India, Feb. 5 -- January 2, 2026, was a special day for Mukesh Kumar Gurjar. On this day, he, along with about 800 members of his village panchayat, pledged to abstain from using chemical fertilisers and pesticides like urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) in the future. Currently, his two-acre wheat crop is standing, and for the first time, he has not used chemical fertilisers. He admitted that this year's wheat crop was poor due to his lack of fertiliser use. Yet he does not regret his decision. Gurjar is confident that production will return to normal in the next two years.

Gurjar lives in Nangalheri, a village of about 1,000 people, in the Kotputli-Behror district of eastern Rajasthan. The entire village's economy depends on agricultu...