Earth Day Celebrations 2011, 22nd April, 2011

• LIGHTS was one of the 32 organisations sponsored by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India to organise the earth day celebrations in 2011.
• Lights selected 12 schools across the northern and north eastern part of the country, 5 from Uttarakhand, 3 from Assam, 2 from Rajasthan and 2 Manipur to conduct the programme in both English and Hindi. • Schools were invited for participation/expression of interest wherein with a positive response these schools organized indoor and outdoor activities as per the programme given in the brochure.
• Toolkits were provided to the concerned schools.
• Media was invited.
• A panel selected the final awardees from the best entries received from the schools.

Toolkit:
• Banner
• Brochure
• Info sheet
• Posters(I-V)
• 200 Poster making sheets
• 200 Slogan making sheets
• The Charter of Pledge
• Draft worth Rs. 4000/- for giving snacks and juices to 200 students of each school.

Competitions and Activities
• Two competitions, i.e., Poster Making and Slogan Writing for junior and senior categories were organized.

Prizes:
Prizes for the Poster and Slogan competitions for both Junior and Senior students were as follows:
• 1st Prize - 5000/-
• 2nd Prize – 4000/-
• 3rd Prize – 3000/-
• 4 Consolation Prizes of Rs. 500/- each
Besides these competitions, any one of the three compulsory programmes such as the plantation of saplings, bicycle rallies, cleanliness drives, etc. was conducted by the schools.

THE PANELLISTS
Dr. D P S Seth, Former Secretary, Department of Telecommunication and Member Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Dr S Sudhakar, Advisor, Ministry of Earth Sciences
Dr. S Raju, Professor, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Dr./Mrs. V Seth, Professor, Gargi College
Ms. Sulagna Chaottopadhyay, Editor, Geography and You

List of Schools Participated
• Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand
• Army School, Roorkee, Uttarakhand
• Army School, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• Touchwood School, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• Welham’s Boys’ School Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Dibrugarh, Assam
• Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Silchar, Assam
• Vikenanda Kendra Vidyalaya, Tinsukia, Assam
• DAV Centenary School, Ajmer, Rajasthan
• Maheshwari Public School, Ajmer, Rajasthan
• D’Regina English High School, Imphal, Manipur
• Grace Academy, Imphal, Manipur

List of Winners

OUTCOME
• In all 17 schools and 3,178 students participated in the programme.
• Some neighbouring schools also participated in the celebrations.
• Needy students also got some help from the prize money.

By organizing the programme in select II cities of the country an attempt has been made to increase access of these cities to ministerial awareness programmes for a wider and broad based dissemination of information. Awareness creation on broader environmental issues and celebrating the biodiversity of one’s immediate surroundings has been achieved. Such programmes in turn lead to preservation of the environment and protection of endangered species in the near future.
It is hoped that increased interaction and exposure to new ideas would help create a concrete movement across the country on environmental issues which could have progressive policy implications for the government and private bodies in the future.