By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 20 Feb: A ‘Swachhta Pakhwara’ was observed by ‘UPES NSS’ at the Bidholi Campus of the university. The ‘Pakhwara’ witnessed activities ranging from Drives on Plantation, Cleanliness, ‘Say No to Single Use Plastic’ & Water Conservation – with measures for its sustainable use; Presentation of Innovative technologies for Waste Recycling & Energy Conservation; Competitions on Swachhta, ‘Best out of Waste’, Water & Forest Conservation; Road Show, Nukkad Natak, Songs, Poems, display of banners carried out in the village/areas in vicinity of UPES and within the university campus by the UPES-NSS Team and Student Volunteers during the event. According to Arun Dhand, Senior Director, UPES, the NSS has been operational at UPES since February 2018 and the ‘UPES NSS Unit’ has been organising activities related to social problems from time to time. Sharing the details on the ‘Swachhta Pakhwara’, the UPES NSS Coordinator Dr Shaily Singhal recalled that NSS was launched in collaboration with 37 Universities involving 40,000 students with an aim of fostering social responsibility, inculcating dedication and commitment for solving social problems and developing a personality through community services. Today, NSS has grown to become one of the most prominent social service institutions and youth movements in the world with more than 38 lakh dedicated volunteers all over the country. “The activities at the event were conducted in line with the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). The drives and village activities were carried out in Bidholi Village owing to it being the immediate neighbour. The Poster-making and Slogan writing activities were quite helpful in conveying the message and sensitising the staff & students in the UPES campus,” Dr Singhal added. Conducting lectures on ‘Innovative Technologies in Waste Management’, Dr Kanchan Deoli Bahukhandi highlighted that waste when recycled properly could turn out to be a source of wealth. “Plastic waste is an ecological hazard. As various types of plastics do not decomposed easily, recycling them helps to convert from Waste to Energy,” she asserted. Delivering her talk on ‘Swachhta’, Swati Mishra stated, “Swachhta is not only about the physical hygiene but also about the mental hygiene as well. The very first steps towards swachhta are the pure mind, good feelings and thoughts, positive surroundings and discipline in life.” The ‘Chief Guest’ at the ‘Valedictory Ceremony’, Ajay Agarwal, Uttarakhand State Officer, NSS, presented the awards to the winners of the competitive events such as Slogan Writing, Poster Making & Speeches and felicitated the Volunteers for contributing selflessly to the event. Acknowledging the positive role of her programme officers, Dr Amar Shukla, Dr Shalini Vohra, Dr Shilpi Agrawal and Dr Ratna Banerjee in motivating the student volunteers throughout the fortnight long activities, Dr Shaily Singhal congratulated them for making the event a great success. “A team of 260 Student Volunteers and UPES-NSS members contributed to the success of this 14 daylong event,” she said. The Student Volunteer team was headed by Rehan Shaikh, Sharad Walia, Abhishek Joshi, Shivam Bhatt, Shweta Rawat, Shivam Kumar, Shambhavi Kurtkoti and Pratik Yadav, while the ‘Best Volunteer Awards’ for the event went to Chamanjyot, Tanu, Aardhaya, Shivam, Siddharth, Yogesh, Tanishka, Gurkirat and Aayush.
