finding that he had nothing to offer in his defence asked him to report for a hearing at Block Development Office, where after due process he was sacked,” says Suman.

Nonetheless, the administration has barely skimmed the surface. Nirmal tells The Better India that his administration could take six months to cover all tea gardens under his jurisdiction.

“Challenges also include following up with the block and gram panchayat officials to ensure people’s grievances that we could not resolve at the camps are addressed at the earliest. We would also like to extend these services at the gram panchayat level,” says Nirmal.

One could even argue that the necessity to conduct health camps points to failures in the primary health system, an issue the district administration will need to rectify.

These grievance redressal camps have brought the administration closer to the people.

“This platform gives them real power to vent their grievances, point out our inadequacies and receive benefits. Earlier touts would fleece them through enrolment for government programs like Aadhaar due to information asymmetry. After the District Magistrate fired a ration card employee on the spot, there is some fear in the ranks. Also, workers do not have to forego one day’s work to go to district headquarter to alleviate their problems,” says Suman.

It even keeps local block and gram panchayat officials on their toes with complaints of administrative malpractices often flowing into the district magistrate’s office.

“One block development officer, meanwhile, remarked they did not previously understand the pain it took to travel on the bad roads leading up to these tea garden. After attending these camps, he is taking it seriously to ensure all roads are completed on a war footing,” says Nirmal.

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Considering the initial breakthroughs achieved through the Apnar Baganer Proshashon initiative, other nearby districts have emulated the same, although they are called by different names.

At the end of the day, these camps have only brought the administration closer to the tea garden workers. Larger concerns of a dwindling tea industry and ensuring they find alternative sources of livelihood require a much bigger intervention. However, at least for now, the administration knows and understand their daily trials and tribulations.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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The Sundarbans in West Bengal–largely underdeveloped but a treasure of natural resources–is set to see the light of the day, thanks to scientists from Europe! The Sunderban islands are mangroves with neither thermal power nor solar energy.

In this scenario, experts from Holland and Poland are experimenting to see if cow dung can be used to generate electricity.

The experts were attending a discussion on “Generation of Electricity from Cow Dung” in Kolkata when they spoke of their plans to bring electricity to the Sunderbans. “We will provide fuel from cow dung which is cheap and easily available.

This kind of renewable energy will be useful for India as the population of cows is large in numbers, and cow dung is also cheap and available.

With the help of technology, we wish to produce 10 kW to 20 kW and more,” Marcin Wilczynski from Poland, said.

Microgen Engine Corporation from Holland and Globe Solution from Poland are set to work for this project in India.

They plan to collaborate with volunteers from West Bengal and other states who rear cows and can provide cow dung for this project. Friederike Irina Bruning, a German lady who lives in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, is one such person that the power consultants are aiming to work with.

Bruning came to India as a tourist in 1978 and now lives in Mathura, taking care of about 1,500 abandoned, sick and injured cows. Power consultant Asok Gupta believes that she could be a good start for the project.

“We had meetings with Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. They have assured us that the body will take measures to add the power produced from cow dung into the grid.

In Europe, power produced from combustion of cow dung (not biomass energy) through this technology, has been added to the grid,” he said.

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“Though West Bengal has achieved 100% electrification, but there are some areas where electricity supply is needed. Those areas may find a use for this technology,” Manish Gupta, the Minister of Power for West Bengal said. He added that the storage and transmission of solar power was a concern and that adding new solutions was necessary to ensure security for the country.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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The tiny Gundlubari Primary School in the Hura Block of the Purulia District in West Bengal is a unique institution. The school employs novel teaching methods, and the ambience is education-friendly. In fact, once you step inside the school, you cannot help but notice the clean premises, the surrounding greenery and interesting graffiti on the walls.

All this is thanks to the collective efforts of the headmaster Pratap Mahato, and his assistant teacher Rupali Mahato, who have ensured that no stone was left unturned, to improve the quality of life of the poor children here.

“Since I joined the school in 2014, I endeavoured to make it unique to attract students and give them all-round development. For this, the assistant teacher and I have been spending Rs 4,000 from our salary every month,” said Pratap, to the Indian Express.

Pratap recalls that when he joined the school, the infrastructure was not up to the mark and very few students would turn up. He held intensive meetings with the villagers, to motivate them to send their children to school, and his efforts paid off! From a measly 20, the student strength has gone up to 79.

“Most of the families are poor daily wage-earners. Previously they stayed away for six months in search of jobs taking their children along. Now they leave their children with other family members because they see a future for their children and themselves in a better school environment. Hence there are hardly any dropouts here,” he informed IE.

The school library is stocked with books and handmade crafts made by the students from reused material, there is a tank in the school premises that is used for rain-water harvesting, the healthy mid-day meal kitchen employs cooks from self-help groups (SHGs), and there is even a meditation room. All these features are immensely popular and have helped the school to retain the existing students while drawing in newer ones.

In addition to the above, Rupali Mahato, the assistant teacher, mentions that they also conduct extra classes for kids, like dancing, drawing, singing and gardening.

Pratap signs off by acknowledging the people who have helped him to keep up the good work all these years.

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“I am thankful to our BDO for helping us with a computer, an LPG gas connection, fire extinguisher and for always supporting us. The teachers and students take care of the garden and all the things. If there is any other work the villagers have also helped us,” he said.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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We’ve heard of Paulo Coelho’s famous words in The Alchemist, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

And perhaps, Eleanor Roosevelt’s words, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

They may just be quotes for us, but to Sweta Agarwal, pinned at the desk of her study, these words were an anthem.

An anthem she not only marched to, but made true.

When newspapers in the sleepy town of Bhadreshwar hit the doorstep of her family home, she had made it to the front page. ‘Daughter of Grocer tops state, clears UPSC with AIR 19’ the headlines splashed.

Little did anyone know that this was the third time the girl had cracked the competitive exam.

This is the story of her unfazed grit.

Sweta was born in a 28-member conservative Marwari joint family in Bhadreswar in Hooghly district of West Bengal. When most families in the community prayed for a son, Sweta says that her birth didn’t bring happiness to anyone barring her parents.

This was the 1980s.

Her grandparents who desperately wanted a grandson gave her parents an ultimatum. To either plan a baby boy or adopt one.

They often regurgitated archaic beliefs in the patriarchal system quipping, “Only boys carry the family legacy forward. If a boy is born, he will take care of his father’s business. What must a girl do other than choka-bartan?”

Her parents stood their ground.

The consequences of their decision were visible in how Sweta’s mother was often discriminated by the greater family.

Although among the youngest of the 15 children in the joint family, Sweta was the first girl child from the household to graduate from college. Her female cousins were sent to the local Hindi or Bangla-medium schools and married off once they hit the legal age.

“My parents had grown up with the inferiority complex of not being able to communicate in English, although I often told them it didn’t matter. They were adamant that I shouldn’t face the lack of opportunities they did. When the news that they wanted to admit me to Chandannagar’s St Joseph’s Convent spread within the family, they faced flak and had to fight back,” she says.

Back in the day, the convent’s fee was Rs 165 per month. But despite being in a joint family, her father was practically unemployed. From working as a daily wage earner to running a grocery shop, he did it all for Sweta’s education.

He would often tell her mother, “Even if I save Rs 10 a day we won’t have to struggle for Sweta’s monthly fees.”

“As children, when we visited our other relatives and were given small amounts of money as shagun (or gifts) like Rs 5, I would never buy sweets like the other kids. Instead, I would give it to my mother. She would keep it safe to use when we were short of money for my fee,” says Sweta.

On a school fest, when Sweta was in class 2, the kids were asked to get money from home to play games and buy food. Her parents said they couldn’t afford it.

“The only thing we will strive to afford is a good education for you,” they told 7-year-old Sweta.

Even at that age, Sweta knew that the only way to honour her parents’ efforts was to work twice as hard in academia.

By the time she cleared Class 10, her father’s financial condition had improved.

But the voices in the background did not stop.

“Education has no use to a girl,” her uncle had said, when she was leaving for college. She narrated the incident to her parents and told them, “I won’t let you down. I will become the first graduate of this household.”

And she did.

With a first class degree in Economics from the prestigious St Xavier’s College, Sweta was among the top 15 students. She also moved on to complete her post-graduation, did an MBA and worked for an MNC, Deloitte India.

But her childhood dream kept nudging her.

“As a child, I was extremely fascinated with the khakhi. The police station was hardly half a kilometer from my home in Bhadreswar. I remember looking up to khaki-donning officers and dreaming about wearing the uniform one day. I remembered how I didn’t have any toys barring an orange plastic hand-revolver. I would pretend to be a cop and tell everyone that I would put miscreants behind bars,” she laughs.

As a Class 12 student though, when she had to visit a government office, she realised how the bureaucratic red tape was exhausting to the layman. Her file was transferred from one table to another with no respite. After 40 painful minutes, 17-year-old Sweta had walked up to the authorities and said, “ēkadina DM hoyashi.” (I’ll become a DM one day.)

And so, she quit Deloitte after 13 months. Her boss at the time asked her, “Why would you risk quitting your job for an exam which only 90 clear out of 5 lakh aspirants?”

