Kankavali, Sindhudurg, December 07, 2024: On the World Soil Day this year, Maati Nature Resort, Sindhudurg’s leading ecological and soil-centric tourism destination, has commenced a national-level campaign #SoilOurPride to build consensus and awareness around preservation, protection and nurturing of soil in all forms and establishing the connect of urban and semi-urban citizens with the soil.

To being with, the initiative will aim at planting at least one lakh trees by creating #SoilfulMinds in the next five years by generating interests at the grassroots level and uniting civilians to take up the cause.

Maati Nature Resort has planned this initiative in response to a clarion call given by the Prime Minister to preserve and nurture the country’s ‘Soil’ and to observe ‘Panch Pran’ and ‘Saptarishi’ as part of India’s Amrit Kaal’ where ‘Green Growth’ is one of the objectives. Accordingly, it has charted out a well-elaborated, long-term and sustainable programme to contribute to the Prime Minister’s mission to nurture and work for the soil thereby uniting various stakeholders including a large mass of citizens for the noble cause.

In a unique initiative of #SoilOurPride, Maati Nature Resort has broadened the footprint of ‘Panch Pran’, as envisaged by the Prime Minister for Amrit Kaal, into an action plan of ‘Panch Sutra’ (five principles), which will unleash and focus on various attributes of Soil, viz. Soil for Ecology, Soil for Entrepreneurship, Soil for Health, Soil for Culture and Soil for Community Development.

Maati Nature Resort’s #SoilOurPride programme has aimed to create One Lakh ‘Soilful Minds’ who will take a pledge and accordingly act to ‘Preserve, Nurture and Nourish’ the spirit of their own soil by committing to certain causes.

On the occasion of the ‘World Soil Day’, beginning with the first objective of ‘Soil for Ecology’, Maati Nature Resort collected well-nourished soil from its own campus and from the surroundings to plant 1000 saplings and distributed then to the citizens. All the visitors to the Resort were presented with the tree saplings and bags of soil by administering a pledge ‘Save Our Soil, Love Our Soil’ to preserve, nurture and protect the soil and ecology by planting the tree.

Prafull Sawant, Founder and Director of Maati Nature Resort said, “Inspired by the Prime Minister’s vision about Panch Pran and Saptrishi, we have commenced this national-level initiative to integrate urban and semi-urban civilians and other stakeholders to work for various causes related to soil from ecological, entrepreneurial, health, cultural and overall community development standpoints.”

He added, “The ‘Soil for Ecology’ will further aim at nourishing the health of soil and plant at least One Lakh trees and undertake other green initiatives whereas the ‘Soil for Entrepreneurship’ will appeal urban people to explore some or other entrepreneurship or rural development opportunities in their natives or surroundings; so that they can go back to their roots and contribute for overall development of the rural India.”

The campaign will not only promote ecological programmes, but also will try to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship, health, culture and community development among the people by connecting back to the soil thereby boosting reverse migration of urban civilians for meaningful purposes to give a much-needed fillip to rural development.

Added Sawant, “We, at Maati Nature Resort, always strive to inspire people to Love Soil, Respect Soil and appeal them to come back to their own Soil by taking any initiative of entrepreneurship, cultural or community development”.

Maati Nature Resort takes up socio-cultural and community development initiatives. On 15th August 2023, as part of the Prime Minister’s ‘Meri Mati – Mera Desh‘ Abhiyaan, it celebrated the event by sending soil bags for the mission. Under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the Resort has been training the village carpenters to create their own artefacts from unused wood and earn their livelihood.