Umendra Dutt

Shri Umendra Dutt Ji established the ‘Kheti Virasat Mission’ in 2005 to revive and preserve organic farming, natural farming methods, traditional handicrafts, local architecture and forests in Punjab. Umendra Ji, who was practicing journalism in Delhi, was worried about the people of Punjab, their health and the earth because in those days a series of deaths due to cancer had begun there. The gold-spewing soil of Punjab was getting sick due to the indiscriminate use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Leaving professional journalism, his livelihood and passion, he started recording the side effects of pesticides for the people in Punjab. However, at that time he had no audience. There were some farmers and aware people, but their numbers were negligible. He continued his campaign and due to his efforts, organic farming picked pace in many districts of Punjab.

In his analysis, Umendra Ji found that agriculture has also become industrialized in India. No one cares that our land, water sources, air and nature are dying and because of which farmers are perishing. Everyone is occupied in the competition of profit or loss of their business or sound package job opportunities.

He articulated that in 2002 he read somewhere that ‘the village is for sale’, this is the story of Harkishan Pura, a village in Punjab itself. There was neither water nor land left, consequently, the entire village decided to sell their land collectively. This incident moved him a lot and he felt that our civilization is dying. After this, he decided that now some concrete steps will have to be taken by coming forward so that his words can be conveyed to the masses.

In 2005, Umendra Ji laid the foundation of the ‘Kheti Virasat Mission’, whose objective was apparent that this organization would stay away from any kind of politics. They state that “our issue is not political, but of life. Our effort is to save our civilization.” Kheti Virasat Mission’s office was set up in the Jaitu area of the Faridkot district and from there they initiated their campaign against pesticides. Organized seminars with eminent personalities ranging from agriculture specialists to cancer experts and started connecting farmers with organic farming. Today ‘Kheti Virasat Mission’ is working in three different areas namely Organic Farming, Kitchen Garden and Nev-Trinjan.

Born in Firozpur, Punjab, Umendra Dutt Ji studied Hindi literature. He has been interested in writing poetry and literature. In 1994, when he got the opportunity to work in the capacity of editor of ‘Swadeshi Patrika’, he visualised the unceasingly falling agricultural economy in the country. He started by reading a few articles in the magazine and then gradually he went on connecting with people in this field.

He had to face more criticism than the hard work he had devoted in making this mission a success.

People left no stone unturned to exasperate him. He was called anti-farmer and even an environmental terrorist, once a boy posed such a question to him in a seminar, probably no one would have imagined it. He asked, “How much fund is being received from America for the loss of our farmers?” He faced so many similar questions but they were aware that “this mission is very difficult, but not impossible” and this determination never let his morale break.

Kheti Virasat Mission inspired the farmers of Punjab to do organic farming. In this context, more than a thousand seminars, workshops and training sessions have been conducted so far. During this, more than 30 thousand farmers have been covered and more than 2500 farmers are doing organic farming with the mission today. No farmer associated with the mission burns the stubble, on the contrary, they are using the stubble for farming purposes.

More than 16 farmers are active in Punjab under the banner of ‘Kheti Virasat Mission’. Apart from this, some stores are being set up to offer organic produce. Not only male but even women farmers have been associated with this mission. Umendra Ji states that it is more important to explain to women the importance of nutritious food and healthy living. In most Indian families, women look after feeding everyone. Thus, he started training women to set up kitchen gardens in their homes. Since the Covid 19 pandemic, the mission is continuously working for making people aware of the Ayurveda and the Indian system of medicine. In the coming time, we are going to give a memorandum to the honourable Prime Minister of the country that Ayurveda should be given equal opportunity to modern medicine. Ayurveda should also be given respect and resources should be made available for their perusal. We certainly need to move towards natural medicine.

Umendra Ji has received many awards from across the country for this inspiring campaign. Recognizing KVM’s role and contribution, its founder Umendra Dutt Ji was named as one of the members of the National Task Force on Organic and Non-Chemical Farming constituted by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2014.

October 29, 2021, East NDP received several national and international awards including the Sustainable Development Goals Innovation Action Awards and 2021 – 2nd Prize in the Civil Society Category.

Umendra Ji argues that “natural farming is attributed to God, poisonous farming hangs”. Organic farming facilitates our association with God while poisonous farming puts us on the gallows. For these excellent works of his, he has been awarded the ‘Sant Eshwer Samman’ in the year 2022 by the ‘Sant Eshwer Foundation’.