“I’ll be one of the 90,” she added, as she laid down her papers.

Returning to Bhadreshwar was difficult. She had left a comfortable life behind. She joined a coaching class but quit after a few lectures. With the guidance of previously successful candidates, she started preparing on her own.

While it started in full swing, her preparation lost steam within months. This was June 2011. The pressure on her parents to get her married was building up.

“I was in a terrible mental state. I couldn’t study. When I decided not to write the prelims, my parents encouraged me. They told me to give it a shot as it would give me an idea of how the paper works.”

She did not clear the first attempt.

But one thing she was sure about was that this exam could be cracked, just with the right amount of hard work.

Read More: This Young IAS Officer’s Ideas Are Changing The Face of Meghalaya’s Villages!

“I decided to shift to Kolkata in a 1 BHK flat. Even as others around us kept telling my parents, ‘She isn’t working, then why is she living alone?’ They never let it get to them. I had told them, ‘I know that I haven’t been in my best state of mind the last few months. But have faith in me, I will become an IAS officer’.”

The 2013 notification changed the entire syllabus. Even as there was panic all around, Sweta decided to continue unfazed.

She had cleared it with an AIR 497. The service she could opt for was the Indian Revenue Service.

It was one step closer. But she had her eyes set on the IAS.

“One tricky thing about clearing UPSC is: success in one particular year does not guarantee success even in the prelims of the following year. So deciding to appear for the exam again is like starting from scratch. It can be draining since it requires a minimum of 8-9 hours of study every day for years. The decision to attempt the exam again despite having one service was difficult. But I took the plunge.”

To those asking her to settle, she would say, “I can get married after 32, but I won’t be eligible to write this exam after 32.”

When the 2015 results came out, she had secured an AIR of 141 with the Indian Police Service, missing the administrative services by a thin margin of 10 marks.

“This was a bigger dilemma. I was close to donning a khaki and achieving my childhood dream. But deep down I knew that I wanted to become an IAS officer. I decided to give it another attempt.”

On 10th May 2016, Sweta was to board a flight with her squad during the IPS training. They were travelling to Indore for the Kumbh Mela when her phone rang.

“All my friend said was, ‘Sweta, AIR-19.’ I thought my heart would burst. After five years of struggling, I had attained my dream. I put him on hold, called my parents and mentors to give them the good news. I was the state topper of West Bengal. It was almost after a decade that a candidate from the state was among the top 20,” she beams.

Those two hours in the flight became a double victory as one of her squadmates too cleared IAS with AIR-17. Celebrations ensued.

For her parents though, this was the moment they had waited for patiently, right from the day they decided to fight the family to give their daughter a good education.

“They had nourished and nurtured my dream just as strongly. It was a fruit of their hard work too. From now on, no one would ever walk up to my parents, especially my mother and say, ‘Aapne beta nahi kia?’ (Why didn’t you plan a son?) To aspirants, I say, dream big. Don’t forget to back your dreams with hard work and determination.”

“Seems like Roosevelt and Coelho’s marvels did have an element of truth to them. Both of those quotes stood true, when my life came a full circle,” Sweta signs off, recalling the quotes she had pasted on her desk six years ago.

If this story inspired you, get in touch with Sweta Agarwal at swetaagarwal0026@gmail.com.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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While the country gears up for Navratri, it is the onset of Durga Puja that unanimously unleashes the festive spirit amongst Bengalis, who look forward to the festival the way most of us would fervently wait for our birthdays, the new year or other regional festivities.

Amongst various traditions and customs practised on and before Durga Puja, one that has stood the test of time is the Dhunuchi Naach or dancing with the censer.

The dhunuchi naach has not only become invariably synonymous with the festival but also an intrinsic part of the state’s cultural identity. In fact, it is highly unlikely that non-Bengalis would not know about this iconic ritual—while some of us have first-hand visual experience, many are familiar with it due to multiple references in Bollywood films.

It is during Ashtami, or the eighth day of Navratri, when frenzied dancers, both men and women pick up the earthen dhunuchi that has been layered with slow-burning coconut, over which incense is sprinkled, and perform the dance in honour of their most revered female deity, Goddess Durga,

If you have ever watched the dance, you know that the sight is nothing less than a divine spectacle, and the aromatic white fumes and feverish ‘dhak’ rolls only add a surrealist quality to the dance ritual.

As time has passed, so has the ritual, which has now evolved to a competitive stage. Almost every Durga Puja pandal across the state holds competitions, where people get so spirited that some even perform with not one or two but three dhunuchis! These competitions are especially popular with youngsters, who participate in with much energy and vigour.

Even as these competitions have become widespread, the age-old ritual continues to remain close to the hearts of every single Bengali, especially for the message it conveys—bringing people closer and keeping the festive spirit that Durga puja has come to signify, alive.

So, this Durga Puja, if you happen to visit any of the pandals in your locality, make sure you don’t miss this age-old dance ritual!

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Hailing from the state of Kerala which boasts of the highest literacy rate in the country, the cause of education has always been close to 2011-batch IAS Officer, Nikhil Nirmal’s heart.

In August 2018, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee expressed concerns about the quality of education being imparted to students in the state. At the time, the young officer, who was posted as the District Magistrate of Alipurduar, came up with an innovative idea—the ‘Aloran’ initiative.

What started as a personal project by the bureaucrat, has impacted the lives of over 20,000 students across 73 schools in the last three months.

These students are children of labourers who work in the backward and distressed tea garden areas of the district.

In the course of several meetings, the tea garden workers revealed the poor quality education their children were receiving. While 20 of these tea-gardens were categorised as ‘distressed,’ five of them were shut down due to extreme losses.

Uncertain income and employment forced the labourers to take up menial work and manual scavenging. Acute poverty also paved the way for social evils like child trafficking, sexual abuse, child marriage, organ rackets and alcoholism. Many of these kids were pushed into child labour to supplement the family income as well.

The DM realised that only a personal intervention on the part of administration could bring about the much-needed change. And that’s how Aloran was born.

Speaking to The Better India, Nikhil Nirmal explains the initiative.

“I first started visiting schools without any prior notice, and this step received shocked reactions. I immediately noticed several problems—attendance was low, teachers wouldn’t turn up, and there was very little vigilance from the education department. However, we realised that they couldn’t be blamed because they were themselves grappling with a severe shortage of officers. For 840 schools in 11 circles, they had only four Sub-Inspectors.”

The bureaucrat decided to take matters in his own hands, not by just visiting the schools, but also checking the quality of mid-day meals, by eating with the students and evaluating learning outcomes.

Kickstarted on Teacher’s Day in 2018, the Aloran Initiative is running in closed and ‘stressed’ Tea Garden areas in 73 schools of the Alipurduar District—specifically in five blocks of Alipurduar I, Falakata, Kalchini, Kumargram and Madarihat.

How does the initiative work?

A ‘zero-cost’ model, government officers of various ranks including the Deputy Magistrate, Deputy Collector, and extension officers visit these 73 schools every two weeks.

They keep a close check on the attendance of students and teachers, check the quality and quantity of mid-day meals and infrastructure and sanitation facilities.

“The prime motivation for these kids to even come to the school is the mid-day meal because many of them cannot afford a proper meal at home. So, we pay special attention to the quality and quantity of food being served.

If a student is noticed to be absent for more than ten days in a month, the officers also visit their home and have a one-on-one discussion with their parents explaining the importance of education. Many times, when the kid is absent for a long haul, there is a fear that they may have been trafficked as the district shares a border with Bhutan,” Nikhil explains.

He adds how these government officers are referred to as ‘mentors’ and not ‘inspectors.’

“The role of an inspector is to only visit, inspect and file a report to his superiors. But we aim to become mentors to these students and help them explore their creativity and chase their dreams.”

The initiative that has been running for the last three months, without any assistance from any third parties like a private agency or NGOs has already seen an impact.

“Many officers have walked up to me and told me what a refreshing and positive experience it is to interact with the students one day in a week.”

The district has a system where every school has to send an SMS to say that the mid-day meal is running, and this gets registered on an everyday basis by the Central government. The district that once saw results as low as 35 per cent (with respect to the percentage of active MDMs) has shown a rise of 95 per cent within three months. Other results reflect in the steady improvement of student attendance. The teachers too have started coming in regularly.

The government has also passed a circular to ensure that the students in these distressed areas don’t go hungry during the Pujo week when most schools and government institutions are shut for 20 days. Additionally, schools under the Aloran initiative run midday meals on all days, including public holidays.

The personal visits by government officers have ensured that issues like regular wear and tear, repairs and infrastructure building in these schools are looked into, immediately.

“Many times in schools closer to the forest, it has been observed that wild animals enter the premises and damage the property. So our visits ensure that these issues are attended on priority,” says Nikhil.

Through CSR initiatives, RO water purifiers have been installed in the schools to ensure clean and safe drinking water for the students.

In addition to these amenities, the initiative is also helping needy students avail of government schemes they are entitled to.

A classic example of this is how a visually impaired student was able to benefit from the Manabik Pension Scheme of the West Bengal government which provides a pension of Rs 1000 per month to disabled persons of any age. Since the girl lacked a disability certificate, she couldn’t avail of it earlier. However, the administration referred her to the nearest hospital, acquired a certificate and helped her out.

