Dehradun, May 5 -- We, the Citizens

There is a job in Uttarakhand's Cabinet awaiting a Minister.

Ganesh Joshi is our Minister of Agriculture but we are not an agricultural state, and are becoming even less so, thanks to continued migrations from our border villages. But this Ghost Village phenomena can still be reversed if we created a Ministry of Food Cultivation. And then put the right man on the job.

Cultivation is a multi-faceted word. It has elements of Discovery, Adoption and Enhancement. We cannot match Punjab as a successful bulk producer of grain. But then Punjab cannot match us in our incredible environmental diversity. We have visited a Tharu village in the humid Terai, and heard the strange tales of their legendary origin. ...