Pilot project on assisted forest regeneration work in Cauvery

A pilot project to develop a model of large-scale assisted forest regeneration work would be implemented in the Cauvery river basin in the next three to six months, spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has said.

The project is being taken up under the National Rally for Rivers, a campaign by Isha Foundation, a spiritual organisation founded by the Sadhguru.

"The first pilot project to develop a model of large-scale assisted forest regeneration work will be done in Cauvery river basin and subsequently in others, in the next 3 to 6 months," he told PTI.

Jaggi Vasudev, convener of the Rally for Rivers board, also said such pilot projects would be implemented in river basins in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat.

The decisions were taken by the board at a meeting held here yesterday.

The board members include Biocon Chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, former vice chairman of Tata Steel B Muthuraman and former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar.

The board would also conduct a demonstration on success of a large-scale Farmer Producers Organisations (FPOs) which are working towards achieving the Prime Minister's objective of doubling farmers' income by 2020, he said.

"We have already tasted success by setting up FPOs with 1,100 farmers, whose incomes have gone up 100 per cent in three years," the spiritual leader said.

The board also will work on active participation of private players to directly buy produce from FPOs to ensure profits to reach farmers' families, he added.

A project related to revitalisation of Waghari river is going to be implemented in Yavatamal district of Maharashtra involving 7,000 farmers, he said.

The spiritual leader claimed Rally for Rivers had become an umbrella policy for the country after Niti Aayog sent out a directive to all states to revitalise rivers.

The board is seeking CSR funds to implement RFR, he said.

On linking of rivers, he said the board has suggested to the centre to wait for some time to implement the project.

The Isha Foundation founder said rivers in southern India cannot be linked because they are tropical in nature and water evaporation rate is as high as 70 per cent.