In the dust-choked topography of rural Uttar Pradesh, the sky has historically functioned as a ceiling rather than a frontier. In a media landscape that is relentlessly oversaturated with grim statistics regarding women’s safety and restricted mobility in India, a short documentary might not single-handedly dismantle an archaic patriarchal paradigm, but it can certainly pierce it.
From Fields to Flight directed by Ipshita Bhattacharyya and backed by Breakthrough — an organisation working to shift social norms and make gender-based violence unacceptable — the documentary film chronicles the systemic defiance of Babita Paswan, who navigated the government-backed Namo Drone Didi scheme to become the first and only certified drone pilot in her village of Jindapur. Following a panel discussion, we sat down with Babita, Ipshita and Breakthrough’s Pooja Pande to unpack this socioeconomic metamorphosis.
For a woman navigating these traditional geographies, such a transformation is rarely a sudden leap; it is achieved through a series of exhausting negotiations with the world around her. Born into a marginalised caste community in Gorakhpur, Babita’s early life was tethered entirely to domesticity and agricultural labour, particularly after she was forced to shoulder the household responsibilities following her mother’s passing.
For Babita, the most immediate hurdle was her own relationship with technology. “I used to sit at home. I didn’t even use my mobile phone; I was afraid of it,” she tells us, noting the stark irony that she now commands a 30-kilogram machine. By braving a 15-day training in Bihar, emerging as one of only five candidates selected from a rigorous batch, she effectively rewrote her destiny. The journey, however, was fraught with extreme social friction and intense rural surveillance. “When I went there for training, my neighbours used to gossip about how I must’ve run away with someone,” Babita recalls.
Today, she pilots her agricultural drone to precisely spray fertilisers, pesticides and water across local farmlands. Earning INR 400 for every acre she covers, Babita brings home a formidable income of roughly INR 45,000 a month. “Earlier, my family was not letting us go,” she recalls of the initial backlash. “Now, people say that I am doing good work,” she smiles. “I bought two cows and one buffalo for my dad and asked him to now dabble in animal husbandry as well,” Babita shares.
This leadership fascinated filmmaker Ipshita Bhattacharyya. The curiosity did not lie merely in the technological novelty of a woman piloting a drone in rural Uttar Pradesh, but in the internal friction that propelled her there. “There is a very subtle layer of rebellion within her. She doesn’t have an unrealistic expectation from the world around her, but at the same time, she expects a lot from herself,” she explains.
“It’s not that we decided to make a film on a drone pilot. It’s because our work is to capture the change that is happening,” says Pooja Pande, talking about the origins of the film’s production. For this non-profit, the genesis of this rural defiance often begins in community collectives. “That’s often the first step towards mobility for a woman, because they are kind of sanctioned spaces where you can work and express yourself,” Pooja details.
The sociological weight lies in the ensuing ripple effect. “Once you see someone doing something very different or unconventional, it just shifts realities on your own,” she observes. Having just turned 29, Babita speaks less of isolated personal triumph and more of an urgent communal continuity. Having fiercely defended her career by rejecting suitors who demanded she quit, she eventually found a partner who champions her ambition. “My husband and his family were very supportive and they liked that I wasn’t just sitting at home,” she says.
Moving forward, her focus remains fixed on the horizon and the women standing behind her. “I want to teach people how to fly a drone because it’s better for their income,” she concludes.
From Fields to Flight is streaming on YouTube.
(Anoushka Kundu is an intern with Indulge, Bengaluru)
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