Fr. Hermann Bacher  Father of the Watershed Movement in India

 


Fr. Hermann Bacher, the ‘Father of the Watershed Movement in India’, was the parish priest in Shrirampur in Ahmednagar district in 1960s and 1970s when I was a school student there. 
 
As a boy, I watched him from a distance but never had an occasion to speak to him. Never did I think then that I would later write a biography in English and Mararhi of this great missionary. 
 
In tribute to Fr. Hermann Bacher on his first death anniversary on September 14, representatives from around 270 villages in Ahmednagar district have come together to celebrate his life and his work.
 
Fr. Hermann Bacher Memorial rally will be held at ADCC Auditorium in Ahmednagar.
 
Bacher Baba came to India from Switzerland and made the district of Ahmednagar his home for over 60 years.
 
In 1967, Bacher Baba founded the Social Centre in Ahmednagar to work for the upliftment of the poor and marginalized farmers in the drought prone regions in the district. 
 
Working in collaboration with the Land Development Bank and the Ahmednagar District Central Cooperative (ADCC) Bank, the Social Centre facilitated the availability of loans for small farmers to dig wells and for pump sets and for pipelines. 
 
As a visionary close to the rural poor, Bacher Baba soon came to the realization that the community-led watershed development program was the only long-term solution to survive the impact of the recurrent cycle of droughts. 
 
Working against many challenges, Kasare and the Pimpalgaon Wagha were among the first villages he chose to launch the watershed programs in 1988, where he worked with the village communities to green their barren lands and rebuild their broken lives. 
 
Every family, both the landless and the land owners, benefited from the greening of the land that yielded rich harvests and helped to improve the quality of life of the people.
 
Tributes to this visionary rural development social worker..
 
(A photo with Fr Bacher at the De Nobili College in Pune ) 
 
Camil Parkhe, September 13, 2022

 

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