The village adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi district is anxiously hoping for a “miracle” to happen. It has planted 75 saplings of a Kashmiri apple variant that were distributed by a non-profit linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with the assurance that the plants can grow in the village's hot weather. For the villagers, a long wait has begun now.
Jayapur’s sarpanch Durgavati Devi and her brother-in-law Narayan Patel, who deliberates on her behalf, have distanced themselves from the new cultivation. “What’s the point in getting involved in this apple drama when you know that in just a few months everything will be exposed?” asked Patel.
The drama has the support of a village level non-profit, Samagra Gram Vikas Samiti, that is affiliated to the RSS. The Samiti distributed the saplings among a section of the farmers early this month and is adamant that the trees will bear fruit in three years.
“It was at the behest of Modiji that free apple saplings were arranged for this village,” said Arvind Kumar Singh, a local who is a district-level leader of the RSS as well as the convener of the SGVS. “I have no doubt that few years later the village will be producing apples on a large scale.”
The saplings were supplied for free distribution by Ahmedabad-based National Innovation Foundation India, an autonomous body under the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology. The foundation’s innovative officer, Hardev Choudhary, told Scroll that the saplings belong to a new variety of apple, called HRMN-99, that was developed by a Himachal Pradesh-based innovator, Hariman Sharma.
“We came to know about this new variety of apple in January last year when Sharma visited Ahmedabad to take part in Vibrant Gujarat,” Choudhary said. “This variety of apple is meant for arid and semi-arid conditions and can be cultivated even in those areas where summer temperature reaches up to 48 degree Celsius. At the moment, it is a trial but if we succeed in the climatic condition of Varanasi, more apple trees will be planted in the region.”
Varanasi’s District Horticulture Officer Dr Jyoti Kumar Singh, however, foresees little chance of apple cultivation taking root in the hot weather of Jayapur.
“Let’s see what comes out from these saplings,” said Singh. “Apple is cultivated in cold region. Chilling treatment is a must for this fruit’s cultivation. Though experiments are being made to grow it in the plains, I am yet to see any field-level success in this research. It is good if the village that the prime minister has adopted does this miracle.”
A two-page leaflet distributed to Jayapur’s farmers by the National Innovation Foundation explains how to plant the saplings and to look after them. Though no sapling has grown leaves so far, they have already caused a wedge in the village.
One section of the residents is driven by an unshakeable belief that achhe din would begin for them if the experiment succeeds. The other, including those who did not get the saplings, finds the whole exercise funny and baffling.
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Jayapur’s sarpanch Durgavati Devi and her brother-in-law Narayan Patel, who deliberates on her behalf, have distanced themselves from the new cultivation. “What’s the point in getting involved in this apple drama when you know that in just a few months everything will be exposed?” asked Patel.
The drama has the support of a village level non-profit, Samagra Gram Vikas Samiti, that is affiliated to the RSS. The Samiti distributed the saplings among a section of the farmers early this month and is adamant that the trees will bear fruit in three years.
“It was at the behest of Modiji that free apple saplings were arranged for this village,” said Arvind Kumar Singh, a local who is a district-level leader of the RSS as well as the convener of the SGVS. “I have no doubt that few years later the village will be producing apples on a large scale.”
The saplings were supplied for free distribution by Ahmedabad-based National Innovation Foundation India, an autonomous body under the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology. The foundation’s innovative officer, Hardev Choudhary, told Scroll that the saplings belong to a new variety of apple, called HRMN-99, that was developed by a Himachal Pradesh-based innovator, Hariman Sharma.
“We came to know about this new variety of apple in January last year when Sharma visited Ahmedabad to take part in Vibrant Gujarat,” Choudhary said. “This variety of apple is meant for arid and semi-arid conditions and can be cultivated even in those areas where summer temperature reaches up to 48 degree Celsius. At the moment, it is a trial but if we succeed in the climatic condition of Varanasi, more apple trees will be planted in the region.”
Varanasi’s District Horticulture Officer Dr Jyoti Kumar Singh, however, foresees little chance of apple cultivation taking root in the hot weather of Jayapur.
“Let’s see what comes out from these saplings,” said Singh. “Apple is cultivated in cold region. Chilling treatment is a must for this fruit’s cultivation. Though experiments are being made to grow it in the plains, I am yet to see any field-level success in this research. It is good if the village that the prime minister has adopted does this miracle.”
A two-page leaflet distributed to Jayapur’s farmers by the National Innovation Foundation explains how to plant the saplings and to look after them. Though no sapling has grown leaves so far, they have already caused a wedge in the village.
One section of the residents is driven by an unshakeable belief that achhe din would begin for them if the experiment succeeds. The other, including those who did not get the saplings, finds the whole exercise funny and baffling.