National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Sahakar Bharati organised ‘Vishaal Kisan Sammelan’ workshop on 4^th October 2022 in Bayanpur village, Sonipat, Haryana as part of the targeted campaign under Namami Gange Programme and Arth Ganga to promote Natural Farming amongst the farmers in the Ganga Basin. More than 200 farmers took part in the workshop presided over by Director General, NMCG Shri G. Asok Kumar. Representatives from Sahakar Bharati, State and District Level officials and NMCG officials also took part in the event.

DG, NMCG participated in a plantation activity organised during the workshop and visited a stall of local organic products put up by the local people of Bainyapur Lehrada Village on main Rohtak Road to showcase the importance of ‘Natural Farming’. A farm visit to Gurukul Farms in Kurukshetra was also organised where NMCG officials learned about the various technologies being used for Natural Farming. 

This is the third interaction with farmers in the Ganga Basin in the past few weeks including workshops in Shirdi, Maharashtra and Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh on 19^th August and 5^th September 2022 respectively. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between NMCG and Sahakar Bharation 16^th August 2022 in the presence of the Hon. Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to achieve the vision of a sustainable and viable economic development by public participation, creation and strengthening of local cooperatives towards realizing the mandate of Arth Ganga, that aims to link people with the river through a “bridge of economics”. Some of the major objectives the MoU envisages include identification of 75 villages in five states on the main stem to be designated as ‘Sahakar Ganga Grams’, promote natural farming among the farmers, FPOs and Cooperatives in States along Ganga and generate ‘More net-Income Per Drop’, facilitate marketing of natural farming/organic produce under brand Ganga through creation of market linkages, promote people-river connect through economic bridge etc.

Addressing the gathering, DG, NMCG, Shri G. Asok Kumar gave an overview of the emerging water scarcity, especially groundwater, in the country and emphasized on Natural Farming, espoused by the Hon. Prime Minister during the first meeting of Arth Ganga in Kanpur in 2019, as a remedy to address the issues of water scarcity and water contamination, eventually contributing to rejuvenation of Ganga and its tributaries.

“In order to ensure food security in India, a Green Revolution was witnessed in the 1960s in which farmers were the most important contributors and the country is indebted to the farmers, especially from Haryana and Punjab, for ensuring we are all well-fed,” Shri Kumar said, adding, “However, despite opposition, the use of tube wells and bore wells also increased around that time and groundwater extraction was preferred over canal irrigation due to various reasons.” Shri Kumar added that the extraction of groundwater and extensive use of technology and pesticides resulted in water scarcity and contamination and most importantly, we lost touch with nature. “The friendly bacteria have vanished, so have the earthworms and soil quality is deteriorating due to use of pesticides giving way to various diseases,” he said, adding, “In view of this, the Hon. Prime Minister, has been emphasizing on shifting to Natural Farming and depend on the wisdom of our ancestor for water management and food cultivation.”

Shri Kumar gave an overview of the Namami Gange Programme espoused by the Hon. Prime Minister in 2014 with a budget outlay of Rs. 20000 crores. He informed the gathering about the positive impact Namami Gange has brought about in water quality of River Ganga and the thriving biodiversity is a testament to the Nirmalta and Aviralta of River Ganga. Explaining the Arth Ganga concept, Shri Kumar said that Natural Farming is one of the most important components of Arth Gang and, therefore, NMCG has joined hands with Sahakar Bharati to interact and promote ‘Natural Farming’ amongst the farmers in the Ganga Basin and hold training programmes on how to get ‘More Net-income Per Drop’ through ‘Natural Farming’.

Talking about some novel initiatives undertaken by National Water Mission during his tenure as the Managing Director, Shri Kumar said that a meeting with 1500 farmers was organised in Kurukshetra as part of the ‘Sahi Fasal’ initiative that aimed to nudge farmers to shift to maize cultivation from paddy for better profit and less water usage. Another initiative was ‘Catch the Rain: Where it Falls, When it Falls’ launched by the Hon. Prime Minister on the occasion of World Water Day on 22^nd March 2021 emphasizing on the harvesting of rainwater at the very place where it falls. He added that an urgent need to shift to rainwater harvesting from conventional approach of building dams is now being felt to ensure a water-secured future for our future generations.

AS

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