In the midst of a concrete jungle, students of colleges such as Matunga’s Ruia, Bandra’s National College, and Vile Parle’s Usha Pravin Gandhi (UPG) are farming organically. On October 17, Union minister for Road and Transport, Nitin Gadkari, inaugurated an organic garden at RD & SH National College; he had suggested the idea to Principal Neha Jagtiani when she went to invite him to a function. In a small 6ft x 6ft compound bang in the middle of the campus, students now sow seeds, compost wet waste from the canteen, and nurture a vegetable garden in their free time. So far, they have sown garlic, apple mint, purple radish, basil, herbs and different types of lettuce. “We recycle old car tyres into planters, and place them at different places across the campus. Now we are waiting to get a bigger space to expand our harvest,” said Mona Kejariwal, head of Botany department of National College.

“Most of us were not interested in organic farming,” said Zoya Ansari, who is in the first year of the degree course in Botany. “It seemed like another boring activity, but we had to do it as a project. Then we understood the nitty gritties, and it became interesting to care for a plant and watch it grow.”