Govt partners with Art of Living to rejuvenate water sources

The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department on Thursday inked an agreement with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar-led Art of Living to rejuvenate water sources and improve groundwater recharge in nine districts.

RDPR Minister K S Eshwarappa held talks with Ravi Shankar on the project. The partnership seeks to take up works through funds available under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The project proposes to take up works in Shivamogga, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Chitradurga, Ballari, Kolar, Yadgir, Kodagu and Tumakuru districts. Under MGNREGA, works such as construction of check dams, construction of contours, bunds, and so on, will be commissioned.

The government hopes to recreate what the Art of Living’s water experts managed to do in the drought-hit Maharashtra, where 40 river sources were developed, which is said to have improved groundwater. Eshwarappa also discussed with experts the possibility of using satellite imagery to identify water sources that can be rejuvenated.

KFD

Shivamogga District In-charge Minister K S Eshwarappa on Thursday directed officials to start molecular-level research into the Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), or monkey fever, within the next six months after getting the nod from the Indian Council for Medical Research.

This was decided at a meeting Eshwarappa chaired. Already, the Health department and the IISc are jointly working on this, the minister noted. The National Institute of Virology in Pune is already working on a cure for KFD.