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Guj Governor, an advocate of organic farming

Indian economy is one of the fastest growing economies among the developing countries in the world. Agricultural is the major source of livelihoods, particularly in rural areas, where 55% of people are living.

Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat has successfully popularised and launched organic farming in the State of Haryana and has motivated over 50,000 farmers to adopt organic technique.

As a Governor, he is associated with this innovative idea of the Zero Budget Natural Farming project with the motive that farmers of the State can adopt organic farming. In Gujarat State too, he has already implemented his dream project of organic farming.

Farmers should now switch to organic farming and its ways from conventional method of farming. Many farmers are apprehensive about adopting organic farming due to the high production cost and the three-year transition period when farmers have to wait before getting their farms certified.

There are who are talking on yield drop by 30% with organic cultivation but when we compare this with chemical inputs technology investments, the resulting benefits from organic technology is superior.

Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity.

One thing is clear that there is low awareness at the producer level on the difference between conventional farming and organic farming. At the consumer level there is confusion between natural and organic products and limited understanding of the health benefits of organic food products.

The increasing number of suicides by farmers is due to their dependency on fertilizers, which take away a huge portion of their earnings, rendering them indebted to moneylenders.

Organic agriculture is the best insurance policy that India can have for its population with better performance on productivity, environmental impact, economic viability and social well-being.

Training, camps and awareness at the grassroots level is a must. Organic farming is beneficial but calls for a planned strategy. We must remember that organic produce can usually qualify for higher prices than non-organic products.

With the increase in population our compulsion would be not only to stabilise agricultural production but to increase it further in sustainable manner.

Don't we think it is time to look at the health benefits of organic produce?

Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Need to improve mental health

On October 10 the World Mental Health Day is observed annually. The theme for this year was "Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World."

World Mental Health Day is supported by WHO through raising awareness on mental health issues using its strong relationships with the ministries of civil society organisations across the globe.

In a world where everyone is living a fast pace life and for many people the survival is also difficult, one should learn how to live a happy life and contribute to a healthy society and develop a positive attitude towards everyone and everything .

Hopefully, many people would be positively influenced by the initiative.

Rudrani Joshi, Ujjain

A customer friendly move from RJio

Asking its customers to pay the six-paise per minute interconnect usage charge (IUC) for calls they make to other networks like Bharti Airtel or Vodafone Idea, is a win-win for RJio.

If the customers are upset about paying 18 paise for every three-minute call they make and can pressure the telecom regulator (TRAI) to scrap the IUC, RJio benefits as its customers make around twice as many calls as they receive from other networks.

Since its launch in September 2016, RJio has paid other mobile phone firms Rs 13,500 crore as IUC charges. If, on the other hand, TRAI doesn't scrap the IUC — as per its original plan, this was to be done by January 1, 2020 — RJio will get a 10-12 percent increase over what the subscribers pay it right now, and that will help improve its profitability considerably.

And, since RJio has said it will compensate its customers for this IUC-charge by giving them extra data on their current plans, this ensures its customer-friendly image doesn't suffer. Other companies should have emulated it.

Nayan Sikarwar, Hyderabad