Tara Kurkute admires the freshly picked jasmine buds in her hands, exclaiming, “Kitti sundar dista” (How beautiful they look). Her fifty-five-year-old neighbour, Venubai Pandurang Gavit, proudly displays her collection of mogra flowers.

The Kurkute family begins their day at 4 a.m. Mahendra (30), along with his parents, Tara (55) and Krishna (60), heads out with battery-powered torches to their jasmine fields at the foothills of Mahuli in the Sahyadri range. They carefully pluck the greenish-white buds and place them in cloth bags over their shoulders.

Later in the day, traders arrive to weigh and collect the flowers, which are then transported to markets in Kalyan and Dadar. Every fortnight, payments are made in cash, providing a steady income for families like the Kurkutes.

For the tribal communities of Shahpur in Maharashtra, jasmine cultivation has transformed their lives, making them more prosperous and beautiful, just like the flowers.

Jasmine has brought hope and stability

Not long ago, the life of these tribal communities was far from beautiful. For generations, the Katkari and Kokani tribes have struggled with poverty, landlessness, and seasonal migration in search of menial work. But today, the delicate fragrance of jasmine has brought hope, stability, and prosperity to their lives.

The Kurkutes, like the other tribal families in Shahpur, once relied solely on rain-fed agriculture, growing a single paddy crop during the Kharif season. With no irrigation access, despite living near the Tansa dam, whose water flows to Mumbai, they faced constant uncertainty. Land ownership was a distant dream, and without irrigation,

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