When then CM Modi called Rajkumari Devi ‘Kisan Chachi’

After a long struggle, she managed to learn cycling at the age of 40, so that she could travel and sell pickles on it. Rajkumari Devi, who is currently 70, has come a long way. She recalls her visit to Gujarat in 2013 when the then Chief Minister of the state Narendra Modi called her “Kisan Chachi”. “The name has since then stuck with me and it was a happy moment when they (Modi) called me by that name. Now I am known by this name “the aunt of kisans’,” Devi said.
Devi not only opposed social restrictions on the strength of her high spirits, but she also worked to change the fate of a large number of women with her hard work. She has also been awarded with the “Padma Shri” in 2019. Moreover, Devi, on her bicycle, has travelled to adjacent areas to teach women, as she jocularly calls it “gyaan bantna” (spreading knowledge), and made them self-reliant, which has made her not only the pride of Muzaffarpur, but of whole Bihar.
“We have two bighas of land here. We did not have much then but just a piece of land. My husband wasn’t doing anything. But then I started working on my land and told my husband as well let’s do it together. And whenever there would be Kisan melas, we would take our vegetables there. We would often produce better quality vegetables and we would sell them in the market. Subsequently our products were valued more in the market and we started growing our business.” In 1990, Devi upgraded her farming techniques by adopting scientific method and she started making pickles. From 2000, she started making pickles from home, which is now famous all over the country by the name of “Kisan Chachi Ki Achar”.
She said, “Then, I was told that you work so good, why don’t you teach other women how to do the work. So I would tell people by visiting them on my cycle. I would tell them (women) that sitting idle won’t do. You need to pick yourselves up and start working. Later, we started making pickles and our pickles were valued a lot. Our pickles started getting more traction and the demand increased. Then, we took training for making pickles after which, 160 women were organised by forming the ‘Jyoti Jeevika’ self-help group and women started getting work at home from this venture.”
Devi, while talking about her health, added, “Nothing has changed for me, like I used to work in my 40s the same way I am working now. I don’t feel any fatigue. Working routinely has kept by body healthy.”
Fast forward to the current times, Devi makes more than 20 varieties of pickles, which are supplied to Patna Khadi Mall, Delhi’s Pragati Maidan, and Viscomaan Cooperative Department. At the same time, their products have also been selling in the local market and in many exhibitions.