Krishi Jagran beating plastic pollution on World Environment day 2018.

World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year on June 5 and has always been a day of special importance for India.  The day is celebrated for rededication of national efforts for sustainable development, to bring environmental concerns into the mainstream of the national developmental effort and also to bring people to the front of environmental conservation.  “‘Beat Plastic Pollution’” is the theme of the World Environment Day this year.

Krishi Jagran participated at Vigyan Bhawan to play a role and participate in the pollution free India campaign. Here are some glimpse.

To celebrate the theme of #BeatPlasticPollution, a street play, songs and dance performances on the theme of plastic pollution were put up during the occasion. Similar mini-marathons are scheduled to be held as run up to the Environment Day celebrations in other parts of India. India’s efforts to address the plastic pollution concerns have earned the country the chance to be the global host for World Environment Day 2018. Several programmes are lined up for the prestigious occasion and a number of celebrities have pledged to ditch plastic ahead of the World Environment Day.

India is making sure this year’World Environment day celebrations are historic in nature – on Sunday, the government pledged to end the use of disposable, or single-use plastic around the Taj Mahal. Moreover, the government has also promised to make upto 500 metres around 100 historic monuments plastic-free, starting with Taj Mahal. In an event organised on Sunday at Taj Mahal, India’s Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mahesh Sharma along with United Nations Environment Head Erik Solheim  and UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador and actor Dia Mirza, adopted “Taj Declaration” that aims at making Agra, which is among world’s top ten most polluted cities, free of plastic.

With our pledge today, India is sending a message to the world that we can beat plastic pollution. We are committed to making the peripheries of 100 historic monuments in India litter free, said Minister Mahesh Sharma.

The minister also said that the government is committed towards the development of Agra in which the Union and State Governments, as well as the local administration along with all agencies, will work under a single umbrella.

UN Environment Head Erik Solheim added,

The Taj Mahal is a globally-recognised symbol of the beauty of India, so it’s all the more important that Agra sends a message around the world that enough is enough when it comes to the ugliness of plastic pollution!

Dia Mirza said

I’m extremely proud and honoured to be here, not just as a UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador but as a citizen of this country. The Taj Mahal is a symbol of love and with this declaration, we want to send out a message to the world about the love we need to give back to our earth by joining the movement to beat plastic pollution and reducing our consumption of single-use plastic.

She further added

I am so encouraged and motivated to see the vigour with which #BeatPlasticPollution has taken off. Plastic is choking our environment, waterways and air. I see a revolution underway in India.

World Environment Day 2018 will be celebrated across the length and breadth of the country, involving all States and Union Territories, districts, local bodies and organizations.  A week-long environmental awareness campaign and pollution mitigation activities are being planned in Delhi and other parts of the country from June, 1-5, 2018.