Eminent social worker Tushar Kanjilal dead

Eminent social worker, environmentalist, educationist and writer Tushar Kanjilal died at his home in the city on Wednesday, family sources said. He was 85.

He is survived by his two daughters. His wife and son predeceased him. Kanjilal is known for his contribution to education in remote Rangabelia in the Sundarbans in the 1970s and his work for the uplift of the people in the area.

Born on March 1, 1935 at Noakhali in present Bangladesh, Kanjilal's family had migrated to West Bengal before Independence and grew up in Kolkata and Burdwan. He was attracted to Marxist ideologies from a young age and had a frequently disrupted education due to his activism. After his marriage, he quit politics in 1967 and settled in Rangabelia village in Gosaba block of South 24 Pargans district which had no drinking water, pucca roads, health care facilities or even roads.

There he worked as the headmaster of the local high school and made his mark in promoting education among the locals. He came to be known as 'Mastermoshai' (a teacher). Kanjilal in later years would often recount the countless nights that he and his wife had to stay awake at Rangabelia afraid of the presence of snakes in their room.

It was during his stay in the remote Sundarbans area that Kanjilal inspired by Rabindranath Tagore started working for rural development and founded an organization. He later merged it Tagore Society for Rural Development, one of the oldest and largest civil society organisations in eastern India engaged in rural development founded by Jayprakash Narayan and freedom fighter Pannalal Dasgupta based on Tagore's philosophy.

Kanjilal involved himself in environmental activism and worked for the preservation of the mangrove forests in the Sundarbans. He penned a book 'Who Killed the Sunderbans?' which deals with the issue of the destruction of the mangrove forests. He also wrote a number of books in Bengali dealing with his life and various aspects of the Sundarbans and countless articles in journals and newspapers on environment and life of the people there.

He became been a living bridge between the remote mangrove swamps and the modern world, urging individuals and organisations to lend a hand in the struggle by the people there. Kanjilal was awarded the Padma Shri in 1996 and received the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 2008.

His body was taken to Rangabelia, which is now a bustling place with government offices and banks and schools, for the last rights..

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