Farm Worker Now Leads 3,500 Women in West Bengal

Twenty-five years ago, neighbors shut their doors when Chhabita Pramanik knocked, asking women to join her in farming together. Today, the former farm laborer from Bankura, West Bengal, leads 347 self-help groups supporting nearly 500 families and has created a thriving network of 3,500 women.

Pramanik started with just two acres of land and minimal resources. She worked as a laborer on other people's farms, barely making ends meet.

Her transformation began when she partnered with Krishi Vigyan Kendra, an agricultural science center, to learn modern farming techniques. She adopted water-saving methods for growing rice, learned to process groundnut oil, and mastered growing vegetables in shade-net structures during off-seasons.

But Pramanik didn't keep this knowledge to herself. She formed her first self-help group with just 10 women, calling it Rangamatichar Vachati Swanirvar Dal.

The early days brought fierce resistance. Influential villagers objected to women working outside their homes or taking loans from anyone except local moneylenders who charged 5% interest monthly.

"I had explained to them that if women worked together, we could get out of that cycle," Pramanik told Anandabazar Patrika. She persisted despite social isolation, going door to door until attitudes slowly shifted.

Her persistence paid off. The initial group of 10 women grew into Dihipara Monalisa Sangha, eventually connecting 500 women and expanding to nearly 3,500 across the district.

The women now grow paddy, vegetables, groundnuts, potatoes, turmeric and mustard. They've learned to process brown rice using an electric mill, cultivate mushrooms, and create vermicompost.

Their products reach markets in Durgapur and beyond through government retail outlets. The collective has moved beyond just selling raw crops to creating higher-value processed foods.

Pramanik still works her own fields, harvesting paddy and planting vegetables alongside managing accounts and keeping computer records for the entire network. She earns around ₹15,000 monthly from her farming activities.

The Ripple Effect

The changes have transformed village life in ways nobody expected. Men who once opposed their wives working outside now help with group enterprises.

The women's collective took over organizing the village's annual Durga Puja festival, managing the committee and raising funds themselves. What started as an economic movement became a shift in community leadership.

As a Senior Community Resource Person, Pramanik now trains other rural women in sustainable farming and business skills. The knowledge she gained from that first agriculture center visit has multiplied across thousands of families.

"This life is not mine alone," she says simply. "It is ours."

One woman's determination to escape debt has become a blueprint for rural women's empowerment across West Bengal, proving that collective action creates change that benefits entire communities.