National Green Corps is a programme of the

Ministry of Environment and Forests The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Indian government ministry. This ministry is headed by Secretary Rank senior most IAS officer. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

covering around 1,20,000 schools in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with NGC School Eco Clubs. Environmental activity in schools in India is promoted through the National Green Corps. Each NGC School Eco Club has 30 to 50 NGC Students or NGC Cadets who form the National Green Corps. These NGC Students participate in activities related to

Biodiversity Conservation Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...

Water Conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

Energy Conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

Waste Management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...

and

Land Use Planning Land use planning is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. More specifically, the goals ...

and

Resource Management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or i ...

. Locale specific issues are focused on by the NGC Eco Clubs. To attract public attention and support, young girls and boys from NGC take up

environmental awareness Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks ...

activities and

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

activities for an environmental cause or environmental intervention. Water Harvesting, Plantation,

Composting Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

biodegradable waste Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion ...

are popular activities in the NGC School Eco Clubs. These NGC School Eco Clubs promote environmental discipline and

environmental responsibility Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health se ...

through the selected schools in India using environmental awareness as the medium. Each of the 250 districts in India has about 250 NGC Eco Clubs. These NGC Eco Clubs are provided with an annual grant of Rs2500. Each of the Indian State has a State Nodal Officer who implements this programme. The NGC Children are making a huge impact in the country.

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

are some of the states where this programme is making huge impact on the society. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have a separate Directorates for conducting this programme, while all other states conduct this programme through one of those organizations which is interested in environmental awareness and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

aspects. Telangana has much more involvement than any other state. They even own
website
In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh the eco-club schools participate in the Green Schools Programme conducted by the Environment Education Unit of the

Centre for Science and Environment Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1980, CSE works as a think tank on environment-development issues in India, poor planning, ...

. The eco-club schools that win awards at the state level go on to compete for the National Awards organized by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in Delhi. Since school children are involved, most of the activities of National Green Corps children are linked to the culture and cultural aspects of conservation of

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

s and

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. There are Master Trainers trained by the State Nodal Agencies with the help of the State Resource Agencies who train the Teachers-In-Charge of the NGC Eco Clubs. Each district has the District Implementation and Monitoring Committee which is supported by the District Coordinator, while at the state level the State Nodal Officer is guided by the state level Committee. This is the largest such programme anywhere in the world. When these trained NGC Students grow up and take the environmental challenges of this second the most populous country, it is expected that there will be huge difference made to the way the resources are consumed and conserved. Andhra Pradesh is trying to groom the NGC Cadets as an environmentally disciplined force. It has introduced Uniform and Band along with a structured programme of formation of five teams of

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

s exclusively in all NGC School Eco Clubs. These NGC Cadets are the Green Brigade of the school, protecting the natural resources from misuse and promoting the conservation of the natural resources. These NGC Cadets are getting the pride place during the National Days when they participate in full NGC Uniform during the ceremonial parades along with other uniformed forces of the country. The first ever National Conference of National Green Corps Eco Clubs is at

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

from 26 to 29 August 2010.

References

http://www.astec.gov.in/environment/op3.htm {{Reflist

External links

National Green Corps
Official website
Centre for Science and Environment
Official Website
Green Schools Program
Official Website Environmental organisations based in India Education in India Environmental education Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

See also

References

External links