Asha Darshan

Change can act as a catalyst of growth and once the wheel of change commence to roll; there is no full-stop while navigating the voyage towards its destination of development. Such a seed of ‘change’ germinated in Biju Borbaruah, trustee and founder of Asha Darshan, by her elder sister who was instrumental in chiseling young Biju’s mind. In several occasions, Biju accompanied her elder sibling, who was involved in social work- be it solving a local dispute within the precinct of her village or while providing relief in the flood-prone areas of North Lakhimpur district of Assam, a place ravaged by floods annually. She had to drop out of college due to financial constraints at home. It was around the time when Assam appeared in the militancy map and the state’s name was synonymous to the underground militant groups- the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), the NDFB, the BLT etc. and the army’s rule and rape rampaged the state to weed out militancy.

Biju was eager to pursue a professional course in nursing but fate had some other plans. Had it not been due to setbacks in her personal life, the dawn of Asha Darshan would not have seen the light of the day- the source of illuminating the lives of thousands of women and children, in one of the remotest parts of India. Ever since she was young, she cradled a vision of opening a weaving centre involving the local girls. With that objective in mind, she joined a weaving industry in Harmoti in North Lakhimpur district of Assam which ameliorated her weaving skills. But after six months elapsed, she quit the job owing to corruption within the industry. A true Gandhian in spirit, she was immensely inspired by Ravindra Nath of Silapathar of Dhemaji District of Assam. She worked over there for two years. Her coherent idea of creating an organization of her own had finally woven a fine web in her mind by now. In November 1998, she discovered her true calling- the new environment in Tamulpur of now Baksa district of Assam. It posed several challenges in terms of language communication as the Bodo language of the dominant Bodo tribe of the area belongs to a different language family altogether, quite different from her lingua franca Assamese. The paranoia which lurked in people’s mind against the underground militant groups like the ULFA, NDFB, BLT etc. didn’t deter her to abdicate the path she had set her eyes on. In the late 90s the transport and communication system was not much developed (not that it still is but much better now than a decade and a half back). Reaching out to the marginalized indigenous ethnic groups was a major hurdle as paved surface transport was next to nil in the 90s in the remote areas of Assam.

She underwent training programme in thread-cutting of cotton in her home-state as well as in the state of Gujarat. She was fortunate to meet a Gandhian, social crusader, philanthropist and Padmashree awardee Late Rabindranath Upadhyay, popularly known as Rabin Bhai (whom she addressed as Pitaji [father]) who became her mentor and guide, a fountain of inspiration and constant advice. She was determined and strong enough to establish an autonomous voluntary organization- a non-profit public charitable trust- Asha Darshan (meaning trust with hope). It was registered in 2002 under the Public Charitable Trust Act. Asha Darshan is based at Tamulpur in Baksa district of Assam and its primary focus is to work for village women’s empowerment. Its vision is in shaping a fabric of peace in the society where people of various religions and communities can lead a life of love, respect and mutual cooperation towards each other. Its mission is to knit a sisterhood of unity, generating awareness amongst them and imparting training in various ways. Asha Darshan’s trustees are Late Rabindranath Upadhyaya, Biju Borbaruah, Jennifer Liang and Sabita Roy.

Baksa district in Assam is the main artery of Biju’s herculean work comprising three blocks viz. Tamulpur, Nagrijuli and Ghograpar, areas bordering Bhutan. The region is populated by diverse ethnic groups, both tribal and non-tribal, namely the most dominant tribe the Bodos, Rabha tribe, Hajong, Sarania, Adivasis, Nepalis and Muslims. These socio-ethnic groups are alienated and marginalized from the mainstream society and are the most deprived sections. Hence, the area has been a breeding ground for insurgency owing to its backwardness and underdevelopment. These people with less or rather no land-holding of their own are forced to eke out a living as daily wage earners for their economic subsistence and survival, often working as labourers in building and construction sites, carpenter or in shops in neighbouring Bhutan. Their income is very paltry and insufficient to run a family of 6-7 children on an average in a family. There was no concept of family planning in the villages. This means the kids are deprived not only of their Right to Education but of their childhood as well, as they too join their parents in providing hands for income. With no government schools in the vicinity or schools, if any, are largely defunct owing to absenteeism and/ or dearth of teachers or the teacher-student ration is highly skewed.

Education Programme: Asha Darshan runs a chain of 12 schools in north-east India, 11 in Assam and one in Ukhrul district of Manipur. Teachers of Asha Darshan are trained and supported by the organization. It caters to a strength of 1410 students in Assam (684 girls and 726 boys) while the strength of teachers is 41. These students come from financially poor families and reside in remote villages of Assam where they do not have access to schools run by the government. The medium of instruction is Assamese in nine schools while two Bodo medium schools also exist. Alternative skill-based education/ vocational training of school drop-outs have not been cent-percent successful due to financial crunch. Asha Darshan aims to cater rehabilitation of trafficked children and providing a means to their economic self-sufficiency and self-dependence and living a life with dignity, societal acceptance while simultaneously providing a haven under its umbrella.

Self-Help Group (SHG): Apart from its education mission, the organization also has Self-Help Group (SHG) promotion. When Biju came to Tamulpur for the first time, there was no idea about Self-Help Group in this area. Now she has successfully knitted 450 SHGs with strength of 5850 members who are mostly women daily wage earners. These groups address and assist issues pertaining to health of especially women and children. The region is an acute malaria-prone area and various water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery etc. are endemic to this region. Women in this part are mostly anemic and hence nutrition for women in general and both mother and child in particular is quite essential. While consumption of country-made liquor is rampant in this part and is not a taboo for the tribals, alcohol addiction is a major concern especially for the womenfolk. A school by day could turn out to be a drunkard’s den by night time because of the absence of a locking system. The SHGs also promotes social harmony through motivation and measures undertaken for maintaining peace in the volatile, insurgency-infested region. The SHGs were formed keeping in mind the objective to encourage women to develop the habit of small savings of their hard-earned income. These SHGs are linked to banks such as the State Bank of India (SBI), UCO Bank, Gramin Vikas Bank etc.

