Kudumbashree’s Pioneering International Children’s Summit on Zero Waste Management ends with thought provoking Thiruvananthapuram Declaration. Shri. Seeram Sambasiva Rao IAS, Principal Director, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala inaugurated the closing ceremony. He said that the Balasabha members should make efforts to spread the awareness of Zero Waste Management to the public and take this message to each and every household in Kerala through Balasabha.
Awards for presenting commendable Project Reports on Zero Waste Management were given to the Balasabha Members. Sivanandan C. A from Kollam (First Prize), Chandana from Kozhikode (Second Prize), Devananda K from Kannur (Third Prize), Abhinand from Wayanad (Fourth Prize) and Athira Babu from Palakkad(Fifth Prize) received their Awards from Geetha Nazeer , Governing Body Member, Kudumbashree distributed the cash awards, trophies and certificates to the children who made the best presentations in the plenary sessions.
Wayanad bagged the Award for the Best District Stall. Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod bagged the Second and Third Prizes respectively. Mementos were presented to Karan Kumar (New Delhi), Deepanshu (New Delhi), Harikrishnan (Kerala) and Athul Manoj (Kerala), who made presentations representing other states.
H. Dineshan IAS, Executive Director, presided over the function. He said that this programme doesn’t end with the summit. He assured that camps will be organized at district level and through them the message of zero waste management will be taken to the general public. He said that Kudumbashree will provide Seed Money to these Balasabha members for implementing their projects with the support of Udhyam Learning Foundation.
Ridhima Pandey, Indian Environmental Activist from Uttarakhand read the’ Thiruvananthapuram Declaration’, the declaration of the Summit. The Summit recognized improper waste disposal, carbon footprint, social awareness, liquid waste management, electronic waste, water pollution, soil pollution, mosquito breeding as the urgent concerns. The Summit proposed an Action Plan which included the ideas such as inculcating hygiene habits from an early age itself by including hygiene education in the school curriculum, undertaking and implementing extensive social awareness programmes to inculcate hygiene awareness and hygiene habits in the society, planning and implementing concept formation and action programmes based on the theme of cleanliness to identify and develop the unique talents of each child, ensuring opportunities for child researchers to provide necessary support in policy formulation of the State Government and incorporate the findings and suggestions of the research in the plans of local self-government bodies, formulating and disseminating a Hygiene Code of Conduct under the leadership of children’s Grama Sabha and continuously evaluating and ensuring it, conducting community hygiene surveys and digital surveys under the leadership of children in Balasabhas to assess the current situation related to hygiene and create awareness among children and others, introducing a hygiene diary to children to record and self-assess their hygiene-related activities and interventions to address these issues. The summit urged the Central Government to establish a National University of Hygiene based in Kerala to conduct continuous study on waste and its recycling potential.
Mr. Ratheesh Kaliyadan, Educational Expert, presented the report on the summit. Mementos were presented to the Mentors and Faculties who equipped the Balasabha members for the summit and also to the Moderators and Rapporteurs of various sessions. The children who made the poster presentations were also felicitated at the function.
Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s Poster of Swachh Survekshan, the annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in villages, cities and towns across India was also released at the function.
Dr. Abdul Basith, Assistant Professor, Kerala University, John Stanley, Assistant Manager, PIU, Bal Raksha Bharath, Bharath Babulal, Tony Jose, Senior Manager, Udhyam Learning Foundation and Debadrita Sengupta, Manager, Humanitarian, Bal Raksha Bharath became part of the Experts’ Discussion and gave their feedback.
Dr. B Sreejith, Programme Officer, Kudumbashree welcomed the gathering and Ramesh G, District Mission Co-ordinator, Thiruvananthapuram District Mission delivered the vote of thanks. Syam Kumar, Programme Officer, Kudumbashree, Dr. Anchal Krishna Kumar, Public Relations Officer, Kudumbashree, Dr. Shanavas, Programme Officer, Kudumbashree were also present at the function.
