Tushar Kanjilal passes away at 84

KOLKATA: Social and environmental activist Tushar Kanjilal - often credited with changing the face of Sunderbans with his decades-long experiments based on ideas of Tagore and Gandhi - passed away in Kolkata on Wednesday. A Padma Shri awardee, he was 84 and is survived by two daughters.
No less than two million people of the Sunderbans benefited from the Tagore Society for Rural Development, the NGO set up by him.Working in the Sunderbans since 1975, the organization today runs a hospital, a women's co-operative society, an agricultural research centre and an animal husbandry unit, creating avenues for livelihood for thousands.
The process began almost a decade before 1975, when Kanjilal came to the Rangabelia island as a headmaster of the local school. But his aim was not just to be a teacher. He soon started an experiment on micro-level development involving common villagers. It proved to be a huge success and led to the development of irrigation.
A graduate in economics, Kanjilal was involved in active politics till 1967 when he left Kolkata to live and work in Rangabelia. "Kanjilal was a rare social activist who had a deep understanding of the ecology," said oceanographer Sugata Hajra. "He had genuine concern for the well-being of the people," he said.