Mahila Shanti Sena (MSS) [Women Peace Brigade]: The main responsibility of MSS is to handle cases of domestic violence against women in a democratic and peaceful way, to ensure that peace and harmony of the families/ communities is not disturbed. It has organized ‘Maun Rally’ (silent rally) to promote its message of peace building in the disturbed areas. A lodestar in organizing women into MSS, Biju has created a multi-level organization comprising 350 small units of 10 each (total 3500 women) at the primary level federated into larger units as it expands. Peace-making through non-violence is their mantra. These groups are trained and motivated to resolve disputes and conflicts, especially those related to violence and atrocities against women. It also acts as a check against human trafficking especially of the girl child.

Livelihood Programme: Asha Darshan  promotes livelihood programme by facilitating livelihood-related activities like weaving, tailoring, poultry, piggery, goatry while provoding training in making of soft toys, jewellery, pickle, detergent, table-cloth, door-mat etc. Besides these, improvised weaving looms for the differently-abled has also been carved out, improved techniques and technologies have been introduced in some of these activities to reduce drudgery, to enhance quality and productivity thereby augmenting the income of the people.

Biju’s constant supervision, her strong grit and determination, her dedication and devotion to serve the downtrodden and marginalized sections of the society has bagged her the ‘C Subramanian Fellowship Award’ by the National Foundation of India (NFI), the ‘Bahadur Ladki Award’ (Brave Girl) conferred upon her by the Himalaya Foundation for her tireless work in militancy-ridden areas of the state. The Anne Nirmali Kakati Vocational Award by the Rotary Club is yet another feather to her cap.

Environmental Conservation: Asha Darshan also aims to preserve and conserve the rich biodiversity of the region. Rampant deforestation of the once sylvan cover has been axed esp. in the plains bordering Bhutan and mainly the foot-hills paving the avenue for establishing factories and industries in the fragile ecological hot-spots of the eastern Himalayan foot-hills thereby releasing effluent directly in the streams and rivers. Rock quarry activities from the bowels of the foot-hills not only degrades the environment but also robs off its scenic natural beauty. The organisation has an objective of bringing lands under fruit-bearing trees since the area is conducive for plantation. Creating awareness amongst the locals for its participation in wildlife protection is the call of the hour as elephant corridors are been encroached and the habitat of wildlife shrinks thereby increasing men-animal conflicts. Asha Darshan in mitigating such encounters could play a pivotal role in the protection of the rich flora and fauna of the region. Venison meat, much sought-after by tribals and non-tribals alike, and curbing of poaching of wildlife parts through awareness generation, afforestation drives could be just a few measures in nature conservation.

It has been observed that the streams and rivers originating from the Himalayas which meander through these areas have been reduced to a small rivulet owing to building of dams in Bhutan. So much so that portable drinking water as well as non-drinking water has to be carried in thelas (4-wheeled hand-pulled carts) and bicycles from the nearest water pump situated a kilometer or two from the Vocational Training Centre of Asha Darshan in Bogajuli (Nonke Angarkata) of Baksa district in Assam.

Help in the form of providing benches and tables, books and racks from a city-based school which has been closed down now, donations of tins and asbestos sheets for roofs for Asha Darshan’s branch office at Nonke Angarkata by the Marwari (businessmen) community, providing land for setting up such centers by the Government of Assam has been a step which has alchemised Biju’s dreams into reality albeit step-by-step. Bottlenecks in realizing her goals are absence of permanent concrete structure of Asha Darshan schools. The school structure including its walls are thatched which are in a dilapidated condition in a few schools. Class progress could be hampered owing to leakage from the roofs during the monsoon rains or due to absence of ceiling fans in the classroom esp. during the hot and humid weather conditions. In one school, a hall has been partitioned by bamboo lattice to create two separate classrooms. Limited classroom space, insufficient benches and tables, access to library books, non-lucrative teacher’s job owing to less pay or teacher’s moving for greener pastures after qualifying the state conducted Teacher’s Eligibility Test (TET), not to mention about the clod filled roads leading to school, unavailability of clean drinking water and proper sanitation in the school premise are colossal challenges on Asha Darshan. However, this could be a great opportunity for Biju and her team in the eradication of illiteracy, providing education-cum-vocational training towards a better and brighter life for all the children, which will in turn churn social uplift from the quagmire of poverty and ignorance towards illumination through the rays of Asha Darshan. It’s an irony that space for a playground exits but there are no sports equipment and its paraphernalia for the students’. Asha Darshan schools may be in sharp contrast to the city-based schools of Guwahati, with smartclasses and state-of-the-art-technology, but the quest of its students’ for education is not a shade less. There was a time when even the underground militant organizations demanded money from the teachers, a time when Biju was followed by members of such groups in order to find about her real motive- if she was a beacon of change or was an agent of the government. The cusp of change is visible as the veil of ignorance and illiteracy is eclipsed by knowledge.

Asha Darshan contact details:

Asha Darshan Trust,

P.O.- Tamulpur, District Baksa (BTAD)

Assam (INDIA)

PIN- 781 367

Phone-  +91-3624-287364/

             +91-94351-98562

Email: darshan_asha@yahoo.com

            bborbaruah@gmail.com

Web: www.ashadarshan.blogspot.com