SPEECH BY HER EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SHRIMATI PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL AT THE SEMINAR ON 'UNIVERSALISATION OF ROSHNI'

Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, 19th May 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to join this distinguished gathering of eminent political leaders; heads of academic institutions; environmental experts; captains of business and industry; partner institutions of Roshni; administrators and defence personnel and extend a warm welcome to all. The purpose of our assembling here today is not only to gain a better understanding of the Roshni initiative, but also to deliberate on how best to disseminate this idea beyond the precincts of Rashtrapati Bhavan. To my mind, the spirit which animates Roshni is so simple and elementary, that the universalisation of this idea should not be fraught with any contention or difficulty.

What the Roshni initiative strives to achieve, is to equip us better to brave the challenges of living in harmony with nature. This is a precept which is indeed dear to the hearts and mind of humanity including our children. Wherever I have seen paintings made by children, whether in India or abroad, the dominant theme of their drawing strokes, add up to a distinctly clear image of vibrant green trees; clear skies; flowing rivers and co-existence of animal and human life. It depicts the communion of man with cosmic nature, and this is what exactly resonates the essence of Roshni - the nurturing of a healthy environment around us.

The need to foster this spirit has arisen as the impact of environmental degradation is clearly apparent, whether it is the rise in global temperatures; haphazard weather patterns; depletion of the ozone layer; change in sea-levels or the growing spate of natural catastrophes. 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.

In today's world, with cities being engines of economic growth, the phenomenon of urbanization has come to stay. The need of the moment is to evolve a comprehensive, integrated and cost effective strategy of management of urbanization. Roshni symbolizes a step in that direction. It seeks to engender a mindset, wherein we all contribute to put in place an ecologically sustainable green habitat; wherein all stakeholders enjoy unencumbered access to urban services; wherein overall developmental imperatives are attained in harmony with the tenets of inclusiveness and equity and wherein, men and women alike, receive adequate opportunity to qualitatively improve their lives and enhance their social worth.

With more than six billion people depending on the resources of the Earth, we must remain ever-vigilant, that we are drawing from finite reserves. The toll will rise higher with each new generation. For the sake of our coming generations, we have to work harder to leave behind a legacy of a cleaner, greener environmental landscape.

As protection of the environment knows no boundaries, we must assume at the earliest, the responsibility to improve our local environment. Nestled amidst green surroundings with rich bio-diversity, the President's Estate enjoys an unusual blessing. We soon realized that the well-being of our residents is closely linked with this wonderful gift of nature, and that we must necessarily conserve this living natural heritage. And that marked the genesis of Roshni in 2008. I am happy that it has generated exemplary awareness, enthusiasm and involvement amongst our inhabitants to manage the local environs responsibly. The time and energy devoted by them in ensuring the success of Roshni is commendable. It demonstrates volunteerism at its best, and I congratulate them for their hard work and dedication in embellishing the Estate with the radiant glow of Roshni.

It also goes to prove that each one of us realizes that we have the potential to make a difference in our community, and to our environment. People do care about the planet they live on, and are willing to step out of their comfort zones to act as trustees of this planet, and create a sustainable habitat with all its mystery and its wonder. What is needed is to show them the way, and inspire them with confidence that they can do it.

Roshni has sought to transform this Estate into a green, eco-friendly place, energy-efficient and a zero waste model township. From a humble start, today it encompasses a shelf of 13 activities, which I understand would be elaborately discussed. 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.

We have had several learning experiences, but I would like to particularly highlight two gainful insights. Firstly, we must not view environmental degradation as a problem without a solution. The creativity, ingenuity and innovation of humanity is always at hand to redress human-beings' self-created problems. We must look at the future with a hope, which rests on the confidence that our existence never poses problems that humankind cannot resolve. Secondly, we must appreciate that our human resource is our biggest strength. Our human capital if creatively galvanized with the right kind of management, and right modicum of participative decision-making, can find effective and doable solutions to the most formidable of problems.

With challenges, unexpected opportunities often come gift-wrapped. The ordinary women of our Estate by investing their capabilities as environment resource managers through the Roshni initiative, created new livelihood opportunities for themselves. The Self Help Groups managed by them have not only triggered their capacity-building abilities and economic empowerment, but also enhanced their self-esteem in society. Roshni has thus taught the lesson that in a fast-urbanising environment, by striking the right balance between environmental and developmental needs; such initiatives have the potential of becoming success stories of the inclusive growth model.

It is these learning experiences that have inspired us to meet at a common platform today, to harness our collective energy and commitment on how to replicate Roshni in each others' local context, with on-the-spot variations. The thought, policy and action embracing Roshni, must spill over our boundaries to give impetus to a collective drive to create eco-friendly sustainable urban habitats. I am told that many amongst you have already done quite a bit, and surely we will also gain from your experience.

While we discuss nature-friendly agendas to improve the external environs, I want to take advantage of the presence of heads of premier educational institutions, to digress a little and particularly emphasize the need to concurrently instill internal harmony in their sylvan surroundings. Thereby we will be nurturing not only a beautiful flower, but one with an attractive fragrance. I say this in the context of the need to create zero tolerance to the reprehensible and hideous practice of ragging. The menace of ragging, which has been vitiating the educational atmosphere, needs to be completely eliminated. I am sure you will vigourously work towards it with all sincerity.

I am confident that the distilled wisdom emerging from todays deliberations and presentations, would help in charting out a creative roadmap of how to imbibe and universalize the spirit of Roshni, and constructively further the cause of creating sustainable urban habitats.

I wish you all success in your endeavours.

Thank you.

Jai Hind!