The academic session 2020-21 was truly a unique and memorable one. For the first time in its over two decades of existence did MH Vatavaran have a session that was almost entirely online. This was due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted lives worldwide. However, we carried on with a host of activities with utmost zeal and turned the lockdown into an opportunity for a variety of green ventures.
The session started with a Webinar (via Google Meet) in collaboration with the Department of Political Science, Miranda House on 28 August 2020. The topic for the webinar was ‘The Role and Relevance of Alternative Medicine and Ayurveda in the Context of contemporary Times’. Prior to the starting of the webinar the participants were shown a short presentation on the activities of MH Vatavaran. The distinguished panellists for the webinar were Dr. Bijayalaxmi Nanda, Acting Principal of Miranda House, Professor Madhulika Banerjee, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi and Dr. Harilal Madhavan, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram. They enlightened the students on this very pertinent and contemporary topic. The webinar was followed by a word of gratitude for the esteemed panellists and for Dr. Bani Roy, a senior professor from the Department of Chemistry, Miranda House, who had served as the Convener, MH Vatavaran for many years.
On the occasion of the World Ozone Day on 16 September 2020, MH Vatavaran organised a Poster Making Competition on the theme ‘Ozone for life: 35 years of the Ozone Layer Protection’. Students participated enthusiastically; eighteen entries were received: twelve in the digital category and six in the handmade category. The winners of the competition: a tie for the first position - Akanksha Anand and Aayushi Sahay, the second prize went to Nancy Fevrier while Srishti Goyal and Omja Tiwari received Special Mention Certificates.
This event was followed by SuperheroU, a highly innovative competition organized with Globalshala wherein volunteers were required to design a superhero that could deal with the present environmental issues.
Wildlife Week was celebrated from 2 to 6 October 2020. On this occasion, the College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi collaborated with MH Vatavaran - keen volunteers from the society attended events such as ‘Fun with Fauna’, a film screening and a Group Discussion Vartalap 2.0. Apart from this collaboration, MH Vatavaran also organised a poetry writing competition in Hindi and English to commemorate the same week. The first prizes went to Anushka Tiwari and Aayusi Sahay. The second to Ojaswita Pant and Gitanjali Sharma and the third prizes went to Anushka Dayal and Raveena.
From 26 October to 1 November 2020, the society organised an ‘Upcylcing Week’ on the theme ‘Innovative Green Living’. The participants made innovative and useful things out of waste material; they made slippers, lampshades, bookmarks, calendars, folders, hairbands, woollen toys, photo frames! They shared videos of these which were posted on the society’s social media handles. This was one of the most interesting events and saw enthusiastic participation from a number of students.
On the occasion of Diwali, MH Vatavaran, in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy, Miranda House, made an awareness video reiterating the importance of adhering to the ban on fire crackers and other environmental issues.
On 25 November 2020, the new members of the society attended the orientation session and were briefed about the various activities conducted by the society – composting of biodegradable garbage and paper recycling to name two important activities being carried out in the college over the last many years and also those being conducted during this different online academic session.
Since the last few years, MH Vatavaran has been collaborating with WWF for Project ECHO (Environment Conservation Heroes). The collaboration has continued this year as well. The four -member team includes Komal, Ishika Bansal, N. Varalakshmi and Manshi Kumari. The team launched a competition named ‘Old is Gold’ with an aim to revive traditional eco-friendly recipes. Many entries have been received from participants across all age groups, pan India. The team is now in the process of popularising the recipes by posting them on the social media handle. The entries will be evaluated and the first three would be awarded certificates. All the recipes will feature in the ECHO magazine.
By the end of October, MH Vatavaran started its own blog project. Ujala Mall, the Zero Waste Project Head of MH Vatavaran and Abhina Jose, the Blogging head, have initiated this project. It aims to upload content on various locally and globally relevant environmental issues; articles related to the environment are shared and explained crisply so that the participants can benefit academically. The blog is also a platform to discuss and comment on environment-related activities. Online quizzes based on the published posts add value and quality. So far, a number of quizzes on diverse topics like waste management, flowers, composting and wetlands have been successfully conducted by Noor Mankotia, the Social Media Head of MH Vatavaran.
In January 2021, as a part of the Miranda House Freshers’ Talent Search Event, MH Vatavaran organised a video making competition on ‘Green Deeds’. It was great to see the participants involving themselves in not only simple deeds like turning off lights and faucets, refusing plastic bags but also making new things, spreading awareness, planting herbs and trees and composting.
The academic session has nearly come to an end and it was only in February that the first offline event was possible. This was a Walkathon conducted in collaboration with HPCL on 11 February 2021. Apart from student volunteers, the walk was joined by faculty members of Miranda House. The participants walked from the college campus to the HPCL Petrol Pump at Khyber Pass. The HPCL Coordinator addressed the group and talked about the importance of cleaner fuels and the other initiatives being taken by HPCL towards a clean and green environment. Realising that ‘cleaner fuels’ is a goal and that the future is electric cars, HPCL is setting up electric charging ports at their petrol pumps. Students were also familiarised with the various tests being conducted routinely by HPCL to check that the fuel being dispensed is pure and unadulterated. The group was also imparted with the knowledge of their rights as drivers of two-wheelers and motor vehicles, for instance, the right to get the tyre pressure checked for free. Thereafter, a pledge was taken where the participants promised to use petroleum products judiciously and spread the good word to other students and to family and friends. The participants were provided with white caps, T-shirts and ‘Saksham’ banners. The entire group walked back to Miranda House carrying two banners displaying the logo of MH Vatavaran, some handmade posters and the ‘Saksham’ banners.
We would also like to mention that throughout the academic session, the Department of Environment, Government of NCT of Delhi has been sharing with us directives, notifications and reading material in the form of brochures about environment-related issues like green crackers, noise pollution, dust and the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), Yamuna Action Plan (YAP). This information has been shared with the volunteers via WhatsApp and through Zoom meetings.
The session 2020-21 has indeed been an enriching experience for the MH Vatavaran members.
Sanjwala Mukund, President MH Vatavaran
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