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Home » Earth Care Awards 2011 » Awards

The debate over climate change is now urgent, demanding the attention of citizens and authorities everywhere. Taking an important step to increase awareness about the challenges faced by our planet, The Times of India and Jindal Steel Works (JSW) initiated the 1st ever Earth Care Awards in 2008. First edition was announced on 22nd April 2008 in New Delhi at Hotel Taj Palace. 2nd edition was announced on 10th Sep 2010 and recently the third edition was announced on 9th September 2011 at Hotel ITC Maurya, New Delhi.

Awards are in recognition of those who have taken up arms in the battle to save the Earth in full earnest. The awards for Excellence in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation will felicitate individuals and industry representatives for initiatives in management of natural resources and mitigation of greenhouse gases.

The present edition focused on three important segments i.e. signifying action by Industries, Communities and by Individuals.

At a glitzy ceremony at the ITC Maurya, the power of innovation was given due recognition. The chief guests at the function were Ramesh and Vincent H Pala, minister for water resources and among others present were Congress MP Navin Jindal and BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy. A special composition, ‘Yeh jo hai dharti humari’, recited by rock band EKA, set the mood for the evening as the hall was doused in earthy colours of green and blue. Times Group MD Mr. Vineet Jain drew the attention of the audience to the black footsteps near the entry to the venue that gradually turned green as people turned into the main hall. The footsteps changed colour under a holder where guests were invited to place saplings. “This is a symbolic way to highlight that our carbon footprint can be reduced by each one of us. Only if humanity as a whole works towards fighting climate change will we are able to stall global warming. This cannot happen at the level of the government alone.” This requires lots of determination to increasing public awareness about the environment challenges,” said Mr. Jain. Adding glamour to the evening was Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth 2011, Hasleen Kaur,who contributed to the initiative by undertaking sapling plantation at the Maurya. Mrs. Sangita Jindal, chairperson, JSW Foundation, explained how the awards were conceptualized and stressed on the urgency of taking action at the individual level. The awards in the first category of ‘GHG Mitigation in large enterprises’went to Air India, Videocon and Bilt Graphics Paper Products.Shri. Vincent Pala presented the awards under the second category of ‘Community-led Action’ to South Asian Forum for Environment based in Kolkata and Vivekananda Training and Research Institute from Kutch. Hasleen Kaur handed out the awards under the third category of ‘Innovation for Climate Protection’ to Energy Research Applications and Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers Ltd.

The jury was happy about the manner in which they went about selecting the winners said Kartikeya Sarabhai, founder and director, Centre for Environment Education, a jury member, “This jury was very different. We didn’t just look at notes. We visited just about every applicant and saw whether their ideas were scalable. We looked at standards that have prevailed in the industry and also how the innovations were unique to them. But also, in recognition of type of innovation judged, the criteria had to be adjusted. In each case we determined if they were aware of industry standards and what effect their innovations had and how different were they from the prevailing trends.

Jury consisted of some of the finest names from the country’s environment think tank such as –

Dr. M.S.Swaminathan (Chairman - M S Swami Nathan Research Foundation)
Dr. R.K.Pachauri (Director General - The Energy and Resources Institute)
Shri. Kartikeya Sarabhai (Director - Centre for Environment Education)
Dr. W.D.Dhar (Director General - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics)
Dr. A.S.Manekar (Director - Nehru Science Centre, National Council of Science Museums)
Prof. Aneeta Benninger (Executive Director - Centre for Development Studies and Activities)
Mr. Sajjan Jindal (Vice Chairman and Managing Director-JSW Steel)
Mrs. Shailaja Chandra (IAS (retd))
Shri Rajendra Shende (UNEP)
Mr. Rajat Gupta (Mckinsey & Company)

The overall impact of the Awards has been tremendous in terms of initiating an entire movement in the country today. Industries, communities and individuals involved in various environment preservation activities are coming forward to showcase their projects and getting them implemented on a larger scale to benefit the society at large.

Through this initiative, we expect to stimulate thinking and action to further up-scale some of the identified focused efforts from various parts of the country and demonstrate the feasibility of extending such benefits across sectors and stakeholder groups. As a timely led initiative, the insights will contribute to India’s efforts to plan and help deliver through appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures in many sectors of relevance.

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