Rabindranath Tagore: Farmers' friend
Last year, with the intention of discovering this unexplored facet of Tagore, Channel i aired a short report on his agricultural leanings in the programme Hridoye Mati O Manush. This year I had the opportunity to go to Potiswor in Naogaon (district), Shilaidah in Kushtia and Shahazadpur in Serajganj, to put together an in depth report on Tagore to coincide with his death anniversary.
Tagore inherited the zamindari in this part of Bengal from his father Debendranath Tagore in 1890. Tagore had a natural affinity for the scenic beauty of rural Bengal and the swift flowing river Padma -- which often gave him inputs for his literature and sharpened his concept of development and agricultural production.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The questions that nagged Tagore were: How would the farmers cultivate divided lands and pay taxes? How would they feed their families? What steps should be taken to free them from the clutches of private lenders and middlemen? He was keenly aware of the need for them to be organised and the possibility of introducing cooperative farming.
To make his dream a reality, he tried to develop Lahinipara village of Kushtia as a model village. He sought to implement a strong local government system like the panchayat system of West Bengal. Though all his dreams could not be fulfilled, he organised social services for the farmers, such as community prayers and exhibitions.
Through Hridoye Mati O Manush, we tried to disseminate the message that if farmers don't get fair prices for their products and be freed from the clutches of middlemen, their development would remain a distant dream.
To Tagore's credit, he thought of this issue 100 years ago. He established a local market of agro products near Kushtia town. Later that market was operated by the zamindars of Jessore, This market, known as Rajar Hat (King's market) is still in existence and is open every Sunday and Thursday.
To expand my knowledge base of Tagore and have a glimpse of his concern for the poor, I established contact with folklore researcher Dr Anwarul Karim and biography researcher Dr Abul Ahsan Chowdhury.
While working for agricultural development, Tagore got a clear glimpse of the plight of marginalised people. In 1905, he established Krishi Bank in Shilaidah and Potiswor to free the hard pressed farmers from the grip of money lenders. Initially this bank was run through the financial assistance of his friends; while he donated a substantial portion of the amount he received from the Nobel Prize in 1913.
The agro-based cooperative and banking model of Tagore has been emulated in Bangladesh by the Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RKUB), Bangladesh Rural Development Academy (BARD) or even banks in the private sector such as Grameen Bank.
Concerned about the lack of education among the marginalised, he established a mass education school in Shilaidah.
Tagore organised the cultivation of corn, cabbage, beans and sugarcane, among others.
Tagore believed that both farmers and zamindars should work in tandem on farming. He put this into practice in his own life by sending his son Rathindranath and son-in-law Nagendra Nath to the US with the aim of studying agriculture. His son sought to alleviate the sufferings of farmers with the introduction of tractors -- a milestone in mechanised farming in Bangladesh. In Tagore's bungalow in Potiswor stand antiques such as the anchor of his boat, bathtub, and the wreckage of the first tractor used in Bangladesh. However, it is regrettable that these priceless reminders are poorly maintained.
Though the agricultural and village development plan of Tagore didn't make much headway in Shahzadpur of Serajganj, he developed a close interaction with the villagers. He also saw the potential for dairy farming in that area, 100 years ago.
According to some sources, Tagore last came to the revenue office of Potiswor of Kaligram Pargana (Taxation zone of Kaligram) in 1937. He had separate meetings with the local farmers, school teachers and the elite.
The irony today is that while the people of the country are immersed fully in Tagore songs, poems, plays and writings, little is known about his proclivity for agriculture and development. Discussions on these facets in radio, TV, newspapers or even in workshops or seminars are hardly noticeable. There are no textbooks or research reports that explore this aspect of Tagore. The researchers I spoke to said only one or two researches had been done on Tagore and that too only to meet the professional's promotional preconditions. This situation is really regrettable.
The other question is why this aspect of Tagore is unknown to us.
In today's world, we are always arguing for an agricultural policy that will help our farmers organise themselves, get a fair price and enable an extension of agricultural education. It will also boost the diversity of agro products, improve local government and relevant agricultural research. All these aspects are incorporated in Tagore's philosophy. What we need is patriotism and research on this unknown arena of agriculture and development traversed by Tagore.