Read More: Exclusive: Award-Winning ‘Paanwala’ Studied Under Street Lights, Now Trains IAS & IPS Officers!

The DM has also created a WhatsApp group for officers to ensure the smooth functioning, on ground activities, progress and grievances of the initiative. There are monthly review meetings to analyse the progress and brainstorm new ideas to improve the system.

The initiative has also received help from the state government. The North Bengal Development Department has given the district Rs 2 crore to improve school infrastructure per block. Additionally, the Gatidhara scheme, under which the government provides subsidies to vehicle owners who use them as ambulances or to ferry school students, is helping as it is a good alternative to school buses.

The students also get school bags and sports kits. Besides, the vegetative fencing and kitchen garden, apart from providing nutrition, are also serving as livelihood opportunities for their families.

Nelson Mandela had said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” and Nikhil believes in weaponising these young with just that.

“I often share with the students how education helped me complete college and crack the civil services and that helped me further impact 20,000 students. Had I worked as a labourer my impact would be limited. So, I encourage them to not to restrict themselves to working in tea gardens or becoming labourers and instead pursue higher goals. To be teachers, engineers, doctors, and civil servants.”

He signs off by saying, “Aloran started as a personal initiative, and I hope the officers after me continue it. The true long-term impact of this will reflect 10-15 years down the line when some day, one of these kids walks up to me and tells me, ‘Sir, I have become (career of their choice). and the Aloran initiative in my school helped me reach here.’”

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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A tragic accident in West Bengal would have led to the death of an adventurous tourist if not for the heroic and timely actions of 22-year-old pilot Purushottam Timsina.

Gaurav Chaudhary from Patna was visiting Kalimpong with his friends. On 24 November 2018, he enrolled for a paragliding session. What should have been a wonderful memory turned into a tragedy.

When the flight took off from Deolo Tourist Lodge, initially, everything seemed just fine. Purushottam and Gaurav were enjoying the peaceful flight when something went terribly wrong.

Just seconds after the flight took off, a cord snapped, sending the paragliders into a wild spiral.

Gaurav was capturing the flight in a video, and you can see how Purushottam instinctively held on to Gaurav right when the cord snapped. The parachute was spinning downward uncontrollably, and in such a situation, anyone would have lost their practical senses.

But not the pilot.

He held on to Gaurav tightly even as the duo hit the ground hard.

He even did his best in controlling the parachute with the other cord.

The fall could have gone either way, and none could have presumed how it would have ended.

But Purushottam’s presence of mind shows him holding on to the tourist.

It is presumed that this saved Gaurav’s life.

Purushottam succumbed to his injuries after the disastrous fall, while Gaurav managed to escape with a broken leg.

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Gaurav’s friends have lodged a complaint against the organisers and officials are investigating whether all required safety measures were taken before and during the flight.

Even so, Purushottam’s heroic and instinctive actions to protect Gaurav as they were both spiralling towards certain death are commendable.

The video, shot by Gaurav and posted on Facebook, captures the entire incident. Before you watch it, please beware that it has graphics and possibly disturbing visuals

Often during tragic times like these, we see courageous people with a presence of mind stepping up. Take, for instance, the pilots who flew their plane into an empty under-construction site in the heart of Mumbai when it went out of control as opposed to a busy residential area.

In another incident, two Air India pilots saved over 370 lives when multiple systems in their flights failed.

Even as we the system failures are tragic, we commend the bravery of the heroes who risk their lives to save others.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Citing its own data, the Central Government of India earlier this year stated that millions of people in India are at risk of consuming drinking water with high arsenic content.

According to the World Health Organisation, long-term exposure to arsenic-contaminated water can result in cancer and skin lesions.

Arsenic contamination has also been linked to cardiovascular disease and restricting cognitive development and lowering of IQ in children. The problem is widespread in multiple states, especially along the Indo-Gangetic plain.

Six states are considered arsenic affected by the Central Ground Water Board – West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Chhattisgarh.

Arsenic ends up in water by the dissolution of arsenic-bearing sediments and silts into groundwater aquifers that are in contact with arsenic-bearing strata.

Arsenic is tasteless, colourless, odourless, and highly toxic. Lifelong consumption of drinking water with arsenic even at its allowed maximum contaminant level (“MCL”) of 10 ppb (parts per billion) produces far more internal cancers than those produced from the next most hazardous regulated waterborne carcinogen at its MCL.

“For illustration, lifelong consumption of water with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) at their allowed MCL concentration causes 0.5 excess internal cancer per 100,000 people; arsenic causes 700. For 100,000 people drinking water, for their lifetime, at 250 ppb Arsenic level, 18,000 more people are predicted to suffer from internal cancers, compared to the baseline case of the same population drinking arsenic-free water,” says Dr. Arkadeep Kumar, a member of the Research team from the famous Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in a conversation with The Better India.

A collaborative team of top-notch researchers from University of California, Berkeley, led by the famous Dr. Ashok Gadgil—the man responsible for developing low cost water disinfection system (UV Waterworks) and cooking stove (Berkeley-Darfur Stove) for the poorest citizens of the world, and Global Change Programme of Jadavpur University led by Prof. Joyashree Roy, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) national fellow and member of Nobel Peace Prize winning panel of 2007 IPCC—have set up a very efficient and cost-effective system called Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation (ECAR) for removing arsenic contamination from drinking water.

Since 2016, this team of researchers from the two countries have operated an ECAR based water treatment plant out of a government school at Dhapdhapi village in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, delivering arsenic-free drinking water.

West Bengal, particularly its three districts of North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas, are among the worst affected in India when it comes to such contamination. The ECAR Project offers a viable solution for locals to get rid of arsenic contamination.

So, how does it work?

“ECAR works with steel electrodes immersed in the water to be treated, and a low-voltage power supply connected to them. During water treatment, rust is created. The rust oxidizes and captures arsenic, coagulates, settles, and is filtered out,” says Dr. Arkadeep Kumar, a team member of the ECAR research team.

Backed by multiple peer-reviewed scientific papers by the researchers and implementation handled by a technically proficient licensed entrepreneur, the ECAR offers locals affordable access to arsenic-safe drinking water.

Besides undergoing multiple long-term design tests across different locations, their water is regularly under the microscope at nationally accredited water-testing laboratories, adds a researcher from Global Change Programme, Jadavpur University.

“The key components of the ECAR plant are the rust formation chamber, coagulation and settling chamber to remove settled sludge, post-treatment filtering and UV treatment to provide additional layers of protection to ensure the product-water is fit and pleasant for drinking. There is careful management of arsenic-bearing sludge so that arsenic does not re-enter the environment. Finally, the system comes with a simple distribution system,” says a team member of the ECAR project.

As per the WHO recommendations, the upper limit for arsenic in drinking water is 10 micrograms of arsenic per litre of water (10 ppb).

“We have monitored the arsenic levels in the product water at our pilot ECAR plant at Dhapdhapi all along and have found it to be consistently producing treated water with arsenic level well below the WHO guideline levels of 10 ppb. The periodic testing carried on by Global Change Programme of Jadavpur University through NABL lab also found the product water to meet India’s potable water quality standard defined by IS 10500:2012. Results from our testing of product water at UC Berkeley facility for its arsenic content are displayed in the figure below, and these are consistent with the NABL results on file with the research team,” says Dr. Ashok Gadgil.

The data starting from April 2016 to January 2017 depicting the continuous effective removal of arsenic from initial arsenic levels of 250 parts per billion (ppb) to less than 10 ppb (WHO’s maximum contaminant level MCL is 10 ppb) during both pilot and distribution phases.

Funding for the project has come from diverse sources including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at University of California Berkeley, Jadavpur University, University Grants Commission of India, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network, and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, among others.

In constant coordination with governments at the district, panchayat, State and Central level, the project has developed over this two-year period.

The results on the ground have been pretty evident. Locals on the ground are talking about buying this water at Rs 6 per 10 litres, and seem generally satisfied with this intervention.

“We are satisfied with buying water for Rs 6 per 10 litres. We don’t use this water to cook and other activities, but just to drink. For cooking and other activities, however, we use tube well water. Yes, it may have arsenic, but we cannot afford to buy so much water. The family will need to spend at least Rs 600 per month to buy water just for cooking,” says one tea stall owner in the village, speaking to researchers on the ground.

However, he goes onto state that some families can afford to buy this water, while there are others who don’t have the mentality to buy it for purposes like cooking.

“People come from far to buy their drinking water. They (a third-party private entity) ask us how much water we need on a monthly basis. Initially, they gave us a container of water for free, and now they take a monthly advance. The remaining money is carried forward for the next month. All these purchases happen with a card they give us like a ration card. Every family has a separate card,” he adds.

“Long before starting to operate the full-scale pilot plant on a regular commercial basis with a sustainable business model, Global Change Programme of Jadavpur University took due care to make private license holder to apply for and receive from the state government bodies documents providing the Consent to Establish (COE) and Consent to Operate (COO) for the licensed private entrepreneur at the plant,” says Prof. Joyashree Roy, speaking to The Better India.

