The Government of India released the list of people to be awarded the civilian honour Padma Shri. The name of farmer Sundaram Verma, a resident of the Sikar district of Rajasthan was also on this list. There was a wave of happiness among the farmers due to the news of giving the Padma Shri award to a farmer resident of Dantaramgarh village of Sikar.
Sundaram has been selected for the Padma Award for his work on low water farming techniques. He made agriculture his profession by refusing a government job, despite being selected in the government service three times, not once or twice. After the announcement of his name for the Padma Shri award, Sundaram Verma told that after doing B.Sc in the year 1972, he was selected three times for the post of a science teacher.
He told that despite being selected for a government job, he rejected it and adopted agriculture. Sundaram showed that by adopting the dry forestry method in the field of agriculture, how farming can be done by consuming less water. Good production can be done. He became a source of inspiration for the farmers of the region within a short span of time.
Where plants are to be planted, within a week of the first monsoon rains, ploughing should be done to a depth of 20-25 cm in such a way that all the weeds are destroyed. Capillaries on the upper surface of the ground should break. By doing this, the rainwater in the monsoon gets absorbed by the ground.
If the monsoon is nearing the end, that is, in late August or early September, once again similar deep ploughing is done. Due to this, the capillaries in the upper layer of the earth are broken up to a depth of 20-25 cm, but the capillaries below 20-25 cm remain operational. Due to this the water coming out stops there.
Sundaram is also called the indigenous agricultural scientist of Rajasthan. The last 25 years have been engaged in simplifying agricultural work and innovating farming. He also created the ideal crop rotation, in which seven crops can be obtained in three years. The farmer can get a profit of one lakh rupees in one hectare.
Sundaram was honoured by the state government for this and his achievement was appreciated in foreign countries as well. The state government honoured him with the 'Van Pandit' award. Apart from this, Sundaram was awarded the 'Agro Biodiversity Award' in Canada in the year 1997. He got national recognition in the year 1998 when he was awarded the Jagjivan Ram Kisan Award.
Sundaram has been given this honour for developing tree plantation techniques from one litre of water. He collected and conserved 20 lakh litres of rainwater and more than 700 species of 15 crops in one hectare of land. Apart from this, the compilation of techniques related to the land is also in the list of achievements of Sundaram.
