Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday participated in the Conscious Planet – The Way Forward programme, organized by the Isha Foundation on the occasion of World Environment Day at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the programme. Foundation founder, yogi, and spiritual master Sadhguru also spoke about his ‘Save Soil’movement. The objective of holding the insightful session was to deliberate on crafting a conscious planet for our future generations. Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, celebrities from various walks of life, and volunteers participated in the session.
Haryana on first position in medal tally with 8 medals
Chandigarh: Sports are reaching their peak with the start of the second round of Khelo India Youth Games-2021 being held in Panchkula. In Thang-Ta, Aryan of Haryana won silver medal in 56 kg weight category and Ankit won bronze medal in 60 kg weight category. Mamta also won a bronze medal in 52 kg weight category from girls' team. In the ongoing cycling competitions, Vrinda Yadav won Haryana's first gold medal on Sunday. Neerat Kumar won bronze medal in one-km cycling and Mamta won bronze medal in 500 meters in mountaineering cycle. In Yogasan, Haryana’s Dipanshu won silver medal and in Artistic Boys doubles Sagar Ranga and Jitu won silver medal. Similarly, in Girls' Kabaddi, Rajasthan beat Punjab by 31-23 points.
HP CM calls on Union Tribal Affairs Minister
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur called on the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda at New Delhi on late Saturday evening. The Chief Minister discussed various issues related to tribal welfare with the Union Minister and urged for speedy approval of matters pending with the Ministry. The Union Minister assured of all possible assistance. Principal Resident Commissioner SK Singla accompanied the Chief Minister.
Best Eco Club Awards for schools, colleges announced
Chandigarh: UT Administration’s Department of Environment, along with Eco Club of GGDSD College and Yuvsatta-NGO, on the occasion of World Environment Day organized an award ceremony with eight schools and three prominent colleges winning the Best Eco Club Awards for year 2021. Appreciating the wonderful work done by Eco Clubs in local schools and colleges, chief guest UT Environment director Debendra Dalai insisted that we all should proactively participate to phase-out use of single use plastics from the city with educational institutions playing a big role. The winner principals of Best Club Awards were honoured with beautiful trophies, merit certificates, and Rs 15,000 each for Eco Club activities.
Pen-Up campaign — to discard ball pens — launched
Chandigarh: UT Department of Environment director Debendra Dalai on Sunday launched a Pen-Up Campaign motivating the people to discard their gel and ball pens and switch to sustainable fountain pens. Sharing about the ‘Pen Change’ campaign of GGDSD College, principal Ajay Sharma said that beautiful boxes have been placed at many places in their campus for students to discard their ball-pens. The main objective is to fight against the use of ball or gel pens as they are made of plastics and are as bad as plastic bags and bottles. Launching the campaign, Dalai stressed that we all need to bring people back to using comparatively eco-friendly fountain pens which can become digital detox and turning people back to the art of handwriting.
PU organises plantation drive
Chandigarh: Panjab University’s Horticulture Division on Sunday organised a plantation to commemorate World Environment Day. Vice-Chancellor Prof Raj Kumar was the chief guest at the plantation drive. Several trees and plants, including peepal, bargad, ficus, chandni etc, were planted on the occasion. VC appreciated the efforts of Horticulture Division in organising such plantations and wished them success in their future initiatives. Divisional Engineer (H) Anil Thakur apprised that this is one of the many initiatives taken by the Horticulture Division to make the campus greener and the division is very much committed in its goal of keeping the campus clean and green.
MCM NSS celebrates World Environment Day
Chandigarh: On the occasion of World Environment Day, the NSS units of Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, in collaboration with MCM Eco Club ‘Parivesh’, organised an awareness session and nukkad natak at Anganwadi Complex of the adopted village Badheri. During the event, the NSS volunteers apprised the residents about the relevance of the day and ways of protecting the environment. One of the volunteers Anjali Balhara expressed her views in the form of a poem where she highlighted the consequences of deforestation on flora and fauna.
Sant Nirankari Mission observes World Environment Day
Chandigarh: To mark the participation in World Environment Day on June 5, Sant Nirankari Charitable Foundation (SNCF) on Sunday organized a widespread Cleanliness and Tree Plantation drive at 14 hill stations, covering seven states of the country, with the help of 10,000 volunteers of Sant Nirankari Mission. Thousands of volunteers of the Mission, along with other devotees and residents of respective cities, carried out Mega Cleanliness Drive and Tree Plantation Drive forming a human chain for awareness for a better environment at Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Lansdowne, and Nainital in Uttarakhand; Shimla in Himachal Pradesh; Mahabaleshwar, Panchagani, Khandala, Lonavala and Panhala in Maharashtra; Mount Abu in Rajasthan; and Gangtok in Sikkim.
Sathish exhorts young athletes to stay away from doping in pursuit of excellence
Panchkula/Chandigarh: Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist Sathish Sivalingam on Sunday exhorted young athletes to stay away from scourge of doping in their pursuit of excellence. Addressing competitors in Khelo India Youth Games at an anti-doping workshop, organised by National Anti-Doping Agency, the 29-year-old shared insights from his journey as a champion weightlifter. “I am glad and grateful to my mother for educating me to be careful in not having even a cup of coffee outside since I would be responsible for everything that went into my body,” Sathish said, explaining how simple mistakes could lead to disastrous results in case of contamination in the food or beverage.
“Gatka became pride of Khelo India”
Panchkula: Gatka has become the pride of India which was started by the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind Sahib for self-defense. For the first time, Gatka has also been included in Khelo India Youth Games. 16 teams from all over the country have reached Panchkula to participate in this game. The World Gatka Federation, associated with this game, is now trying to take this game not only to the national but also to the international level. Federation Vice president Sukhchain Singh said that the story of getting this game in Khelo India is not as easy as it is being told in words. The presentation of Gatka Games was given in Khelo India competition held in Guwahati in 2020, after which, the Government of India allowed it to be included in the Games.
