Jal Shakti Ministry to promote natural farming along Yamuna

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 6

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), an agency of the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, will promote natural farming under its Namame Gange programme in areas of the state contiguous to the banks of the Yamuna, tributary of the Ganga.

This is to help rejuvenate the Ganga and its tributaries.

The director-general of the NMCG, G Asok Kumar, said a “Vishaal Kissan Sammelan” workshop, organised in Bayyanpur village in Sonepat in this respect, was a success.

The thrust of the NMCG, which has been entrusted with the exercise to keep the Ganga clean, is to promote alternate mode of farming and diversified cropping matter other than the traditional paddy and wheat plantations which consume more water.

With underground water depleting at an alarming rate in the state, diversified farming is of utmost importance to keep the Ganga and its tributaries clean.

The Yamuna flows through Haryana and is one of the main sources of irrigation waters. The river merges with the Ganga at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Hence, keeping the Yamuna clean and improvement of the ecosystem along its banks is integral to the exercise to keep the Ganga river and its basin clean.

A farm visit to Gurukul Farms in Kurukshetra was also organised, where the NMCG officials learned about various technologies being used for natural farming.