Sarbeswar Basuramatary
Credit.X/@MIB_India
Chirang: From a daily wage labourer to winning Padma Shri, the country's fourth highest civilian award, Assam's 61-year-old tribal farmer Sarbeswar Basumatary's journey to fame was fraught with many trials and tribulations along the way.
Basumatary, a resident of the remote Panbari village of Chirang district, has emerged as a model for all in mixed integrated farming.
Integrated Farming means all types of agriculture - fruits and vegetable farming, poultry farming, rice-fish farming and mixed farming in one farm.
Belonging to the Bodo community, Basumatary has earned the sobriquet "Chirang Ka Krishi Chiraag" (the lamp of Chirang’s farms).
"As a member of a family belonging to the below poverty line, I studied only till the primary level and this lack of formal higher education posed many hurdles during my journey in the field of agriculture," Basumatary told PTI.
During that period, he was faced with acute financial insecurity coupled with the problems of insurgency in the Bodoland region.
"The initial hurdles to be crossed included adequate finances for investment into agriculture, lack of proper facilities, and lack of knowledge of scientific methods. Chirang was a backward area,” Basumatary said.
With willpower, focus, and hard work, he overcame those challenges.
Continued support and cooperation of officials at the district and state levels helped him in his agricultural work, the farmer said.
"Since 1995, I encouraged the unemployed youth to get involved in agriculture. I tried to lead by example in order to increase their interest,” he said.
Basumatary said that the agricultural products from his fields are sold locally and also in the markets of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and various remote areas of the North East.
"Winning this award is a huge honour for me. This is still a dream for me. Now I have a strong desire to inspire the young generation to get associated with agriculture, nursery or the horticulture sector,” he said.
Basumatary said success is inevitable if people stick to a work with focus and determination.
He was also awarded the Assam government's third highest civilian award 'Assam Gaurav’ for the year 2022-23.
Basumatary along with two others - the first Indian woman mahout Parbati Barua in the social work category, and folk-artiste Drona Bhuyan in the art category – were selected for Padma Shri awards from the state this year.