19-05-2010 : Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil inaugurated at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, a one day Seminar on the universalisation of the environmental initiative already in practice in the President's Estate - "Roshni". The Seminar has been organized by the President's Secretariat to gain a better understanding of this green initiative, as well as to deliberate on how best to disseminate the idea beyond the confines of the President's Estate.
The Roshni initiative is an effort to help and equip the residents of the Estate to live in harmony with nature. The initiative, which was launched in 2008, comes against the background of issues concerned with climate change, with an effort to make the residents of the Estate more aware about the challenges faced and to be concerned about the degradation of the natural eco-system.
In her inaugural address, the President said the need to foster the spirit of "Roshni" is necessary, as the impact of environmental degradation is clearly apparent today, whether it is the rise in the global temperatures; haphazard weather patterns; depletion of the ozone layer; change in the sea-levels or the growing spate of natural catastrophes. The President emphasized that "With urbanization emerging as one of the most significant drivers of global environment change, for those of us living in concrete dominated city environments, we cannot afford to remain apathetic or indifferent to the mounting degradation of our natural eco-systems".
Expressing satisfaction about the "Roshni" initiative, the President said, "From a humble start, today it encompasses a shelf of 13 activities. As Roshni spread its wings, we felt the need to institutionalize Roshni as a regular environmental management system. We have in place an Environment Policy for the Estate. All activities which impact environment have been put to audit, and our environmental practices have been subjected to external validation. We crossed the first milestone in 2010 when we received the ISO 14001 certification. Carbon-emission reduction is also being monitored, and carbon footprint reduction potential is being analyzed to show the way forward".
The Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah in his address, said that Solar Energy has the potential to change lives. He highlighted his Ministry's Special Area Demonstration Project, introduced in July, 2009. Under this project, several Raj Bhavans have adopted measures for using renewable energy sources. The Minister also announced that the Green Campus Guidelines shall soon be announced by his Ministry. The Union Minister for Urban Development Shri Kamal Nath, in his remarks emphasized the fact that cities in the country will become engines of economic growth, due to which there is a need to reduce the environmental costs. There is an urgent need for sustainable urbanization, sustainable sub-urbanisation as well as planned sub-urbanisation. The Minister announced that his Ministry shall adopt 'Roshni' and integrate it with the Urban Development Ministry's Mission programme. The CM, Delhi Smt. Sheila Dixit in her remarks highlighted the many measures taken by the Government of NCT of Delhi to popularize the green concept amongst the youth population of the State. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr. D. Purandeswari was also present at the inaugural function.
About 300 participants are taking part in the Seminar. They include the Chief Minister of Delhi, as well as the Union Ministers of Environment and Forests, New and Renewable Energy and Urban Development and the Ministers of State for Human Resource Development, Housing, Poverty Alleviation and Culture.
Other important participants include the Cabinet Secretary, some members of the Planning Commission, Secretaries of the Ministries of Urban Development, New & Renewable Energy, Water Resources, and Environment and Forests, Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities, Directors of IITs and IIMs, officials from the Government of NCT of Delhi, Central Public Sector Units such as Power Trading Corporation of India Ltd., the Director General of SCOPE and private sector companies such as UNITECH, DLF, RAHEJA Developers, as well as industry associations such as FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII as well as consultants such as McKinsey & Co..
This release issued at 1220 hrs.
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