Pamela Chatterrjee (born ) is an Indian writer and rural activist. Her project reclaimed 625,000 hectares of land. She has been recognised with the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

award. It is the highest award for women in India.

Life

Pamela Chatterrjee was born in about 1930. Chatterjee lives in Kumaon Region in Uttaranchal State in India. Chatterjee, supported by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, was able to reclaim 4,600 hectares of land. The project started with 95 farmers but over two years the numbers increased. The land in question had too much sodium and is known as

Sodic soil Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization (also called salination in American English). Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salinization can be caused by natural ...

. The first harvests of

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

from the land showed a higher yield than traditional fields. She published "Listen to the mountains: a Himalayan journal" in 2005. Eventually there were 10,000 farmers and the land reclaimed was 625,000 hectares. left, President Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Nari Shakti Puruskar to Chatterjee She wrote up her experiences with the farm as a book titled "The Jamun Tree" which was published in 2012. It describes the project and includes recollections from those involved. The book was dedicated to the spiritual leader

Ramesh Oza Rameshbhai Oza (born August 13, 1957), known as Pujya Bhaishri, is an Indian spiritual leader. Early life Rameshbhai Oza was born on 31 August 1957 at Devka village near Rajula, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India. He was born in ''Unewal'' Brahmin f ...

and released by Dr

Ashok Khosla Ashok Khosla is an Indian environmentalist currently based in Delhi. He received his PhD in experimental physics from Harvard University with a doctoral dissertation in the hyperfine structure of hydrogen halide isotopes. He is the co-chair o ...

at the Delhi office of the World Bank. She was given the

award in 2017. The award was made in the Presidential Palace by the President of India. Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

was present.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Pamela 20th-century births Year of birth uncertain Living people Indian women activists