Sigma Six Q: Agriculture and Dairying - The Fifth Quality

We greatly appreciate the interest and feedback we have received till now.  Our posts till date have covered the first four Qualities for a Sustainable Way of Life:  Innovation, Air Quality, Water Quality, and Education and Healthcare.

This leads us to our fifth Quality for a Sustainable Way of Life: Agriculture and Dairying.

In the words of Revered Prof. Prem Saran Satsangi, “Agriculture gives us an opportunity to do selfless service and it is recognized in the country that there is still great opportunity to develop agriculture. If we want to reach our progress in the country to all sections of people in Society, it is necessary to introduce entrepreneurship, innovation etc. in agriculture also for realizing desired progress and development. So far, we are performing sowing operations of paddy by transplanting its saplings from one field into the other. Now there is a variety of it, which is being planted in about 9-10 acres, which gives us better yield even without transplantation. It takes less time also and gives us good yield also. So, we have to observe all these and if they are to be experimented upon, in fact we are already doing that. I am telling all this because it is all included in Dayalbagh way of life. You may not be aware of all this, you may not be able to comprehend it, but all these novel methods and modern policies are being implemented in Dayalbagh for improvement of the quality of life here. Agriculture and Dairying form the fifth component which is an important sector.”¹

Dayalbagh has been at the forefront of both the Green and the White revolution making efforts in an innovative symbiotic relationship based upon the principle of  “Waste Nothing!” as propounded by Revered Mehtaji Maharaj.

Revered Mehtaji Maharaj had started Agriculture work on a large scale in Dayalbagh in 1943 to contribute to the national India’s efforts to grow more food, to enable the colony to become self-sufficient in its requirement of food grains and to give all Satsangis (followers of the Radhasoami faith), residents and pilgrims an opportunity for seva (selfless service). Residents without distinction of status, men, women, boys and girls daily performed physical work on the farm by way of seva which has become a way of life.²

Dayalbagh practices need-based, environmentally friendly, largely organic and sustainable agriculture based on scientific principles. The Dayalbagh farms produce grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits for the residents and the community kitchen (Dayal Bhandar); green fodder (Berseem, Maize, Sorghum, Pearl-millet), wheat and barley straw, wheat and barley grains and some by-products of the crops such as oil-cake and molasses for Cattle and herbs and fruit for the Pharmacy.

As explained by Revered Prof. Prem Saran Satsangi, “More and more systems studies have been carried out in various fields of activity of the Satsang Community to optimize practices e.g. optimum crop rotation and irrigation pattern in agriculture; optimum feed patterns for cattle in dairy; various energy conservation measures of electricity; water conservation”³

The Dairy in Dayalbagh was established as a Gaushala (Cowshed) in 1929 and was upgraded into a full-scale dairy in 1930. At that time, it had 141 heads of cattle, many of which were Montgomery and Hissar breeds.  It was adjudged as the Best Dairy in Asia and was commended as second best in the world at an international competition in USA.  As observed by Sir Malcom Hailey at that time referring to Bhagwat Purana, “there are mountains of butter and oceans of milk in Svarga (heaven). If the Dayalbagh  Dairy is successful, it would not then be impossible that Dayalbagh might become the model of heaven.”

Today the Dairy plays a pivotal role in tending to the needs of Dayalbagh residents and the Dayalbagh Educational Institute through various dairy products, primarily fresh, unadulterated milk and ‘Cupid’ butter and various milk products. It also serves as a forum for live and experiential observations and skill development for the 120 students of graduate and post graduate level courses in Dairy technology. It has the necessary food and export licenses, the dairy products produced by students have also been exported to USA.

The model in operation is unique and covers multi-dimensional aspects for attaining high quality of milk at minimum cost of production.  There is close operational collaboration between Agriculture, Gaushala & DEI.

A group of volunteers tends to the 1000+ cattle taking utmost care to relieve cattle stress through caring and nurturing as well as use of technologies to monitor several dairy farming processes.

At the Dairy, there is emphasis on undertaking treatments using Homeopathy and Ayurveda which does not affect milk quality unlike the use of antibiotics. There is a “Cattle Rehabilitation” center where older cattle are housed and treated.

It is these innovative practices that make the Dayalbagh model a self-sustaining society.

We welcome and encourage comments and sharing of experiences on any of the five qualities. We look forward to your feedback. Do follow us on facebook (www.facebook.com/sigmasixq) and on twitter (@SigmaSixQ). You can also subscribe to our posts via email (link on the right).

The above post is by Ms. Rima Mehta and Anurag Singh.

References:

1. “The Dayalbagh Herald” dated Tuesday, June 21^st, 2016.
2. Special Souvenir Param Guru Dr. Lal Sahab
3. “The Dayalbagh E-herald” - Autobiographical Retrospectives dated 28^th August 2007