Concerns do remain over the cost of water, but the price is way below Rs 10/ litre for any bottled water in the market and that’s the price average consumers will have to pay to drink arsenic-safe water and prevent health consequences from arsenic.

However, this price should be offset by lower medical bills with arsenic out of the water. Moreover, the University of California, which owns the patent rights to ECAR, has made the license to ECAR non-exclusive.

This means multiple entrepreneurs can license the technology and set up and operate as many ECAR plants as they like, and operate them commercially. Further, innovations on the ECAR technology, and healthy competition among licensees of ECAR technology, could also assist the process of lowering the cost.

“We hope that this enables fast penetration through multiple efforts to accelerate the solution especially before the 2030 deadline for meeting SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), which include safe drinking water access as a desirable target to be achieved,” adds ECAR team correspondent Dr Arkadeep.

Also Read: Brilliant! This IIT Dropout’s Simple Solution Can Deliver Safe & Clean Water to 650,000 Villages

These are the solutions we need to access clean drinking water better. There cannot be any compromise with regards to safe drinking water. This is our health we’re talking about.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

(Update: The headline of an earlier version of this article had stated that the cost of water was Rs 3/Litre. It has been updated to 60 Paise/Litre. The error is regretted.)  

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Her skin was burning and itching, but Bula swam across the English Channel.

“I wished that it would get over quickly, but quitting was never an option. The discomfort only made me swim faster and better,” Bula Chowdhury tells The Better India.

She is allergic to saline water, but this was never a strong enough reason to break her resilience. She believes that she was born to swim and so, she kept challenging herself.

Bula is a 48-year-old now but began swimming when she was just three.

“There was a pond close to our house, and my father would take us swimming there,” she says.

Recalling the day when he nearly drowned in the pond, she says that the tragedy was averted thanks to a brave stranger who rescued him. That’s when he decided that his children would learn to swim, no matter what.

So, Bula decided to carry his wish forward, and how!

Just a year after she learned to swim, Bula joined a swimming club where she was trained by a professional.

Hailing from a small town in West Bengal, she had no idea what a swimsuit looked like, and would wear a frock to the pool. One day, her mother saw a swimsuit in a shop and decided that she would stitch one for her daughter. Owing to the family’s poor financial status, and unsure about the fabric required, she stitched one made of cotton.

But Bula couldn’t care less about its quality. All she knew was that she loved the water and slowly, her coaches realised her relentless talent.

In 1982, speaking to India Today, her coach Bernard Johnke had said, “Bula is far superior to the other 14 girls in my camp and easily the best potential in the country. She is at an early age when her body is not yet fully formed, and so she can adapt better to techniques that will help improve her timings.”

And he wasn’t wrong.

12-year-old Bula was 4 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 34 kg, but could swim like a fish.

“As a young swimmer, I have broken, and established new records which were left unbeaten for several years,” she told TBI, adding, “My participation in championships—from the Commonwealth Games to the Asian championships etc.— was not just a determination to make a mark, but a result of my true love for the water.”

Soon enough, swimming pools proved to be too small for Bula who wished to conquer the seas.

She started training to swim in the English Channel in 1989 and even when she was diagnosed as allergic to seawater, she did not stop.

“My skin would burn and itch all night after the swim. But I wasn’t going to let such obstacles stop me from pursuing my dream. I always wanted to be a professional swimmer and what great thing can be achieved if not for a few obstacles and challenges?”

In 1989, at the age of 19, she took her first dive into the Channel and repeated the feat ten years later.

But it was in 2004 that the swimmer would set a world record. She would become the first woman to cross the seven seas, swimming from the Palk Straits from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu in India.

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She would even become the first woman to swim in sea channels in five continents in 2005. Not just that, her feat of conquering the 30 km track in three hours and 26 minutes was a record in itself!

A winner at the South Asian Federation Games and a world record holder, Bula has been awarded the Arjuna Award for her achievements in swimming and is also a recipient of the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award.

She shares, “They say water is life and it stands true for me even professionally. Although I did day jobs for a brief period, I realised that swimming is only what I am truly passionate about. And this kept me going.”

Allergies, financial problems and other issues, were not enough obstacles for her.

“And this determination has made me achieve what I have,” concludes the water baby, who is currently working towards establishing a swimming institute in Bengal.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Sovon Acharya was only 12 years old when the word ‘cancer’ first entered his lexicon.

“My aunt had succumbed to blood cancer just three months after she was first diagnosed. I thought ‘how can a disease snuff out life in such a short span of time?’. I was too little to understand all these things back then. But it did consume my thoughts,” says Sovon, in a conversation with The Better India.

Despite his desire to find out more about this mysterious disease, there was scant information available in his school textbooks.

For the Class VII student studying at the Bengali-medium Khalisa Bhanga High School in his village, which is 150 km away from Kolkata, the wait would extend a few more years.

Today, he is a senior research fellow at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani in Nadia district, West Bengal. Sovon, however, comes from very humble beginnings. His father was a poor farmer, who would take up work as a daily wager in a cashew factory in the offseasons.

As a young child, Sovon would help his father work their land and milk the few cows they owned.

Despite his innate curiosity in learning about human physiology and the biology of cancer, Sovon couldn’t apply to college after finishing high school. His family was strapped for cash, and due to various “problems in the family”, Sovon had to take up a job.

“Back then, I thought if I join a hospital in whatever capacity, I will get a chance to learn about subjects like human physiology and the biology of cancer by interacting with doctors and patients. That’s why I applied for a job as an usher at AMRI Hospital—a multi-speciality hospital—in the Mukundapura area of Kolkata. Thankfully, I got the job,” he says.

At the hospital, his job involved guiding patients to their specific departments and help them fill up and arranging their documents.

“There, I interacted with more than 60 patients daily, learnt the name of diseases they were suffering from, and jotted them down in my diary. After my duty would get over, I would look up these diseases on the internet. That’s where I started gaining real knowledge. Doctors there helped me understand the basic facts and encouraged my curiosity. For further reading, however, I would go to the famous second-hand book market at College Street. I would visit there frequently and bought books on human physiology, while also working on my English.” he says.

Unfortunately, in the early morning of December 2011, the AMRI Hospital’s Dhakuria unit caught fire, killing nearly 100 people. Realising that times might get hard at the hospital, Sovon put down his papers and applied to the Tata Medical Centre Cancer Hospital in the New Town area of Kolkata.

“My thinking was that ‘if I get a job here, I will get a chance to interact with cancer patients and experts in the field’. There, I applied for the post of a telephone operator. During the interview, they asked me whether I knew anything about cancer. In response, I listed out all the classifications of cancer. This later helped me decide which doctor’s appointment to book for a patient,” he says.

“After that, they asked ‘if we put you on the appointments desk, will you be able to able to give patients their appointment to the right doctor since there are more than 20 doctors in our hospital who specialise in different forms of cancer’. When I answered in the affirmative, they gave me the job. This was a real turning point in my life,” he says.

What Sovon found at the Tata Medical Centre was a real opportunity to feed his curiosity. He would read up prescriptions to understand the line of treatment required for a particular cancer patient.

Doctors and researchers would share their expertise with him. Sometimes they would get irritated by his constant questions, but they were accommodating for the most part.

“I came into contact with very good scientists and experts who were working on cancer. They realised I was very interested in understanding the biology of cancer. They soon allowed me to see how they do research, their diagnostic processes and even allowed me to see how a cancer cell looks like under a microscope. After my duties, I would visit the pathology and microbiology lab at the cancer hospital. Unofficially, they gave me a chance to be an observer. Constantly visiting these labs, I soon learnt the technique of how doctors diagnose cancer. I spent a lot of time with scientists, doctors and other officers and they helped me a lot,” he tells The Better India.

Two doctors at the hospital—Professor Manas Roy, a surgeon, and Dr Sanjay Bhattacharya, a microbiologist—really encouraged him to go for higher studies, says Sovon.

“Seeing my curiosity, they believed I was capable of doing something worthwhile in this field,” he adds.

“There is only one life, and I have the chance to do something special with it. I was so desperate at the time. I looked up colleges from Sikkim Manipal University to Calicut University, AIIMS to Kanpur University. During the time I also applied to Calcutta University,” he says.

However, there was a small problem with his application to Calcutta University. The varsity only admits those students who apply less than three years after they finish their Class XII Board Exams. Sovon had finished his boards in 2009, and this was 2012.

He tried everything—spoke to heads of various departments and even senior officials at the State education department. But nothing came of those meetings, and in certain cases he was even derided for his requests for leniency.

However, hope came, when someone told him about the Bachelor’s programme in Kanpur University, where no such rule existed. “I have the knowledge, but no degree. Without one, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” he says.

One fine day in June 2013, when Sovon was waiting for a bus after his shift at the hospital, an idea came flashing before him. “I don’t know if it was out of madness, but I decided to take the bus to Howrah Station, booked a ticket for Kanpur on Kalka Mail and just took off with some clothes and Rs 300 in my pocket,” he says.

He took the bull by its horns.

When he arrived, the entrance test for BSc in Medical Microbiology at Kanpur University had just gotten over, but there were seats available for those with high board exam aggregate scores.

