LUCKNOW: Sadhguru’s ‘filth to wealth’ formula opens a whole new industry, promising a Clean Ganga, saving soil and putting back UP’s green cover lost over the years.
Leaders globally, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath, have supported the #savesoil movement. The next step is implementation, for which Sadhguru banks on “60% adult population” expressing their concern, thereby making governments and political parties take note and include soil ecology in their manifestos.
The government in UP though is already in sync, as it signed an MoU with Sadhguru’s Isha Outreach on Tuesday to work jointly for saving soil.
UP, Sadhguru points out, is a large agricultural state with a major share of the Ganga basin.
“The tragedy is that in the last 70 years we have removed 92% green cover. This can lead to the depletion of the river itself,” he says.
“We are busy cleaning Ganga, which is important. A lot has been done in last 3 years in terms of effluents flowing into the Ganga. But the idea that we must clean Ganga must go,” he maintains. The problem, he says, is cities were built haphazardly over many centuries and the sewage enters in a thousand different places. “Getting all that organized into one place where you could treat it is complicated,” he says.
“But, for the industry it’s much simpler because industrial effluents can be easily controlled,” he says, adding that it’s important that we shift to a ‘filth to wealth’ model.
“The polluting industries should not treat pollutants. There must be a treatment industry. If your pollution is my business, I will ensure it does not go into the river straight,” he maintains, stressing on an economic model instead of an enforcement model.
Also, “putting back trees, not in the form of afforestation, but in the form of tree-based agriculture is the future”, he suggests, adding that it will not only take care of the water requirement but will also ensure the soil organic content is enhanced.
“In summers if we have cover cropping that itself will put about 2 inches of humus on a yearly basis, which could get most lands to 3% plus more organic content in 6-8 years,” says Sadhguru.
