HYDERABAD: When Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Save Soil global awareness campaign reached Hyderabad on Wednesday, the chief guest for the event, MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao was conspicuous by his absence.
The 100-day campaign, since its inception in March 2022, has found support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Yogi Adityanath, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupendra Patel and Uddhav Thackeray respectively.
In fact, when Ministers from these States met the spiritual guru of the Coimbatore-based Isha Foundation, they signed an MoU assuring commitment by the government to save soil and assurance to the people that all necessary steps would be taken towards soil regeneration in their respective States.
Vasudev had called upon the governments and people to join the campaign to protect agricultural lands so that soil could be saved for future generations.
However, Rama Rao’s absence was clearly felt by the thousands of people who had seen posters that he would be the chief guest at the event. The response from the crowd to Vasudev at GMC Balayogi Sports Complex, Gachibowli was overwhelming.
“So far, 74 nations have pledged their support to the ‘Save Soil’ movement. The remaining nations are studying the implementation and budget involved. Ideally, the goal is to do this process in six to eight years for better results. If we want to do it in one to two years, then it will cost more; an incentive-based policy should be formed,” Vasudev said.
“Isha Foundation is forming a 25-member high-level committee for handholding nations that do not have such facilities,” he said during a press conference, followed by a conversation with actress Samantha.