Tirupati: UP youth on cycling journey to ‘Save the Soil’

Tirupati: Mohit Niranjan from Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh took up cycling all across the country with the motto of uniting people to save the soil. He started his journey on November 16, 2022 from Lalitpur and so far covered 5,070 km in five states while his intention was to go around all the states covering 30,000 km before March 2025. He spoke to The Hans India when his cycle yatra reached Tirupati on Tuesday.

Explaining the motto behind his long journey, Mohit said that he has been covering 60-80 km daily and meeting people from various sections to take his slogan forward. Brought up in a farmers’ family in which his father is a farmer while mother an Asha worker, he came across the struggle of his father in farming from childhood. Moved by it, Mohit who completed his BA English honours wanted to do something for the farmers’ sake.

He was inspired by Sadhguru of Isha Foundation who undertook a 100-day ‘Save Soil’ journey in March 2022 across 27 nations covering 30,000 km to raise awareness about soil degradation and advocate for bringing organic matter back to agricultural processes. Subsequently, he planned to take up a similar journey in India with the same objective. Isha volunteers were supporting him wherever he goes on his journey and looking after his needs.

“I am also doing programmes in schools and colleges, meeting the elite, government officials, politicians and collaborating with NGOs, Rotary and Lions clubs to do whatever possible to reach as many people as we can. If we do not save our soil, farmers turn towards forests and cut them down, leading to climate change which will prompt people to migrate to big cities and in the end human beings will go extinct”, he opined.