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Quitting a high
paying job and doing what you love is one thing while giving up a
comfortable lifestyle to help the poor is something else entirely. Most
millennials might see a sacrifice in it, but Akash Badave, an alumnus of
BITS Pilani, is certainly not one of them.
Akash Badave
was always interested in social work; he just did not know how to
channelise his efforts. At the Birla Institute of Technology and Science,
Pilani, Akash decided to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and
Biology. But soon enough, after he entered college, he became a part of
Nirmaan — an organisation based out of the BITS Pilani campus, and one that
takes social welfare very seriously.
Thanks to
Nirmaan, Akash found an opportunity to fuel his dreams, and he went to
visit many villages around Pilani and worked on issues such as women
empowerment, renewable energy, youth empowerment, and education. What he
validates as a wonderful experience, made him think of social
entrepreneurship as a career — but at that time he did not know which way
to go.
After
graduation, he got placed in Barclays, a 300-year-old British bank. Six
months into this high paying job and Akash was already introspecting his
career choice. That’s when he came across Prime Minister’s Rural
Development Fellow Scheme (PMRDFS) — a government initiative that was
already on the lookout for highly qualified candidates to monitor
development activities in Naxal-affected areas of Chhattisgarh state. After
persistent attempts to convince his parents who were vehemently opposed to
the idea, Akash chose to move to Dantewada.
Akash
arrived in Dantewada in 2012 and met the-then district collector Om Prakash
Choudhary who was already working for empowerment and development in the
district, all guns blazing. Collecting the necessary insights from him,
Akash started exploring the district to recognise the different problems in
agriculture and farming techniques. He found that the district was rich in
resources, and farmers had large amounts of traditional farming knowledge.
Unfortunately, as Akash says, they had no awareness regarding how to make
the best of what they had, and Akash saw himself adding value to the table
exactly where it was needed.
Malaria,
anaemia and malnutrition were widespread in Dantewada and children were the
most affected. Akash was able to identify that the degrading quality of
food caused these health problems. Right after that, he tapped into the
farming sector and started educating the farmers about various organic
farming techniques and practices, while focussing on the nutritional value
of rice, millets, etc. He recalls,
“They weren’t ready to accept the idea
until it was assured that this yields cost-cutting results. We ensured they
realised the cons of using fertilisers, pesticides and germicides and the
pros of farming organically without any external elements. Five years ago,
5 kg of fertilisers were used in a hectare of land on an average; right
now, it’s close to zero. The plan is to make Dantewada a 100 percent
organic district.”
In August
2016, Akash started an NGO named ‘Bhoomi Gaadi’ and brought together the
farmers in the district to teach them sustainable agriculture practices.
300 self-help groups were formed and more than 1,000 farmers were empowered
directly. The self-help groups are collaborative, insightful and serve as
platforms for anyone in the district looking for employment opportunities.
With Bhoomi
Gaadi and the self-help groups, Akash is now responsible for converting
2,000 micro-entrepreneurs to organic farming. These farmers aren’t
accountable to anyone but themselves — they sustain themselves with what
they produce and how much they sell the products for, in the district
markets. Akash explains,
“All these farmers are micro-entrepreneurs
and shareholders. They take collective decisions, fixate on rates and
processes and then the production gets done. These products are slowly
reaching many places in the country.”
Bhoomi Gaadi
has a production target of 200 tonnes and the organisation is enabling the
conversion of 30 varieties of rice and millets. After years of violence due
to Naxal attacks, the organisation has envisioned a future where farmers
can own everything and decide on the prices themselves, and not under an
external dictation. With such progressive ideals, the district of Dantewada
has been moving ahead.
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