पर्यावरण - जतन व संरक्षण

STUDENTS COMMUNITY
a) The environment is a core issue and needs to be imbibed in the minds of the people so that he action so taken remains comprehensive, remains continued and ultimately benefits the next generation to come. The experience that of Dharavi, that of Parle Market and others revealed that lot of persuasion is needed with entering efforts to pursue the local citizens and where ultimately the student community was involved at every stage.

b) All this experience has given him new ideas that if the problem of environment is to be directly handled then student community is the effective media as they are soft target. It is also a fact that this community can be easily persuaded and roped in for the environment issue and
therefore, Dalvi has taken a pragmatic decision to deal directly with student community to propagate the message on the large scale.

c) In the first phase of operation, he had selected teenage group of school going children. He went to the school, interacted with small group to carve out the strategy and methodology. Even at the first stage he got encouraging response from all barring none. Rather than discussing the issue, he preferred to have live demonstration on the floor and also held debates, competition, rallies and whatever means acceptable to them. To propagate first lesson of environment and eco-cycle, he had selected vermiculture as a core issue though students are being told in the classes about worms who are considered closest friend of the society in the nature. However, it is also true in the urban life style where students are not aware of natural eco-cycles. Many live
demonstrations and discussions were held about the vermiculture. Students realized importance of worms in the natural eco-cycle. They were also informed about the types of worms which really functions in the nature for conversion of bio-mass into manure. Lot of interest was developed in the students community about worms and vermiculture techniques which was one of the major successes.

d) Along with the first lesson of environment, he went on introducing another important concept that of segregation of garbage. He called many experts, held debates and discussions with various groups. The message was given that the environment is being damaged when the garbage is disposed off in a mixed form. But if it is separated then job of Municipal Corporation becomes more easy and economical. It was also realized that Rackpickers, a neglected part of the society could be brought in this experiment. Certainly elder minds always come out with many problems but the experience with the students was different. There was positive response from the school students as well as from the teachers and many schools have adopted the programme and assured the action. To make environmental issue live, many competitions were
arranged that of debates, that of drawings, banner paintings where many NGOs were ready to sponsor. But more striking feature was that big rallies were arranged in the locality displaying boards, carrying environmental messages requesting the society. Obviously, if one student is convinced, he can convince other 10 students, his family members, his friends and the people of the locality. Naturally students do not try to find the excuse but accept good ideas which is not true in the case of higher age groups. It was, therefore, a very good experiment with assured success. In this experiment, 200 schools with over 5 lac children participated. This programme of creating awareness towards environment has become a part of their curricular activity and is being continued even today.

e) The same message about the environment also got acknowledgement from the student community but from the colleges. He thought of coming out with new techniques with the college students. So he roped in NSS Wing at the University level. He interacted with the management of Mumbai University, that of SNDT Women’s University, well-known Social Service Organization like AGNI who has got effective manpower and other resources. He has also realized that dealing with college students is different than to deal with school going children. But on the other hand, he was also knowing that if students of the colleges are convinced then obviously society can have maximum benefits of their involvement.

f) He had persuaded the matter through NSS, AGNI and others. He received overwhelming response from 70 colleges. The striking feature was that NSS with college students participation not only received the message, but also understood the problems and accepted the challenge of propagating and perusing various issues at the ground level.

g) Depending upon the need of the society, importance of the environmental issues, NSS wing with college students have adopted the area around the colleges to make it clean, green and also to protect environment and other social issues.

h) It may also be enlightened here that protection of environment campaign at the school and college levels received tremendous response and became integral part of their curricular and social activities. Only efforts were required to divert their potential energy towards social cause. He received the success even in this field because of his consistency, because of his background, because of his selfless commitments to the society and environment.
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