Sovon qualified for a seat, picked up the form and with the help of a batchmate – Saurabh Sachan – filled up the form in Hindi.

Sovon had met Saurabh, whose father had been posted in West Bengal, on campus. Finding out that Sovon was from Bengal, and that he had no one in Kanpur, Saurabh gave him a place to stay at home.

However, there was the question of the Rs 54,000 he needed to pay for his admission. That’s when Sovon reached out to his father.

“My father was planning to build a pucca hut with his savings. But he pledged to sell off our small plot of land and give me that money instead,” Sovon told The Telegraph in a separate interview.

“Now, I had a platform to understand things that I’ve always wanted to learn. After a few months, I found my own place. For my daily sustenance, I joined a coaching centre as a teacher, teaching third-year students microbiology, basic developmental biology, etc, even though I was just in my first year. It helped me earn some money,” says Sovon.

At the end of his second year, he wrote to Professor Pradip Sinha, who was working on cancer genetics at IIT Kanpur, expressing an interest in his research. At the time, Professor Sinha was working on a cancer drug. “He soon offered me a position of lab attendant,” says Sovon.

What you’ll notice through the course of Sovon’s life is the enormous sacrifice his low-income family made for his education. It’s truly remarkable.

For example, for the second-year tuition fees, Sovon’s mother mortgaged her jewellery, while his brother studied at a local Industrial Training Institute.

Another remarkable feature of his life is the incredible kindness of strangers. When the family had nothing to offer for his BSc final year tuition fees, Dr Varsha Gupta, a professor at the Biotechnology Department paid up entirely.

He recalls his time as a part-time lab attendant at IIT-Kanpur with great fondness.

“It was an amazing time. I had access to free high-speed internet. Received a lot of help from PhD students, who taught me a lot and encouraged me, and I would sit in through lectures on Biotechnology. Of course, none of these lectures mattered for the BSc course, but it fed my appetite to learn.”

In his final year, he topped the entrance exams for Master’s in Medical Biotechnology in AIIMS, Delhi, and thanks to a fellowship from the Central government, he could afford a seat there.

During his time at AIIMS Delhi, Sovon found the opportunity to conduct research in his chosen field—metastasis, the process by which cancer spreads from the place at which it first arose as a primary tumour to distant locations in the body.

At the varsity, he came across Dr Subhradip Karmakar, who was conducting extensive research on blood cancer. After working with him for two years in his laboratory, Sovon finished his Masters in June 2017.

A few months later, he received a fellowship from the Japanese government for cancer research at the at the Yamaguchi University School of Medicine in Ube.

Despite the language barrier, Sovon remembers his six-month stint there with great fondness. Upon his return to India, he joined the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBG), a national level research institute for genomic medicine. In fact, Sovon’s association with NIBG extends to his days as an undergraduate student. He had first written to Dr Sandeep Singh, his current supervisor at NIBG, in his first year of college expressing his interest cancer stem cell research.

For Sovon, there are three key objectives that drive his passion for research into cancer.

“Millions of researchers and billions of dollars are spent on cancer research. But if a person gets cancer, we are unable to remove it completely. My first objective is to develop a medicine for cancer that patients can buy off the drugstore like those for fever or indigestion. Yes, this may not happen in my lifetime, but I want to contribute through my research for a day when this becomes possible.

Also Read: MP’s Medicine Man: Meet The IAS Officer Ensuring Free Drugs & Diagnostics For All!

Secondly, I want to devise a way whereby we can detect cancer early. If we can find cancer at an early stage, we can treat it. Before metastasis, we must find a way to detect cancer.

And finally, affordable chemotherapy for poor patients. Cancer is not just a medical disease, it is also a disease of economy. Most poor folks with cancer have to sell everything to treat themselves, and even then, they succumb to the disease,” says Sovon.

The intense drive that Sovon possesses for research comes from his parents.

“My father always hoped that my education and knowledge would be for the upliftment of the people. I always keep his words in my mind. My parents sacrificed a lot for me just so that I could help people suffering from cancer. I have come a long way, but this is only the beginning,” he says.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.”

While the protagonist of this story, Srijana Subba, described herself as a teacher, poet, and writer, I would describe her as a bibliophile whose mission is to ensure every child in her village has a book.

Born and raised in Nagari tea-estate in Darjeeling, in this exclusive interview with The Better India, Srijana shares her passion for reading and how it has translated into a library for the children in her village.

A teacher at Pokhriabong Girls Higher Secondary School, Srijana is very inspiring.

Early influence

“My parents were both primary school teachers and a large part of my fascination with books began because of them,” she begins.

She recalls coming across “a rather big book” when she was in UKG. Her mother told her that it was the dictionary and belonged to her grandfather. When she taught little Srijana to use the dictionary, the first word she chanced upon was ‘butterfly’.

“Thus began my tryst with words and books,” she says.

Srijana’s father would often tell her bedtime tales, while her mother bought her many second-hand books. All these early memories come back to her when I asked her about when she first started reading.

The Book Thief – the library with a difference

Being surrounded by books, Srijana has collected a sizeable collection. To put them to good use, she started a library, which she calls ‘The Book Thief’.

“Right after I sold my car, the empty garage was beckoning to me, and that was where I decided to set up the library. It is informal and devoid of any support from the government or other organisation,” she says.

Her decision to keep it away from any affiliation is also rather interesting. She says, “Being associated with any organisation comes with its own set of norms and rules. I wanted a space where none of that existed, and therefore it was just envisioned as open space.”

She has built the library from her collection as well as donations from friends and well-wishers.

It houses more than 500 books that cater to all genres.

“Children of all ages come to the library. I also host reading events there every once in a while,” she says.

Books – bringing about a change

With immense pride, Srijana speaks about how the library is also helping bring about a change in the attitude of the children.

“A few days ago, I was going through the register and was amazed at how methodically the children have been maintaining it. The name of the book, the date on which it was borrowed, and the name of the borrower have all been entered. They are learning so much from being here,” she says.

3 tips for parents to inculcate the habit of reading in children

1. Bedtime stories

One of the best ways to inculcate a reading habit in children is by reading to them. Srijana urges parents to invest some time each night in reading to their little ones. “It made a huge difference to my children, and I am sure it will to others too,” she says.

2. Easy access to books

It is important for children to access books, whether it is their classrooms or at home, keep age-appropriate books for them at easily accessible locations.

3. Listen to their tales

The more you read to them, the better their stories will get. Do make the time to sit and listen to all the stories that children come up with. You will be amazed at their sense of imagination.

Children – bringing joy

“The youngest member at the library was a three-year-old! But this winter, I had a 1.5-year-old come in with his sister!

All he did was sit with her and look at the pictures in a book. It’s never too early to start reading,” she says with a chuckle.

Srijana is thrilled at the response to the library, and it keeps her motivated. “I do not expect anything in return but just wish to continue doing the work for the betterment of the society,” she concludes.

Here’s hoping that every village in India has a library like ‘The Book Thief’ and a bibliophile like Srijana backing it.

Also Read: Forced to Quit Studies, Kerala Farmer Donates Rs 40K to Print Books For Tribal Kids!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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For Anil Mistry, a 52-year-old conservationist, born and raised on Bali Island in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal, protecting nature and the people living within it, is at the heart of his identity.

For the founder of the Bali Nature and Conservation Society, this wasn’t always a way of life. In fact, before he turned to nature conservation, he hunted animals living in the wild with his family and friends. For his forefathers, hunting was the way to survive and make ends meet.

“My grandfather and his six sons, including my father, migrated from Bangladesh in the early 1950s to settlements like Hemnagar and Kumirmari in West Bengal, before settling on Bali Island. It was a forest at the time, part of which they cut down to establish their habitat. Naturally, they poached deer, tigers, birds, wild boars and other forms of wildlife. When I grew up, I automatically learnt how to hunt,” says Mistry, in a conversation with The Better India.

However, everything changed one fine day in 1990.

“After graduation, I would play football with my friends and then hunt deer for pleasure. One day, when my friends and I were out hunting, they shot a doe that was there with her small fawn. Seeing the doe in pain and her fawn in tears, I felt great pain. That’s when my determination to end poaching began. Immediately after the incident, I went to the forest department and met the then field director, Pradeep Shukla. I confessed to the incident,” says Mistry.

In response, the senior forest official suggested that Mistry establish a society or organisation to combat poaching. He assured him that the forest department would support him in this endeavour. That’s when he set up the Bali Nature and Conservation Society (BNCS) later that year.

“Our objective is to save wildlife, nature and the people. In association with the forest department, we help locals acquire alternative means of livelihood so that they don’t have to hunt. We also work with officials, conducting joint-patrolling operations to stop poachers from hunting,” informs Mistry.

However, Mistry’s life took a real turn when he met with Belinda Wright, the founder of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), soon after setting up the BNCS. After meeting her at a seminar, he was given a permanent job with the WPSI to oversee their Sundarbans chapter, conduct anti-poaching activities and find ways of offering locals alternative means of livelihood.

