Rashid Mohan Gavit

This is the basic mantra of self-reliance, whoever adopts this mantra in his life, becomes a hero for society. Most peculiar situations can’t break his morale, rather he draws energy from these situations for the development of society. Circumstances don’t hinder him but prove him in the role of a seeker.

Shri Mohan Gavit Ji, is a proven seeker who made his adverse circumstances useful for his society. He made self-reliance the main goal of his life and worked to give such a message to the nation which is going to advance both the upliftment of life as well as of self.

Shri Mohan Gavit Ji was born in 1976 in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra in a humble family. In his childhood, he saw his parents working as laborers. His parents had to migrate from Maharashtra due to wages. From 1976-82 Gavit Ji’s childhood was spent in Bardoli, Gujarat. This must have had an impact on his tender heart.

The situation of poverty and sorrow was such that his grandfather had to mortgage the land for Rs 1500. By collecting money from wages, his father retrieved the land from the moneylender and resumed farming. Though both his parents were illiterate, but recognized the importance of education. They decided to teach him and he was enrolled in the Zilla Parishad’s school. Gavit Ji’s new life journey started from here. He excelled in the B.A. examination and set the goal of his life. It is generally seen that a poor person prefers to do a job because he doesn’t have money to invest in any other work. However, Gavit Ji broke this misconception and decided to do farming on his ancestral land. This was the second phase of Gavit Ji’s life, which inspired change and new thinking in his own life and in the society associated with him. Apart from the public, the person would have made his life public. In his thinking, instead of worrying about himself, the worry of others gets involved. When Mohan Gavit Ji decided to do farming, he integrated new scientific thinking into it to set an example in his society. He dropped traditional farming and started farming with new scientific methods.

For any new work, its technical aspects must be known. Mohan Gavit Ji, took training from Agriculture Department, Government of Maharashtra’s scientists Dr Sawant Ji and Dr Daptardar Ji. He learned about the various methods which can be used to transplant paddy. Apart from this, Mohan Gavit Ji also took cooperation and guidance from institutions like Krishi Vigyan Kendra Nandarwar, Rahuri Krishi Vidyapeeth etc. Through new experiments, not only paddy cultivation but also cash-yielding crops such as sugarcane, groundnut, cotton, potato, onion etc. were cultivated. His passion was very helpful in the frequently organized agricultural fairs and in the discussions held with the scientists. Gradually, Mohan Gavit Ji further developed the production capacity by manufacturing and using improved seeds through organic fertilizers. Inspired by good production, he also started cultivation of soybean, gram, vegetables, mango, guava, chikoo etc. When a person starts achieving success while pursuing his goal, then his morale becomes higher. Mohan Gavit Ji also started the work of animal husbandry like chicken rearing, cow-rearing, goat rearing with his same morale and achieved good success. The work of agriculture and animal husbandry complemented each other, which increased both income and production capacity.

Mohan Gavit Ji’s work of agriculture and animal husbandry was done on the idea of ‘Ekala Chalo Ray’ and it gradually turned into a movement. Today, many farmers in that area are accomplishing farm activities along the same lines and are registering their important contribution to the development of the nation. Being from a tribal background, Rashid Mohan Gavit Ji had more challenges than the general society but he overcame all odds and achieved his goal. Seeing the quality and capacity of production, ‘Dhanrat Dudh Utpadak Society’ was formed in his village itself, whose president was Gavit Ji. Apart from this, ‘Baliraja Krishak Mandal’ was formed in 1997 with the cooperation and participation of 50 farmers. Gavit Ji was made its president. Later on, the experiment of collective farming started under his leadership. This group was named ‘Baliraja Farm’ where experiments are done on soybean, jowar, gram, and cotton.

Today, Rashid Mohan Gavit Ji is such an inspiration who has ensured the new direction of development of innovative methods for agricultural work. Now there are multiple initiatives of the Government of India in which the cooperation of Gavit Ji is being taken. His contribution to the Geographical Indication Intellectual Property, Government of India (NOND) under the Ministry of Commerce by the Central Government on the basis of classical analysis of Navapur Desi Attur has been commendable. Any person attains greatness when he thinks about his existence as well as the existence of society and the nation and works in that direction. Shri Rashid Mohan Gavit Ji is one such inspiration who has worked to give new ideal status to agriculture work and has contributed to building a new nation. Today, following his ideals and scientific methods, the tribal youth of the Nandurbar district is creating a new history in the agriculture sector.  

To further encourage the works of Shri Rashid Mohan Gavit Ji, the ‘Sant Eshwer Foundation’ has honoured him with the ‘Sant Eshwer Seva Samman’ under the tribal sector for the year 2019.