Bacher Baba
The enduring legacy of the revolutionary social worker Fr Hermann Bacher sj
Fr Hermann Bacher sj, was a Swiss Jesuit who spent more than 60 years of his adult life serving impoverished farmers in the drought-prone areas of Ahmednagar district, and in the process earning the trust and respect of 4.3 million people to the point where they called him "Bacher Baba”. One eyewitness said he was a workaholic who never stopped for lunch, preferring to nibble on a piece of Bhakri (बाजरीची भाकरी aka Millet Roti) that he carried in his pocket - giving him the serendipitous nickname, "Bhakr Baba".
I was privileged to witness first-hand the testimony of over 300 farmers from near and far who came to pay homage to this revolutionary social worker on his second death anniversary at the Social Centre in Howare Korda in Parner Taluka of Ahmednagar district on the 14th of September 2023. One witness said that when she married into the village she was unaware of Fr Bacher, but she was stunned to see the cooperation between landowners and landless who were inspired by Fr Bacher to work together for everyone to succeed. Another wizened village elder said that in all his years his village never saw any Government drought relief funds but they did not need it because Fr Bacher had provided them with a sustainable model of self-sufficiency.
So who was the man behind the legend? Hermann Bacher was born on the 12th of October 1924 in Münster, Valais (presently Münster-Geschinen), Switzerland into a large farming family. He died at the ripe old age of 97 on the 14th of September 2021 in the St. Francis Nursing Home in Menzingen, Switzerland.
From 1938 he attended College in Brig, Switzerland where he completed the Swiss Matura (equivalent to the UK Level A exams) in June 1946. On September 16, 1946, he joined the novitiate of the Jesuits, at the College Saint-Michel in Fribourg, a Jesuit college founded by Petrus Canisius in 1582. He was missioned to the Poona Jesuit Province in 1948, together with three co-novices, Hans Belser, Henry Volken and Dominik Zemp. From 1949-52 he studied philosophy in Shembaganur (South India) and from 1953-57 Theology at De Nobili College in Pune.
On March 23, 1956, he was ordained a priest and started his mission as a teacher in Sangamner, Haregaon and Kendal villages in the Ahmednagar district where he learned to speak fluent Marathi. But the bone-crushing poverty he saw made him dedicate his life to the betterment of the landless including rural women irrespective of religion or caste, making it his very own raison d'etre. If Switzerland was his Janmasthan (birthplace) then rural India was to be his Karmabhumi (land of action).
After visiting the area extensively on his trusted bicycle, he decided to dedicate his life to helping poor farmers stave off starvation and poverty. Fr Bacher would stop unannounced and start digging with his handy tools the 'favda' and 'ghamela', which he always kept with him, encouraging curious onlookers to join in.
Seeing an outsider roll up his sleeves, they had no choice but to join the crazy foreigner talking about improved farming. When one person does it, you can call him crazy; when ten people join in, you can call it chaos; when a thousand people join in, you can call it a riot but when hundreds of villages join in, it becomes a revolution! And what a peaceful revolution he started ...
Photo credit: JesuitenWeltWeit
Imambhai Pathan of Mendhvan village in Ahmednagar district recollects Fr. Bacher’s love for nature, including earth, water, flora and fauna, and said, “He gave us the message of soil and water conservation and tree plantation. He urged us to take care of them like our own children. The trees he planted on my land have grown up to 40 ft high and apart from the ecosystem services they provide, they are also a source of economic benefits.”
With great perspicuity, in 1966 he collaborated with local elected representatives, government agencies, the Ahmednagar District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. (ADCC), and the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Rahuri, to help scores of landless farmers secure title to land under the various State Land Reforms Acts that sought to overturn the onerous and pernicious British-era Zamandari system.
But he didn't stop there, not by a long shot. He gave these farmers access to irrigation systems, improved hybrid seeds, and introduced modern agricultural practices and technologies. The introduction of terrace cultivation with mud bund resulted in crop diversification from traditional dry crops like Bajra to Sugarcane - a cash crop - which in turn increased the fortunes of the entire district bringing with it better roads, schools and homes. To enable young boys with mid-school or secondary-school education to earn a living he started ‘Electro-Technical Training’, a technical training institute in Shrirampur, now known as Xavier Technical Training Centre, similar to St Joseph’s Technical School in Poona.
But sugarcane needs water, lots of it, so wherever feasible bore wells were dug, and pumps were installed to build lift irrigation canals with check dams. In addition, he undertook the widespread installation on streams and rivers of K.T (Kolhapur-Type) weir, which served the dual purpose of storing or trapping the post-monsoon water as well as providing a bridge for road traffic.
In time, Fr. Bacher set up the Social Centre at Shrirampur in 1968 to procure loans on behalf of nearly 2000 landless farmers with inadequate financial security. He even built GIT (Groundwater Investigation Team) consisting of Agriculture Field Engineers from the College of Agriculture, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, in Rahuri, led by a veteran agriculturist to work closely with farmers to put together a feasibility plan and implement a nascent water-conservation system that was then slowly nurtured and expanded to 100 hectares so as to qualify for these loans. The Center repaid the loans of many defaulters suffering crop failure due to extreme drought.