Mistry shares, “Locals go into the jungles for their livelihood—fishing, hunting, honey collection. Sometimes they encounter tigers, which are in their natural habitat, seeking food. Man-animal conflict is inevitable under such circumstances. If you want to save the jungle, you have to reduce the incidences of man-animal conflict. That’s why we are working with the government to offer locals alternative livelihoods that won’t require them to go into the jungle regularly.”

Their livelihood initiatives regarding sustainable agricultural practices, fishery and veterinary sciences, have been successful. After locals receive training in their respective fields, chicken, ducks, fish seedlings, and other such inputs are given to them.

For instance, some locals used to go into the jungle for fishing. Today, however, they have a small pond near their home where they are breeding more fish for consumption as well as sale.

“Altogether, they are earning from these alternative sources than they would through the jungle, without any real risks,” says Mistry, expounding on the benefits of these initiatives.

However, it isn’t just the WPSI involved in such efforts. Research organisations like Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and forest officials at the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve also help in training the locals in a real collaborative effort.

“The WPSI is running a medical camp where we distribute medicines and provide free treatment for locals and their livestock. This is a regular and collaborative process with people from the area. No one organisation can do this work alone,” says Mistry.

He also liaises between government officials and villagers to enable development in the area through the construction of brick roads and irrigation canals, and the provision of solar lights.

These concerted efforts have borne real fruit with very few incidents of poaching reported from the Sundarbans. What’s even more remarkable is the change in behaviour. Earlier, if a tiger strayed into a village, locals would try and kill it. Today, they inform the forest department and organisations like BNCS and WPSI to help them rescue it and release it back into the wild.

Thus far, Mistry has been associated with the capture and release of 70 tigers.

He believes that there are more than 100 Royal Bengal Tigers in the Sundarbans, but he isn’t too sure about the exact figure. Irrespective, this is a success story of the Sundarbans.

Further, Mistry offers a unique perspective on man-animal conflicts following incidents like last year when the Maharashtra government ordered the killing of Avni, the tiger.

He elaborates, “We have taken over their space. When they see any live moving animal in the forest, their normal behaviour is to think that it is their prey and not a ‘human being’. Even when they stray into a village, they often eat livestock. When people run behind tigers in panic, they sometimes pounce in retaliation. This is not their fault; it is ours.”

However, there have been instances of alleged ‘man-eating tigers’ in the news. In a separate conversation with Mongabay, Dr Pranav Chanchani, coordinator of the Tiger Conservation Programme at WWF-India, proposed an interesting solution to solve these ‘conflicts’.

“A two-fold approach, involving proactive or direct mitigation as well as indirect measures, is needed. Direct mitigation measures include operations to capture and rehabilitate ‘problem animals’, installing devices to repel animals and managing farmland habitats beyond forests to make such areas less attractive for tigers. Indirect measures can be used to help strengthen attitudes of tolerance among the public, and information campaigns,” he tells the nature publication.

Also Read: A Local Conservation Hero, Amazing Telangana Cop Has Rescued 1300 Snakes in 5 Years

Mistry’s position on humans entering a jungle and meeting a tragic fate is clear. “If a man is going inside the jungle, the defaulter is the man, not the tiger. I never blame the tiger,” he adds.

It is thanks to people like him that biodiversity-rich regions like the Sundarbans conserve their environment, despite the massive challenges.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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‘The miracle cure for any ailment’- has been the undisputed tagline for Boroline.

From cuts, cracks, burns, swellings, to winter-induced dry skin–the answer to all skin problems has been Boroline, for almost a century!

Doubt it? Ask any Bengali.

What intertwines a quintessential Bengali and Boroline, a skincare product, goes beyond profit margins or sales graphs to the crinkled pages of our tumultuous past.

Although this is not meant to be yet another history lesson, it is indeed, a nostalgic saga of the simpler times, with, of course, sprinkles of legends from the yesteryears.

Started 90 years ago, by Gour Mohon Dutta, in a Bengal divided and ravaged by the British rule, Boroline emerged not just as a dependable commodity, but as an icon of national self-sufficiency.

Till date, it is one of the very few Swadeshi products that continue to be relevant and used across the country.

In 1929, Dutta’s G D Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd began to manufacture the humble perfumed cream and packaged it in a green tube. It was seen not only as a skincare and medical product for daily use but also as a blatant protest against foreign-made goods that were being sold by the Britishers to Indians at exorbitant rates as another tool of economic exploitation.

What’s remarkable is how this humble commodity swam past the waves of time and continues to be a household product, even in modern, Independent India, despite the deluge of ‘advanced’ skincare products.

The bong connect

From youngsters who used the fragrant cream on their dry or pimpled skin, to mothers and grandmothers who generously applied it on the wounds of their young ones, generations of Bengali families have used Boroline as a medicinal as well as a beauty product.

Over the years, it has grown to become one of the many cultural archetypes.

Here’s a video which wittingly captures its essence:

The idea behind the Boroline-obsession has always been associated with its dependability. Being a homegrown product with multifaceted benefits, sold at a cheap rate, it represented not only nationalistic Indians but also the fast-growing Bengali middle class, which eventually marked the beginning of the new era.

Well, since then, from the peak of Himalayas to the Niagara Falls, world-trotting Bengalis have taken the fabled cream all across the globe!

What makes it so special?

This is a well-guarded secret about a rather transparent company.

Born in West Bengal, the ‘antiseptic ayurvedic cream’, is essentially made of boric acid (tankan amla), zinc oxide (jasad bhasma), perfume, paraffin and oleum, which is Latin for essential oils.

Despite its simple and not-so-secret chemical formula, neither the British companies of yore, nor today’s multinational companies have been able to defeat its popularity, infused with fragrant memories.

What’s even more surprising is that GD Pharmaceuticals, a company set up on an Indian model, has not been indebted to the government for a single rupee in the past 90 years!

Also Read: Binaca, the Iconic Toothpaste That Lives On Through India’s Most Loved Radio Show

The focus on efficiency and product quality, with a steady pace, is what has kept them happily afloat, Debashis Dutta, grandson of founder Gour Mohan Dutta, told Live Mint. He is the present managing director of the company.

And then, part of its popularity also comes from its legendary past. It is said that when India got its independence on 15 August 1947, the company distributed almost 1,00,000 tubes of Boroline for free.

Although, with time, like many, the product is embracing and evolving to modern sensibilities of fancy packaging and promotion,one hopes that unlike most, it will sustain its sweet and fragrant old-world charms for many more years to come!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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This article has been sponsored by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation

Almost 100 km away from Kolkata, lies a village in the islands of Sundarbans– a village that could have met its end some decades ago, if not for the timely interference of one dedicated soul.

Meet Tushar Kanjilal, a man who is commonly known as the Saviour of the Sundarbans, a sobriquet that came about fifty years ago when he fell in love with the beautiful marshes of Bengal. An ardent follower of Rabindranath Tagore, he decided to take the leap towards change, impacting thousands of lives with a better tomorrow.

“Most people know Tagore as a poet and a Nobel laureate, but very few know of his work in the area of rural development, especially the three villages he adopted and named Shreeniketan. One important lesson he taught was never to scratch the surface when working to help a community but to immerse oneself entirely and build lasting relations. I was highly influenced by him and decided to follow his path,” the 84-year-old social worker told The Better India.

Thus began his search for a village to which he could dedicate his life and knowledge.

“After travelling across the country, I came back to my state and found a place, Rangabalia, in one of the islands of Sundarbans. This was a village which was devoid of any development. It had no facilities like drinking water, healthcare, pukka roads or transport. Even the education facilities were very scarce. So, I decided to settle there permanently and help the community develop and build itself,” says Tushar.

He settled there on January 1,1967. Since then, his entire life has been entwined with the people of the Sundarbans.

Applying appropriate technology to the inaccessible areas of the region, Tushar has helped protect the world’s largest mangrove forest, known for its rich wildlife, especially due to its prominent inhabitant, the Royal Bengal Tiger.

For the past few decades, this octogenarian has been a living bridge between the remote mangrove swamps and the modern world, urging individuals and organisations to lend a hand in their struggle.

A path full of challenges

Spread across 20,000 square km in India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans is a region with an abundance of beauty and yet, constant existential fear. With the rising sea level as an effect of climate change, many parts of its islands have been swallowed by the waves. The risk of vanishing is ever-present, and one way to remedy this is to protect the mangrove forests that hold on to the soft soil of the region, adds Tushar.

Also Read: Experts from Europe Set to Bring Electricity to Bengal’s Sundarbans Using Cow Dung!

He shares, “When I began my work with the villagers, it had its share of challenges. One of the first was to establish trust and convince them of what they deserved so that they could be mobilised to work towards it. The next and biggest challenge was ecological degradation. Nature did not create such beauty to be hacked to death by humans. The consequences were and continue to be dire for the villages around the region. I helped the people realise that and work towards preserving the precious forests and its creatures.”

Mass plantation drives, mangrove preservation, and plantation, self-development schemes to uplift rural communities and use sustainable farming techniques, were a few of the initiatives Tushar took up.

Recognising the unsung hero

Owing to his work, Tushar held a number of prominent positions–a member of the Sundarbans Development Board; chairman of the Task Force for Preparation Master Plan for the entire region; member of the National Committee for Promotion of Economic and Social Welfare; and member of the Standing Committee of CAPART, Government of India.

