In order to boost eco-friendly alternative to chemical-based Chinese lights, the government on Sunday (October 3) launched the ‘Kamdhenu Deepawali 2021‘ campaign that will facilitate the manufacture and marketing of more than 100 crore cow-dung-based earthen lamps and Laxmi-Ganesh idols.
Former cabinet minister and former chairman of Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog, Vallabhbhai Kathiria, and Fisheries & Animal Husbandry Minister Parshottam Rupala launched the campaign during a webinar.
“Kamdhenu Deepawali is to empower cow owners with economic use of cow dung, cow urine and dairy products such as milks, curd and ghee. More than 300 items can be prepared using Panch Gavya from Cow. This includes Deepawali items such as diyas and lamps, candles, havan samagri, dhoop batti, incense sticks, hard board, wall pieces, Laxmi-Ganesh idols etc. made entirely of cow dung,” a release from the Animal Husbandry Department said.
“Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog provided training along with many volunteer organizations across India. This gave rise to large number of cow dung based start-ups. This time the campaign is committed to take the initiative to higher levels. Cow entrepreneurs across India will get benefitted by this campaign. This eco-friendly campaign will also help Gaushalas to become self-sustainable. This will empower Prime Minister’s vision of ‘StartUp India’, ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ too.
Kathiria said, “We have generated interest of farmers, unemployed, Self Help Groups, youth and women entrepreneurs in cow dung based Start Ups through various national campaigns. Result is visible through so many Start-Ups of Panchgavya products today.”
Neeraj Chowdhary a young entrepreneur from Uttarakhand demonstrated during the webinar how to make cow dung-based lamps and Laxmi-Ganesh idols within a minute and exhibited a wide range of cow dung-based products and also talked about the training program that his organization is providing for cow dung-based products.
Rupala informed that he is planning to promote cow-dung-made logs in place of wooden logs during cremation and said the Ministry is working on adding cows in every Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) across India and making them demonstration units as well as a training centres for cow entrepreneurship.
Rupala also suggested, “The way we promote Khadi products around Gandhi Jayanti, in same way we should come up with a designated days around Deepawali when all should be encouraged to buy Gomaya products across India.”
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