Upendra Rabha, a progressive farmer from the Rabha tribe in Assam, received the Assam Vaibhav Award in 2024, the state’s highest civilian honour. His remarkable efforts in black rice cultivation have set a benchmark in sustainable farming. Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi presented this award to Rabha, recognizing his transformative impact on Assam’s agriculture, especially his success in growing and promoting black rice as a profitable and sustainable crop. Upendra Rabha, born on January 8, 1963, in the Chatabari village of Goalpara district under Lakhipur circle, has completed his early education at Nehru Vidyapith High School and passed Matriculation in 1978.

In 2014, Rabha convinced farmers in his village to grow black rice on a larger scale, which produced more than 1200 quintals from 13.2 hectares. With the intervention of the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), he persuaded another 200 farmers to grow black rice for a wider area. In fact, this whole organized activity, with the activity of setting up the Amguripara Black Rice Production Committee, made black rice a commercially viable and sustainable alternative among farmers in Assam.

Upendra Rabha's fixation on black rice cultivation has brought about a farming revolution in Assam. From one seedling planted in 2011, he has brought the production of black rice to 500 bighas of land along with more than 200 local farmers. Initial trials received scepticism, but Rabha did not budge. Under his guidance, these farmers together produced 200 tons of black rice, which demonstrated the crop's viability and nudged others toward practicing sustainable farming.

Therefore, Upendra Rabha's mission of promoting black rice cultivation has not only limited itself within the works of his village but also visited and travelled places to reach farmers across Assam to adopt this high-nutritional-value crop. In 2011, he was part of a farmers' delegation on an agricultural exposure tour to Vietnam, organized by Assam Government. This international exposure to farming practices and techniques gave him further momentum to push agricultural improvement in the state and thus create Assam into a potential territory for black rice cultivation and economic empowerment of rural farmers.