In order to promote the zero budget natural farming in the country, Governor Acharya Devvrat will play an important role and he will work as a coordinator and prepare the framework for making this model feasible. In view of his deep knowledge and vast experience in the field of natural farming, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave him responsibility to lead the Governors in the dissemination and expansion of natural farming.Acharya Devvrat attended the two-day 49th Governor's Conference held in the Rashtrapati Bhawan at New Delhi, where he discussed in detail about the implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the State, quality education at university level, skill development, internal security, new initiatives through Raj Bhavan and other important issues of social concerns.In his address, the Governor said that Himachal was seriously working on the Prime Minister's resolve to double the income of the farmers by the year 2022.The Governor said that he has written a book titled "Zero Budget Natural Farming", which is being distributed free of cost to the farmers of the state. He also presented this book to the President and all the Governors and Lt. Governors on the occasion.He said that natural farming departments have been set up separately in the Agricultural and Horticultural Universities in the State and instructions have been given to Ph.D. students to work with the farmers in field and share their research work with them.He said that the state government has taken the modality of ZBNF seriously and had made the provision of Rs. 25 crores in this regard for this financial year. He added that the State Government has started an ambitious scheme 'Prakritik Kheti, Khushhal Kisan', based on natural farming.
Under the scheme, farmers' training camps have been organized in Kangra, Mandi and Solan districts and more such camps were being organized in the State.Acharya Devvrat said that during last two and half years as Governor of Himachal Pradesh, he worked on six major issues including cleanliness, water and environment conservation, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign, drug de-addiction, zero budget natural farming, indigenous cow breeding and social harmony programmes and by involving every section of the society with these programmes.To promote tourism in Himachal, cleanliness campaign had been speeded up besides undertaking plantation drive by involving students and NGOs. A strategy had been prepared for formation of check-dams at a comprehensive level to revive the water resources by running 'Water Conservation Literacy Campaign', said the Governor.He said that ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign had resulted in improving in the girl child sex ratio and it was a matter of pride that the girls of Himachal Pradesh had been excelling in every field. Various initiatives had been undertaken to safeguard the students from drugs and intoxicants de-addiction center was being set up in Shimla.He urged to expedite the work of strategically important first major rail project Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri broad gauge railway route upto to Leh, acceptance of major projects related to rail and road and to restore the grant given to the freight rate to nearest railway station.The Governor also briefed out various initiatives taken by the Raj Bhawan including water harvesting, solar energy, solid and liquid waste management, plantation, energy conservation etc.