Early life and Education: Mr. Biplab Halim was born on 14th September 1947 at Kolkata in a renowned political family. His father Late Abdul Halim was one of the founders of Communist Party of India and his mother was a dedicated whole timer of the Party. Mr. Biplab Halim grew up in an intense political environment which helped him to understand socio-economic and political dynamics of “Development” from quite an early age. He completed his M.A. and LLB from Calcutta University. He joined active politics for eradication of poverty and emancipation of poor and became a well-known name in the state and outside.
Career: In mid 70s Biplab Halim left mainstream politics but not his ideology of eliminating discriminations and empowering poor. He joined in a college in Birbhum district of West Bengal, as a lecturer and simultaneously with few friends he founded Institute for Motivating Self-Employment (IMSE), an organization to mobilize radical youths to reflect on the political and social scenario of the state and to motivate them for joining social work. Their journey started with working among poor and landless peasants to bring significant change in their lives by promoting land reform and bringing a change in unequal power structure in rural belt. They worked mainly on land rights in selected pockets of eastern India and in mid 80s they formed Indian Federation of Toiling Peasants (IFTOP). IMSE gained strength among rural population in its working areas i.e. in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. Biplab Halim was champion of the ideology of food sovereignty. Mr. Halim also worked among the poor fishers in coastal Odisha, in particular to ensure their livelihood security for long time. His close association with fishers’ groups started in 80s when he became actively involved in an anti-eviction movement in coastal Odisha, which threatened existence of more than hundred poor villages inhabited by the poor fishers and peasants. Due to intense struggle of people the government had to abandon the eviction plan.
Mr. Halim was always very active in policy advocacy and networking with like-minded organizations at regional, national and international levels. Through this work he promoted genuine agrarian reform and a conducive climate for food sovereignty. He took active role in the negotiation of Voluntary Guideline on Right to Food at FAO of UN and further worked for facilitating its implementation in India and South Asia. Biplab Halim was the governing body member of many International Organisations/Networks like FIAN International, APRN, IPC, PCFS and so on. He was the founder member and Secretary General of South Asian Peasants Coalition (SAPC) and was also the Chairman of Asian Peasants Coalition (APC) for a long time.
Failing health could never stop him from supporting people’s movements. At behest of Biplab Halim a regional network was formed in early 2000 i.e. Food Sovereignty Network of South Asia and peasant groups of six South Asian countries joined this platform to raise their common concerns like land grabbing, impact of climate change on agriculture, regional trade policies etc. The platform provided them a space to share and learn and to implement components of food sovereignty in their work and life.
Position of Responsibilities:
Eminent Humanist and social worker Late Biplab Halim held many responsibilities in his lifetime. Some are listed below:
and Wada na Todo
Distinguished achievements:
He was a social worker, and his career included working for the masses, for the betterment of the poor, vulnerable and the marginalised. The contribution of Mr. Halim in empowering rural community in general and the peasants in particular could not be described adequately within the limitation of pages. He lives in the hearts of hundreds of poor peasants and fisher men. He was a relentless human rights activist, a passionate social reformer and a dedicated organiser, who enriched our society by his selfless & priceless contribution, till his last breath. His memory continues encouraging people not to give up to the growing pressure of socio-economic discriminations and exploitations and to fight for rights. Biplab Halim believed in inclusive democracy, he always stressed on strengthening Panchayat system, in particular Gram sabha, so that our democracy could be strengthened through an inclusive and bottom up approach. He was a crusader for real development, development with equity and justice, development with harmony, peace and co-existence. He was involved in many organisations as director, board member or advisor to promote communal harmony and national integration in India. From his long career life of more than five decades, few of his many achievements are listed below
Awards and honours:
He was seen to always work in silence and let his works make pivotal changes in the society. He was quite reluctant in getting praised for his social work as he always believed that social work is every human’s responsibility towards the society. However, here are few awards he couldn’t deny.
Personal Life:
In his personal space he was a very jovial person, a doting father to his only daughter Dr Ujjaini Halim and a caring husband to his wife Ms Lily Halim. He considered his colleagues as family members and remembered each and everyone by name and never forgot to ask about their whereabouts when they met. His family members too always encouraged him and also helped him to do all the good work that he did for the society. He was a food enthusiast too and would always keep himself updated with the best places to explore various cuisines. Having seen various spine-chilling communal riots in his lifetime, he always dreamt of a society based on the ethos of communal harmony. He himself was an atheist and respected all the religions equally. He believed in people’s democracy. He always wanted to encourage more and more people to come forward and join him in his quest towards building a society based on humanitarian values. Till his last day he believed that small and marginal peasants, peasant women as well as landless rural workers and youth must be self -reliant and these groups are the future of the world as only they have the capacity to feed the world in the face of growing concern of climate change and food price volatility in global markets. Thus post his sad demise, every year on his birthday on the 14th of September,(2017). IMSE felicitates social workers who are working silently in the field of social development. This would encourage our future generation to come forward and contribute to the society.
Publications:
Towards Communal Harmony
Battle of Singur
Birbhum Hitoishi
Reference: Archives of Birbhum Hitoishi
External links: https://www.imse-india.org/
Shri. Biplab Halim, was a champion of the poor and landless peasants. He brought significant change in their lives by promoting land reform and bringing a change in unequal power structure in rural belt. He worked mainly on land rights in selected pockets of eastern India and in mid 80s formed Indian Federation of Toiling Peasants (IFTOP).
With few friends he founded Institute for Motivating Self-Employment (IMSE), an organization to mobilize radical youths to reflect on the political and social scenario of the state and to motivate them for joining social work.
Mr. Halim also worked among the poor fishers in coastal Odisha, in particular to ensure their livelihood security for long time. He became actively involved in an anti-eviction movement in coastal Odisha, which threatened existence of more than hundred poor villages inhabited by the poor fishers and peasants. Due to intense struggle of people the government had to abandon the eviction plan.
Biplab Halim was always very active in policy advocacy and networking with like-minded organizations at regional, national and international levels. Through this work he promoted genuine agrarian reform and a conducive climate for food sovereignty. He was champion of the ideology of food sovereignty.