With an impressive body of work, he has received several accolades. In 1984, he was declared the National Teacher, and a year later, he was honoured with the ‘Man of the Year’ Award by The Week magazine, which recognises the top 20 unsung heroes of India.

After this, in 1996, he received the fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, followed by the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in the category of Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development by Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation in 2008 and Rathindranath Puroshkar by Viswa-Bharati University in 2006.

Future

What the British began 150 years ago, by cutting the Sundarban forests to extract timber, continues to ail the region. Efforts by Tushar and the likes of him have surely slowed down the degradation, but stopping it might take a stronger consolidated effort from the government and the citizens.

“I am not sure if, after 50 years, the Sundarbans will be still alive. I fear that the next generation will never know its vast, natural beauty. However, I am not ready to give up hope yet. Youngsters are stepping in to make a substantial difference and turn the clock backwards. I hope more such efforts spring up from the rest of the country and beyond to restore one of the world’s most precious natural marvels!” Tushar signs off.

Find more details about the Jamnalal Bajaj Awards here.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Have you ever had a taste of crispy, spiced and thick layered flatbread called the Bakharkhani made in parts of Kolkata?

This particular variant of Bakarkhani bread, which some believe originated in present-day Bangladesh, has an incredible legend behind it.

According to Bangladeshi writer Nazir Hossain, who wrote Kingbodontir Dhaka, this particular delicacy was first brought to life by Aga Bakar Khan, an aristocrat who cooked it in memory of Khani Begum, a woman he loved (Bakar+Khani) but could never be with after a rival lover had her killed.

It’s an intriguing plot line.

Dated to the 18th century, the story essentially begins with two key protagonists who made their way to Murshidabad (then known as Mukhusabad in present-day Bangladesh).

There is Murshid Quli Khan, who would later go on to become the first Nawab of Bengal, and the man responsible for changing the name of the city to Murshidabad. The other protagonist was his protege, Aga Bakar Khan.

Born a Hindu in the Deccan circa 1670, Murshid Quli Khan was sold as a slave to a Persian noble who raised him as a Muslim. The noble even gave him the name Muhammed Hadi.

After travels through Persia, Hadi returned to India, working under the Diwan of Vidarbha, circa 1698. It was his skill in handling matters of public administration that caught the eye of the infamous Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who promoted him as the first Diwan of Bengal just two years later.

During his journey back from Persia, Hadi, who had changed his name to Murshid Quli Khan, brought along his young protege, Aga Bakar Khan. Under Murshid’s watchful eye, Aga Bakar received training in administration, hand-to-hand combat and military strategy. Besides these skills, young he had also become an astute scholar in Persian and Arabic.

Murshid first deputed the young protege to Chittagong, commanding the military garrison there, before becoming its Diwan.

There, young Aga Bakar fell in love with Khani Begum, a courtesan of exquisite beauty from the Arambagh area of Dhaka. However, the local police chief, Jainul Khan, also had his eyes set on this beauty.

Capturing Khani Begum, the police chief lured Aga Bakar to rescue her. Moments after Aga Khan ‘rescued’ her, he ran into Jainul and his police team. It was a trap. While Jainul managed to escape the scene, locals were led to believe that the couple had him killed.

Convinced that Aga Bakar had Jainul killed, the court of Murshid Quli Khan, the Nawab of Bengal, sentenced him to death despite the lack of witnesses and evidence. The death sentence was to be carried out in the cage of a hungry tiger.

However, in a plot twist straight out of the Colosseum of ancient Rome, Aga Bakar managed to kill the tiger and emerged a free man.

Unfortunately, during his absence from the outside world, Jainul returned to kidnap and eventually murder Khani Begum.

Upon hearing this news, Aga Bakar was left devastated. In circa 1742, he eventually settled in Barisal district of present-day Bangladesh in an area subsequently named after him, Bakarganj.

During his time in the city, Bakarganj had become an important stop for traders from Persia, Armenia and even Kashmir. A passionate baker, Aga Bakar came up with a special recipe of flatbread and named it after the love of his life. Known also as Bakorkanhi, this flatbread recipe has long survived the man.

Following his death in 1754, the bread made its way through present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal, and even Hyderabad and Kashmir. As it made its way through various geographies and cultures, different elements were incorporated.

Today, Bakarkhani is a very popular flatbread in Kashmir. While some believe it was first introduced to Kashmiri traders in Bakarganj, there is no documentary evidence to support this.

“As the Bakakhani travelled, it also evolved. In some parts, it is a circular flatbread stuffed with cheese, dry fruit or sweet semolina, while in others, it is made with clarified butter or ghee, and it even looks and tastes like [a] biscuit in other places,” says this fascinating article in Live History.

Also Read: Craving Pomfret? Let This Award-Winning Scientist Tell You How To Eat Fish Responsibly

However, reports contend that this bread is going out of fashion, and one can only find it in parts of Kolkata, Dhaka, Chittagong, Lucknow, and even Patna, and only during the month of Ramadan.

It’s very difficult to trace the exact historical roots of food, particularly bread, which can be found in many parts of the world. But this is too good a story not to recite.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Saju Talukdar, a 47-year-old commercial car driver, runs the Bir Birsha Munda Cloth Bank (BBMC) near Dimdima Tea Garden, nearly 100 km from Siliguri in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal.

Though the clothes bank was inaugurated in January 2017, Saju has been collecting used clothes from people and distributing to the needy and elderly for more than a decade now. Today, the clothes bank has 50,000 units of clothing, and every week Saju distributes around 3,000-4,000 clothes to families in nearby tea gardens, railway stations, bus stops and wherever else people need clothes.

Having to leave his own education due to lack of school uniform inspired Saju to take up this initiative.

In conversation with The Better India (TBI) Saju shares, “In government schools, guardians have to provide uniforms for their wards. When I applied for primary school, my father, a tailor, took me to a market where they sold old clothes. He took my measurements, stitched a pair of white shirt and black trousers, and sent me to school in that uniform. After giving my Class 5 half-yearly exams, my uniform, made of old clothes, got torn. With my father unable to make another uniform in time, I had to drop out of school.”

This regret of not being able to finish school always lived in his heart because Saju loved studying and would often get good results.

Also read: Heroes With a Big Heart: 5 Doctors Who Treat The Poor & Homeless For Free

“What happened to me, shouldn’t happen to anyone else. That’s why I started this initiative,” he adds.

Though Saju joined his father’s tailoring business, he soon lost interest. Then, he came across people who collected minerals from the river bed, which trucks and other vehicles then transported to the factories. After developing a good relationship with the drivers, he learnt how to drive and began driving himself.

Having worked in this business for little over a decade and earning anywhere between Rs 400 and 700 per day, he quit in 2008 to drive for commercial vehicles full time. During his daily rides, he saw people scrounging for food from dustbins, roaming around half-naked and living a miserable life.

“I saw my childhood in these people and decided to do something for them. I started collecting old clothes; it was a big challenge going to each house in Birpara, in the neighbourhood of New Jalpaiguri and Siliguri, asking for old clothes. Some people would give, others wouldn’t, and there were those casting aspersions by asking ‘What’s the guarantee you won’t sell these off.’ Somehow, I managed to make things work,” recalls Saju.

He cycled to the tea gardens and visited the less fortunate colonies. There, he observed who needed the clothes the most. He would then approach the shanties where the people lived and distributed the clothes.

“The thing was, I didn’t have a lot of stock and couldn’t help a lot of people. My inability to help everyone left me unhappy,” he adds.

One day, however, Pradeep Gupta, a dhaba owner and friend of Saju’s suggested that he open a Facebook account. The internet was uncharted waters, and as he did not have a smartphone, Saju saw no way out. Fortunately, the same friend gifted him with a phone, helped him open a Facebook account and showed him how to use it.

Solely for the purpose of soliciting public support for his initiative, Saju started his Facebook page in June 2014, and the response he received from people was great, and calls began to flood in.

The thing with old clothes, says Saju, is that they keep lying around as garbage in a lot of households, and these families don’t know what to make of them, where to use them or whether to throw them away.

“Clothes from well-to-do families don’t get spoilt that easily as they buy branded stuff, wear it for a few months and then discard them. Same goes for children’s clothes for they are worn for a short time as they outgrow them quickly. So, the quality remains intact for the most part. Hence, I thought it would be good to put these clothes to use again. So that’s how it started, and gradually a lot of friends started calling me to give away their old clothes,” he recalls.

However, the next step was to expand the outreach of the initiative. That’s when the idea of starting a clothes bank emerged.

In January 2017, Saju started BBMC at his home and put up a signboard. The people who noticed started donating clothes.

Whoever needed clothes also came to his house, a custom which happens on a daily basis to this day.

To collect and distribute these clothes, Saju bought a four-wheeler in 2015, on which he would ferry passengers to Siliguri and different parts of Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri district.

“My method of collection is very different. Let’s say if I have to go to Siliguri and drop someone at the airport, and am coming back without a passenger. I inform my friends in Siliguri through Facebook a day before, and they collect all the clothes in one place. I pick up the clothes on my way back. Some people send clothes on a bus and even through courier. Earlier collecting the clothes was a lot of trouble, but now it’s easier,” he says.