The catastrophic state-wide drought of 1972-73 saw the complete failure of crops coming to harvest and consequentially no food grain was produced at all, which also meant no fodder for animals. It was a watershed moment for farmers in Maharashtra.
For Fr Bacher, it meant pivoting from digging more wells to rainwater harvesting and conservation by replenishing the underground aquifers. He declared this to be the cornerstone of the long-term sustainability of farming in the drought-prone area. This effort had to begin from the ridge of hilltops, across the entire landscape and down to the valleys – from “ridge-to-valley”. As he was fond of saying, "Running water must be made to walk; walking water made to sink underground". This meant, planting hedgerows of shrubs and trees, digging contour trenches, as well as building catchment and percolation lakes, check dams, mud bunds and K.T. weirs, etc. after a careful hydro-geological survey was completed by the Groundwater Investigation Team.
All this would need a lot of funding. Back in Germany, he worked with KfW Bankengruppe, Germany's largest investment and development bank committed to improving economic, social and environmental living conditions across the globe.
In 1989, he conceptualized and spearheaded the Indo-German Watershed Development Program (IGWDP) in collaboration with and with the active support of the Governments of Germany, India and Maharashtra, NABARD and the NGO sector. The program eventually covered the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, and has since been replicated by NABARD across more than 6 million acres in 19 Indian States and Union Territories impacting millions of lives. Umesh Chandra Sarangi, former Chief Additional Secretary, Government of Maharashtra and former Chairman of NABARD had this to say at the September 14th, 2021 memorial service said, “The IGWDP lead to the establishment of the Watershed Development Fund at NABARD. It has helped to benefit millions of people in 19 states”.
Its innovative and ground-breaking feature was that it put the villagers in total control of the project - all members of the community, landowners and landless, plan the program, implement it and maintain the watershed assets. Once a proposal was vetted, funds would be given directly to them after Shramadhan (श्रमाधान) which is 20% voluntary work - a model referred to as the Sangamner Pattern. There were no free lunches but success or failure was entirely up to them and they would have to manage and account for them, publicly. The NGOs would build their capacities and facilitate the interface with the local administration and the funders.
The economic and social transformation of Kasare in Parner Taluka, Mendhvan in Sangamner Taluka and Pimpalgaon Wagha in Ahmednagar Taluka provided tangible proof of Fr Bacher’s indefatigable efforts. These pilots were very successful and provided a template for the National Development Fund run by NABARD (aka National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, India's apex Development Bank set up in 1982 with a mandate for providing and regulating credit and promoting the development of agriculture and small-scale industries in rural areas).
In 1993, he set up WOTR (Watershed Organization Trust) to provide program management and training expertise for sustainable growth and well-being of vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in rural India. Headquartered in Pune, WOTR built an extensive field training centre, post-humously renamed the Hermann Bacher Learning Centre (HBLC), in Darewadi, which continues to collaborate with Government organizations and NGOs across India. In 2017, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) awarded WOTR the prestigious ‘Land for Life Award 2017’.
As of March 2021, WOTR, in collaboration with its partners, has worked in over 5,200 villages across 9 Indian states – Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. It has impacted more than 4.3 million people, trained over 530,000 people from across India and 63 countries, collaborated with 230 NGOs and Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs), and promoted over 15,500 Self Help Groups (SHGs) reaching out to 190,000 women.
In mid-1995, Fr Bacher in his irrepressible style worked with the Government of Maharashtra to audaciously pass a ground-breaking state resolution for forest land to be included in water conservation programs (aka Joint Forest Management) that allowed NGOs to put water back into the depleted water table with the help of IGWDP program on Forestry land (community-based natural resource management) and started 3 pilot projects including 2 in Sangamner and 1 in Hiware Korda (near Ahmednagar).
In recognition of his outstanding service to society in 1994, Fr. Bacher was given Germany’s highest civilian award, the Bundesverdienstkreuz (aka the Federal Cross of the Order of Merit, fellow recipients include former German chancellors Konrad Adenauer and Angela Merkel). That same year he was also awarded the Krushi Bhushan (Pride of Agriculture Sector), by Maharashtra Governor P. C. Alexander, conferred in recognition of excellence in agriculture and agribusiness. In 2010, the Government of Maharashtra conferred upon him its highest award in Agriculture, The Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Ratna.
Renowned for his humility and approachability, his ability to mobilize all parties including villagers, panchayats, government, elected representatives, funders and sundry stakeholders to work for a common good, his love and passion for uplifting the poorest of poor, and his unique ability to spur people into action by example of self-sacrifice and purposeful action, Fr Hermann Bacher sj has gone to his heavenly abode but I can truly say his spirit is well and alive.
Speaking at the memorial service in September 2021, Prakash Keskar, Executive Director WOTR said, “The mantra given by Fr. Bacher “If not here, then where? If not now, then when? If not you, then who?” will help us continue our journey in the future.” Ad maiorem Dei gloriam!
Thank You Brian.I have been in Pune Since 1978. I had never heard of Fr.Hermann Bacher till today.I am fortunate however to Have met David Gandhi,who is carrying forward The Mission that Fr.Bacher Dedicated his Life to.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this almost unknown information. Wonderful zu know
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