Mumbai: Environment friendly initiatives that have sustained the livelihood of lakhs of people earned corporate giant ITC Ltd the Green Business Titan honour at the 12th edition of the JSW-The Times of India Earth Care Awards at Tata Theatre, NCPA, on Wednesday.
In the past 11 years, the coveted awards have honoured 87 changemakers across industries and enterprises, not-for-profit organisations, non-governmental entities and grassroots organisations throughout India.
CEO (Publishing) of The Times Group, Sivakumar Sundaram, narrated the rece-nt story of a tagged Olive Ridley turtle ‘03233′ that travelled 3,500km from Odisha to Maharashtra. He said, “Her journey is a metaphor that even the smallest step matters. You must have read about the butterfly effect. How we build, consume, discard and protect, all have a profound impact on the earth. When I see the energy of the youth in this hall, I am convinced that the earth is in a safe place. The efforts of the last 11 years have borne fruit.”
Sangita Jindal, chairperson of the JSW Foundation, recalled the visit of primatologist Jane Goodall last year. She said, “Ms Goodall said, ‘Hope has never been more important’. And today, I am filled with hope given that we received over 1,500 entries this year, reached out directly to 200 colleges and 20,000 students through our workshops — which is substantial since India has the largest population of youth in the world.”
Applause erupted as the winners’ names were called. Recykal as well as Econovus Packaging bagged the crown for Emerging Business in Climate Action. The Entrepreneurs Associates won for Community Led Climate Action as did Global Growth Foundation of India (GGFI) and BAIF Development Research Foundation. Natasha Zarine of Eco Sattva was honoured in the Women Leaders in Climate Action category. Indore Municipal Corporation and Help-O — an entry from Sri Lanka — won awards in the Urban Centered Climate Action slot.
This year’s highlight was the introduction of the Young Climate Champions Programme, a nationwide initiative to help young environmentalists blossom into changemakers. Among the winners was Akil Prasath of RV Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, who won for Biodiversity Conservation. Prasath replaced non-native, invasive flora species in Tamil Nadu with gentler native types to improve local biodiversity and livelihood. Thotchanso Zingyo of TISS, Mumbai, also won for his efforts in the same category, while Rohan Kumar of IIT-Bombay aced the Water Conservation category with his wastewater treatment solutions.
To this end, nearly 200 workshops were conducted across 15 states, involving 20,000 students directly, and two lakh peers in some shape or form. Some prominent colleges where these workshops took place include IITs, TISS, Jai Hind College, Jamia Millia Islamia, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy, TERI, St Stephens, NID Ahmedabad, ICFAI, NSUIT, and Christ University.
The jury panel for the awards was led by Dr R A Mashelkar, former director general, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research; Dr Arunabha Ghosh, founder & CEO, Council on Energy, Environment & Water; Rajat Gupta, senior partner – sustainability practice at McKinsey & Company; Shloka Nath, CEO, India Climate Collaborative; and Priya Shah, founder & GP, Theia Ventures.