David Gandhi from Pune working as a farmer at Manipur
Aben is a remote village in Manipur. The village does not even have a mobile network. In this village, the people of Jemme Naga live here whose daily life depends on the forest. Agriculture is the traditional occupation of these people. Their farming method is called the "zoom method". |
| David Gandhi from Pune working as a farmer at Manipur |
Image Source: thebetterindia.com
This method involves cutting down forest trees before they are sown. These trees are then set on fire. This fire creates the ashes of the tree and mixes it with the soil, thereby increasing the amount of potash in the soil. But it is not possible to do this every year. It can be cultivated in this manner only once a year. There are no other means of earning people in this village, so they have not progressed, and poverty has become their habit.
In addition, the use of this method resulted in the loss of soil and forest. At the same time, many agricultural researchers have repeatedly said that air pollution can also increase and, most dangerously, it can cause landslides and ruin people's lives, but no one has ever cured it.
The couple, David Gandhi and Usha Gandhi of Pune visited the village on a project day.
David Gandhi, who was educated at the Agricultural University of Pune, worked as an agricultural researcher for about two years, while Usha was a teacher. After visiting this village, they found that the “zoom” method of farming was hazardous and that there was a decline in agricultural production by 5%. It also affected people's living. That is why the couple, who live in a city with all the comforts of life like Pune, decided to stay here in Aben and give the farmers the knowledge of modern farming.
Since the village is so remote, not a single NGO helped Gandhi in the beginning. After 4 months of rains, bad roads, it makes contact with the main town of Temenglong, which is close to the village only four months a year. In such a situation, it is a risky and difficult task to give people knowledge of modern farming technology.
In year 7, he took a local companion and started teaching them about sloping agriculture land technology (SALT).
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| David Gandhi from Pune working as a farmer at Manipur |
Image Source: thebetterindia.com
Farmers were not ready to start using this new technology, except for their traditional zoom farming. Gandhi experimented with changing his mindset. It was through this experiment that they began to convince them. Gradually, people started to get attracted to it and then in the initial phase, about 1 in 5 families abandoned traditional farming and adopted new farming practices.
As a result of this, the income of the people began to increase, and even less labor was to be cultivated so that the peasants were more closely associated with Gandhi and their efforts were successful and all the families of the village started farming in this way.
Then they realized that if they were to survive, the people here needed training and at least basic education. But this state of education was very bad in this village. Therefore, Usha Gandhi, wife of David, who was a teacher, decided to upgrade the school here first.
Start of school and the foundation of education
Usha Gandhi was initially terrified by the condition of the elementary school in Aben. After moving to this village from Pune, Usha realized that there was no trained teacher to teach the school building in this village. Usha Gandhi initially trained young people with little education in the village to teach students. They also created the curriculum for these children themselves.
Zim is the spoken language in this area. Apart from being a mother tongue, the children did not have any knowledge of any language. Usha, with the help of her colleagues, taught these children to speak and write English. After living in the village for two to two and a half years, David and Usha changed the face of the town.
The couple, who were in their mid-50s, could have looked at Pune's ayurvedic world and could have pushed the day even further into God, but David says,
"It would have been better if we had come here at the age of fifty, had it not been a little old age, there would have been no threat to do this work.
David Gandhi is happy as an agricultural researcher and Usha Gandhi as a teacher. At present, they live there for about 6 to 6 months during cultivation, then return to Pune and return to this village for a month. The couple expressed the feeling that this was possible with the help of the locals.
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