A Young Widow Through Her Determined Efforts Saves the Kosi River

Padma Shri awardee Basant Devi dedicates her life to social service and the protection of the environment. She was in class V when her marriage was fixed to a boy studying in class XI. However, soon after her marriage, her husband passed away. Though pressured by society to get married again, she decided to remain single and continue with her education. Basanti Devi who hails from Uttarakhand said that a chance visit to the Kausani Ashram brought a new light to her life. She was very impressed and inspired by the environment there and with her father’s permission, she began to reside in the Ashram. Initially, She started several childcare facilities called Bal Baris which also focussed on child nutrition in remote villages. Then she was given the work of reviving the Kosi river as its water was depleting at alarming levels. Devi took it upon herself to revive the river Kosi. She found that the root cause of the problem was deforestation as the village women would cut the vegetation and trees for fire wood. Devi traveled far and wide to almost 50 villages guiding, counseling, and requesting women to not cut the trees. She organized the women into groups and also empowered them by engaging them in social work. Eventually, her 40 years of hard work yielded fruits as the protection of forests and revival of old springs resulted in surplus water in Kosi. People now even sow paddy along the banks of the river. For her dedicated efforts, she has received numerous awards like the Nari Shakti award, the Devi award in 2016 as well as the Padma Shri this year.