Rs 176 cr funds for Organic Farming Trust

It is said that many of those active in the trust are closely associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha. Members of the mission decided release funds to the trust in a meeting held at Art of Living Foundation of Sri Sri Ravishankar on September 16. The meeting resolved to popularise organic farming through the trust. Surprisingly Dr A S Anand, chairman of the Mission, is also one of the founder trustees.

The State Government had decided to release Rs 176 crore, at the rate of Rs 1 crore each per taluk to promote organic farming. The Mission wishes to spend this amount through the trust. The trust was registered on January 1 this year.

As per the norms followed by the State Government, a non-government organisation would be eligible to enjoy government’s funds only three years after its registration. In addition, the organisation should have audit reports of its transactions for three years. But the mission had taken the decision to release funds to the trust ignoring these conditions.

Sources in the Mission said that the meeting decided to release Rs 1.5 lakh each to all 176 taluks in the first step. The meeting also decided to convert the trust into a federation so that Organic Farming Associations, active in all taluks, could be brought under it. It is said that once it is converted into a federation, taluk-level associations could me made member-organisations by collecting Rs 60,000 as contribution to the federation from each association.