Union Minister Nitin Gadkari once again came up with his self-claimed brilliant idea of using 'urine' as an organic fertiliser. Earlier in May 2015 while addressing a gathering in Nagpur, the leader had said that he had been using urine 'therapy' for the plants at his Delhi residence. The minister had then said, "Daily, I collect urine in a 50-litre can. It is then used for the plants in my New Delhi residence", adding that plants which received the 'therapy' showed better growth as compared to those which were nourished using 'plain water'. Stating the presence of nitrogen compounds in urine, the concept could emerge as a cheap alternative to fertilisers. In a recent report in Times Of India, the union minister has suggested the set-up of urine banks in every tehsil/taluka in order to reduce the import of urea and provide farmers an alternative to chemical fertilisers. He said that he along with some Swedish scientists have already started working towards this idea. "Human urine contains a lot of nitrogen. But this is wasted. Since converting waste into wealth is my passion, I feel there is no harm in trying the idea. We already have organic substitutes for phosphorous and potassium. If we could add nitrogen, it could make an ideal plant booster," Gadkari was quoted as saying by TOI. Gadkari said farmers are expected to collect urine in 10-litre plastic cans, provided by the government, and bring it to taluka centres. An amount of Rs 1 per litre would be paid to the farmers. He added that the trial can only be done in rural areas as the urine here is not diluted with water in the toilet. In order to prevent the urine from transforming into a soluble organic fertiliser, it will first be treated to make it pure. However, the leader admitted that he is not sure about the feasibility of the project, adding that initial tests will be conducted at a laboratory in Dhapewada village, near Nagpur.
