AHMEDABAD, Jul 9: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has said natural farming is a scientific experiment with numerous benefits, including higher crop yield, and cautioned that growing wheat with chemical fertilisers often leads to multiple health issues.
Shah noted that if a person consumes food that is devoid of chemicals and fertilizers, he won’t require any medications.
The senior BJP leader also said after retirement, he will dedicate rest of his life to ancient Indian scriptures Vedas, Upanishads, and also natural farming.
“I have already made the decision that whenever I will retire, I will dedicate the remainder of my life to the Vedas, Upanishads and natural farming. Natural farming is a scientific experiment with numerous benefits,” said Shah.
The Union minister made the remarks during ‘Sahkar Samvad’, an interaction with women cooperative workers of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in Ahmedabad on the occasion of International Cooperative Year.
The video and press release of the interaction, which took place in Science city of Ahmedabad during Shah’s Gujarat visit on last Saturday and Sunday, were released on Wednesday.
According to him, wheat grown using fertilizers could cause thyroid, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer.
“If you consume food that is devoid of chemicals and fertilizers, you won’t require any medications. Crop yield would also increase, which is another benefit of natural farming. My output has improved by 1.5 times after I implemented this farming technique on my own farm,” said Shah.
It may be noted that natural farming (NF) is a chemical free farming, involving livestock, integrated natural agriculture methods and diversified crop systems rooted in Indian traditional knowledge.
Addressing ‘Sahkar Samvad, Shah said the foundation stone of a cooperative university has been laid in Anand district of Gujarat and it will be named after Tribhuvandas Patel, regarded as the father of India’s cooperative movement, said a PIB release.
He urged milk producing cooperative societies to put Tribhuvandas Patel’s picture in their institutions so that people get acquainted with the personality who made women associated with the cooperative sector prosperous in Gujarat.
The original idea of preparing young professionals in the cooperative sector was of Tribhuvandas Patel and this university is being established for that purpose, Shah noted.
Shah said despite objections from opposition parties, the Centre was firm and named the university after Tribhuvandas Patel in view of his contribution to the key sector.
The Minister of Cooperation said the government is bringing a lot of changes in the dairy sector.
In the coming time, cooperative dairies will focus on the management of cow dung, health of animals and measures to increase income through cow dung, said the release.
Shah said being the Home Minister of the country is a big deal because Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel held the same position after independence, but heading the cooperation department was bigger honour for him.
“But the day I was made the Cooperation Minister, I believe that I got a bigger department than the Home Ministry. This is a ministry that works for the poor, farmers, villages and animals of the country,” said Shah during his interaction.
He informed that in the coming days, he will organize 10 such ‘chaupals’ (gatherings) in three states each and work will be done in the Cooperation Ministry on the basis of suggestions received at these events.
During ‘Sahkar Samvad’, Shah said research is going on to find out medicinal properties of camel milk.
“The Rajasthan and Gujarat governments will soon jointly launch a scheme with an aim to get higher prices for camel milk by highlighting its medicinal properties. When the rate of camel milk increases, it will eventually help in conservation of camel breeds,” Shah emphasised. (PTI)
