Noted activist Debjeet Sarangi passes away

BHUBANESWAR:  Activist and founder of Living Farms Debjeet Sarangi succumbed to Covid-19 here on Saturday. He was under treatment at a Covid hospital in the Capital city after testing positive and his condition had deteriorated on Saturday.

Born in the industrial city of Jamshedpur, Debjeet not only worked for tribal welfare and labour rights but also ensured development of the agricultural community through his initiatives.

Growing up witnessing labour rights violations in Jamshedpur, Debjeet after completing his Class X decided to work towards addressing issues faced by them and the tribal communities.

He moved to Odisha in subsequent years where he worked as a daily wage labourer for about a year in an open cast mine to get a first-hand experience of their distressful lifestyle.

During his college days, he went on to volunteer for the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ movement and later worked with the Santals in Odisha.

It was here where he came across a village whose male population was wiped out by tuberculosis, having worked in the stone quarries close by.

Disturbed by this, he started looking for agriculture-based livelihood alternatives for tribals. During his research in Niyamgiri hills in Rayagada for three years from 2004, he realised that some of the crises that the agricultural community and Kondh tribals in particular faced, could be answered by the community themselves. 

To bring the tribals together so that they can share information, knowledge on agricultural practices and learn from each other, he went on to form Living Farms as a vehicle to drive this idea in 2008. Social activists working in various sectors condoled his demise.