Media Release
Udupi, Sep 29: ‘Save soil’, an initiative by Sadhguru, founder of Isha foundation, has inspired many, young and old alike. Across the globe Isha volunteers are spreading Sadhguru’s message of "Save Soil." Sahil Jha, a 17-year-young boy, a native of Bihar, has undertaken lone cycle ride to spread this awareness among the people. Starting his journey from Kolkata, and covering a distance 2500 km over a period of 4.5 months, Jha was in Udupi for a few days.
In this period, on September 18, he visited Manipal Institute of Technology. He was welcomed by Dr (Cdr) Anil Rana, director, Dr Somashekar Bhat, joint director, Dr Nagaraj Katagi, associate director (student welfare), Ashok Rao and Rathnakar Samanth, security officers, faculty, students and Isha volunteers. As a gesture of his visit, he planted a sapling. Followed by this, Jha addressed the gathering and shared his experience from the day he left his home. His journey will continue across India finally to reach back to Kolkata in estimated 18-month time.
The event was coordinated by Dr Chandrakantha Bekal, associate professor, Dr Ravindra Mallya, assistant professor-senior scale, Department of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering, Mangala K, junior research fellow, Priyanshu Gupta, president, Student Council and Isha volunteers.
‘Save soil’ is a campaign initiated by Sadhguru, to spread the importance of organic rich soil for current and future generation. The organic contents of the soil have drastically come down over the years due to excessive usage of chemical contents in farming. Lakhs of farmers have suffered from non-fertility of soil. To bring back the organic contents of soils, there has to be drastic change in policies of government towards farming. Farmers needs to be given incentive for improving the organic contents of top soil. For this to happen government needs to be influenced by people’s voice. Sadhguru, undertook 100 day motorcycle ride starting from London, covering majority of nations across Europe, Middle East Countries and finally all across India. Journey finally concluded in Coimbatore, covering a total of 30,000 km. His journey was to sensitize various government heads, influential people in power to take this issue seriously and to bring about the policy change for improving soil health.