Organisation helping marginal farmers wins 1st Rohini Nayyar Prize

Sethrichem Sangtam, who works with 1,200 marginal farmers and their families in eastern Nagaland, encouraging them to abandon wasteful slash-and-burn cultivation, which helped triple their incomes, was honoured on Tuesday with the first Rohini Nayyar Prize.

The prize is instituted by the family of the late Dr Rohini Nayyar, an eminent scholar-administrator and former principal adviser at the erstwhile Planning Commission, who passed away in October 2021.
The prize, which comes with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a trophy, is given for outstanding contribution to rural development by an individual of 40 years or under.

The award was handed to the winner by Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery. The winner was selected by an eminent jury from civil society consisting of Ashok Khosla (founder of Development Alternatives), Rajesh Tandon (founder of PRIA) and Renana Jhabvala (national coordinator, SEWA).

Sangtam, 40, started the Better Life Foundation to concentrate on rural livelihood security, environmental sustainability and education for change. Sangtam went to the National Law School of India (Bangalore) before dropping out to go to New York as a member of the Global Youth Advisory Panel of the United Nations Population Fund in New York.

Rohini Nayyar worked in the erstwhile Planning Commission for almost two decades. She was the architect of the UPA government's flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, MNREGA. Before joining the commission, she researched poverty and landlessness in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Speaking at the event, Bery remembered that he was introduced to Nayyar by former RBI governor Bimal Jalan. "It is a very noble endeavour that the Nayyar Foundation for Social and Economic Purpose has taken such an initiative," he said.

The prize will be given out annually by the Nayyar Foundation for Social and Economic Purpose, set up by her family to contribute to social and economic development in India. The foundation directors are Deepak Nayyar (emeritus professor of economics, JNU) and Dhiraj Nayyar (director of economics and policy, Vedanta Resources).