He distributes these clothes at Bandapani, Ramjhora, Red Bank, Kathalguri, Dimdima and other closed tea plantations, besides railway stations and bus stops. He does not distribute these clothes hand-to-hand.

“I put up separate stalls for trousers, saris, kid’s wear, churidars, etc. Till I set up these stalls, no one touches the clothes. I sort and arrange them first. Then, I tell people to take whatever they need. Even if someone takes extra clothes, I do not mind. During winters, we also receive around 3,000 blankets and quilts from different organisations. This is distributed hand-to-hand,” he adds.

He has also adopted two tea garden villages—Bandapani in Alipurduar district with a population of around 650, and Caron in Nagarkata subdivision of Jalpaiguri district—which has a population of a little over 1,000. Saju regularly delivers clothes to these people during festivals, and warm clothes in winter. Whatever people donate, he gives away.

Things took an even bigger turn for the philanthropist, when he received a call from Bengali quiz show Dadagiri in June 2018, to appear alongside former Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly.

“Initially, I couldn’t understand what the program was all about since I do not watch TV. However, a lot of neighbours and acquaintances convinced me to go to the show. After my appearance, my workload began to increase due to all the publicity,” he recalls.

But, this also meant an clothes coming from Bengal, other places in India and from all over the world. At this point, Saju gives away close to 3000-4000 clothes every week to the needy.

He makes absolutely no money out of it.

Supporting Saju in this endeavour is his wife Mamoni Talukdar, sons Alamgir and Sohel, one in college and the other in high school. “They have supported me wholeheartedly,” he claims.

Besides the clothes bank, Saju also runs a shelter home—Heaven Shelter Home—for the abandoned, where he also provides food, and clothes to the homeless.

Built on a two-bigha (28,800 square feet) plot bought for him by four friends—Subhasish, Mithun Dey, Ranjit and Kaushik—the home currently houses 14 people. These people who had nobody to look out for them now has Saju and his family.

“These people have no information about their families or relatives. They don’t even know their address. The first thing I do after sheltering them is to find out where their families are. On occasions, they have been reunited with their families, but 14 remain with me. I feel people abandon their old parents because they don’t have the patience or the means to take care of them, and those are the people residing in the shelter home,” says Saju. Some drop them at the shelter home, while others, he finds on the road.

Saju gave shelter to a 65-year-old man whom he was crawling along the road sometime in mid-2017. The old man now calls Saju’s Shelter his home.

To run this shelter home, Saju receives a lot of assistance from not merely his friends, relatives, and local residents, but also local government officials, who often drop in with kilograms of rice. Thanks to his presence on social media, he also receives regular contributions from generous people from around the world.

If anyone living in the shelter needs medical aid, Saju takes them to a doctor who does not charge fees from them.

There is no shortage of good people around, and it’s because of them that this home is running and there is food. The shelter not only serves food for the 14 residing there but also workers and shepherds who work in the fields nearby, he says.

At present, Saju is in the process of getting his shelter home registered as a trust for legal purposes.

Also Read: Ludhiana Man Once Slept on The Streets. Today, He Gives The Homeless Free Meals!

At no point does Saju take any credit for the selfless work he does. “All these initiatives work because of other people. I take no credit, and it’s all God’s work,” he claims.

(Saju’s four-wheeler, which he uses to distribute clothes, recently met with an accident and was damaged quite extensively. He needs a little help with the repairs. If you feel like helping him out, you can reach him on his Facebook page here.)

(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)

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Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a legendary educationist, a Sanskrit scholar and a social reformer who not only changed the Bengali alphabet and type but also challenged Hindu orthodoxy by playing a pivotal role in passing the Widow Remarriage Act. He also fought for women’s education and vigorously challenged the barbaric practice of child marriage.

Standing tall against the conservative power centres of Hindu society, Vidyasagar was a man who was way ahead of his times. In light of the desecration of his statue, it is time to remind ourselves about this visionary of modern Indian history.

Born on 26 September 1820 into a poor Brahmin family in Birsing village of Midnapore district, West Bengal, Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay was only six-years-old when he was sent to be educated in Kolkata.

He lived in the house of a family friend Bhagabat Charan in the Burrabazar area.

“The child settled down quickly in a new household where he was taken under the winds of Charan’s youngest daughter, Raimoni. Her maternal care and affection would go a long way in making Ishwar Chandra feel at home and would remain a lasting inspiration in his future fight to improve women’s situation,” writes Kalyani Mookherji in 5 Social Reformers of the World.

He was no ordinary student, passing each exam with flying colours, while also finding a way to support himself financially as a tutor for kids in another wealthy household. With limited means, he continued his education at the Sanskrit College of Kolkata, where he studied for 12 years.

He then picked up a law degree and went on to join Fort William College as the head of their Sanskrit Department. After five years, in 1846, Vidyasagar joined the Sanskrit College as principal.

Here, he opened up admissions to students from other castes, besides Brahmin and Vaidya.

Vidyasagar stated that he had “no objection to the admission of other castes than Brahmanas and Vaidyas, or in other words, different orders of Shudras, to the Sanskrit College”.

He even cited the Bhagavata Puran to argue that there was “no direct prohibition in the Shastras against the Shudras studying Sanskrit literature”.

Vidyasagar, meaning ‘ocean of wisdom’, was a moniker given to him. He was also part of a larger social movement called the Bengal Renaissance, in the footsteps of another social reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

“What is fascinating about Vidyasagar is the way in which a traditional Sanskrit scholar in a patriarchal society used his command of the ancient scriptures to argue against opponents in his own community, and to campaign for very ‘modern’ reforms, against child marriage, polygamy and the mistreatment of widows. He set an example of enlightened leadership from within cultural or religious communities for the progress of their own people,” writes Dr Sarmila Bose.

She is Senior Research Associate at the Centre for International Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.

It was in 1854 that Vidyasagar began his campaign for widow remarriage. The 19th century was a particularly terrible time for women, especially for pre-pubescent girls from poor families, who were forced into marriages with older men. Once their husbands died, they had to spend the rest of their lives wearing white saris, give up all material comforts and live a stigmatised and isolated existence.

Seeing this unprogressive practice play out before his own eyes, Vidyasagar was determined to stamp it out.

In 1854, he began writing against the practice for Tattvabodhini Patrika, a progressive journal. Quoting a shloka from the ancient Parashara Dharma Saṃhitā, a code of laws for the Kali Yuga, he writes:

‘Gate Mrite Pravajite pleevacha patite patau
Panchasvapatsu narinam patiranyo bidhiyate.’

According to Live History India, the translation reads:

“Women are at liberty to marry again, if their husband be not heard of, die, return from the world, prove to be impotent or be an outcast.”

The following year, he filed a petition before the government of the day, seeking legislation that would allow widow remarriage.

Although support for his campaign came from influential figures like the Maharaja of Bardhaman Mahtabchand Bahadur, a lot of back lash came from powerful conservative groups within Hindu society. In fact, the government received more than 30,000 signatures challenging Ishwar Chandra’s petition.

However, his sustained efforts, alongside fellow social reformers finally resulted in the passing of the Widow Remarriage Act on 26 July 1856.

“No marriage contracted between Hindus shall be invalid, and the issue of no such marriage shall be illegitimate, by reason of the woman having been previously married or betrothed to another person who was dead at the time of such marriage, any custom and any interpretation of Hindu Law to the contrary notwithstanding,” read the law.

Despite their success in passing a law, the real challenge was getting society to accept widow remarriage. Ishwar Chandra took the challenge and performed the first widow remarriage in Kolkata on 7 December 1856 on his own dime.

Following India’s first war of Independence in 1857, however, power transferred from the East India Company to the British Crown, and for a few decades, the colonists decided not to interfere in Indian personal laws. For Ishwar Chandra, who sought to abolish child marriage, this series of events came as a blow.

“A congruence of interests between reformers and those wielding political power is clearly a key factor for successful legislative reform. By the time Vidyasagar attacked the practice of polygamy among high-caste Hindus in the 1870s, the revolt of 1857 had created an unbridgeable chasm between Indians and their colonial masters. Indian nationalists were more interested in ‘cultural preservation’, and the British had lost their reformist motives. The campaign failed,” writes Dr Bose.

A similar fate awaited his battle against child marriage.

Disillusioned by the lack of tangible public support, he spent the last two decades with the Santhal tribes in present-day Jharkhand. There, he opened the first school for tribal girls.

Also Read: How India’s 1st Muslim Woman Teacher Started a ‘Beti Padhao’ Movement in 19th Century

It was a mere four months before his passing in March 1891, when the British India administration passed the Age of Consent Act, which legally abolished child marriage, following the efforts of other social reformers who took their cue from the likes of Vidyasagar and Ram Mohan Roy. The scholar passed away on 29 July 1891.

What Vidyasagar did so well is to advance the cause of reform while remaining true to an ancient intellectual spirit. His legacy lives on, particularly in West Bengal. Today, his name is attached to a university, a bridge and even a hall in IIT Kharagpur. More than anything else, however, his real legacy lies in the fact that his ideas remain relevant today.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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