Babulal Dahiya, a farmer from Pori Gaon near Satna in Madhya Pradesh was conferred with Padma Shri award for agriculture, this year. When news agency ANI reached out asking him about the accolade, he said, “Getting awarded Padma Shri is huge – I am of course happy. But what makes me happier is to see my crops ripe.”
Dahiya, who used to work for the Adivasi Lok Kala Parishad and used to work on collections of Folk literature and songs, started researching and cataloguing several indigenous crops and vegetables since 2005.
Pointing at a field behind, he told ANI, “There are twelve types of wheat planted here when we cultivate rice – there are usually 200 types. Seeing the colourful flowers sprout and the seeds ripe makes me feel accomplished.”
Before joining agriculture, Babulal Dahiya also used to writer in the Bagheli language – one of the four prevalent languages in the state. The other three being Bundeli, Awadhi, Bihari.
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While working at the Adivasi Lok Kala Parishad, with the folktales and songs, we came across vivid description of vegetables in the chapters, which intrigued his interest in crops and agriculture.
After researching on crops for years, while showing his catalog, he said, “I want to tell the world, that out indigenous crops, be it wheat or rice or anything – those have been planted in our country for thousands of years. These crops got seasoned with the climate of this country.” “These indigenous crops ripen irrespective of minor climate changes, and can be used to counter climate change and global warming,” he added.
Babulal Dahiya has been trying to conserve indigenous crops and vegetables for years now.