An interfaith pact was signed by Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche and Chidanand Saraswati before the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Satyapal Singh at Rishikesh on Monday.
The agreement, which will bring together interfaith forces to inspire and lead programmes in indigenous herbal cultivation, water saving agriculture and tree plantations, was signed by Rinpoche, the 37th throne holder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and Chidanand Saraswati the president of Parmarth Niketan and founder of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA).
Recently, the State of Uttarakhand signalled its intentions to become completely organic, which will help to protect water resources, improve soil and improve family incomes in the mountain state. The pact will pay special attention to propagating indigenous medicinal herbs, trees and crops that can help benefit the health and well-being of people across Uttarakhand and around the world through the Go Green Go Organic Movement and GIWA’s Ganga River Institute for Sustainable Development.
Saraswati said, “On this eve of World Environment Day, let us all come together and stay together so that our rivers may run clean and our soils may nourish countless future generations with life-sustaining bounties. The answer for a healthier world is to go green and go organic. When we sign this memorandum of understanding today it is a signature for Nature and a commitment to work together for our future.”
Eco-friendly crematoriums, which use about 60 per cent less wood than traditional cremations, while still enabling families to conduct full rituals were also discussed on the occasion. The ashes can be planted with new tree saplings, to enable lasting, living tributes to loved ones. Another technology for eco-friendly crematorium technology that uses no wood at all but uses cow dung instead- the Vasudha technology, coming up as a pilot plan in Varanasi was also discussed.