Taking a cue from the Union budget proposal of starting chemical-free farming along the Ganga, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to carry out organic farming along the Narmada river, which is considered as the lifeline of the state, an official said on Thursday.
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The decision was taken at a meeting of ministers and top bureaucrats chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday, he said.
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“A special campaign should be launched to develop natural farming on a 5-km stretch on both sides of Narmada river," the chief minister said in the meeting. Chouhan also urged ministers who farm to switch to organic farming on their land, the official said.
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The state government's decision has come a day after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech said that chemical-free farming will be promoted throughout the country, starting with fields within a 5-km wide corridor along the Ganga.?
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Narmada, the fifth-longest river in the country, originates from Amarkantak in the Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh and traverses 1,077 km of the state.

With PTI inputs.