NEW DELHI, May 30:
A drawing by a Class IX student from Jammu and Kashmir school will be adopted as the logo of the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s green initiative ‘Roshni’ after it was adjudged winner among 3,276 entries.
President Pratibha Patil adjudged the drawing of Robin Singh, a student of Kendrya Vidyalaya BSF school in North Kashmir’s Bandipore, as the best among the thousands of entries received by her secretariat.
The 15-year-old boy, whose father Birender Singh is a head constable in the Border Security Force, was in a daze after he came to know that his drawing had been selected for the Roshni logo.
“I am an environment lover and this award is an encouragement for me,” Singh, who originally hails from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, told over phone from his school.
Singh’s drawing depicts a house and a tree.
His teacher Ravi Kant described him as the best student from his class and said that he has joined the school a year back. Kant found him shy.
“But his art work was extra-ordinary. I am happy that out of the four entries sent in by the school, one has been selected as the logo of Roshni,” Kant said.
Roshni is a green innovative concept encompassing environment management and empowerment of local communities, to create eco-friendly sustainable urban habitats through participation of stakeholders and convergence of partnership programmes.
It was initiated by the President on July 25, 2008 and the programme aims to make the President’s Estate a model in green, energy efficient and zero waste model township for all other habitats across India.
Robin Singh will be called to Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 5 (World Environment Day) during which he will be awarded a prize by the President.
Explaining his design, he said the hut signifies the use of eco-friendly material. On the other hand, the tree stands for its role in improving the environment and also the necessity to plant trees.
The judges felt the logo encapsulated the core eco- friendly messages of Roshni, and would help inspire other young people to engage in issues towards ensuring a green future for India.
A special encouragement prize was also announced in which the design of Vibhu Prakash, a Class IV student of Air Force School, Panchavati, Delhi cantonment, was selected.
The competition, which started in this year, saw the participation of 10,450 schools.
Students crafted logos keeping in mind their understanding of Roshni’s core aims—environmental management, empowerment of local communities and the creation of eco-friendly sustainable urban habitats in India.
In addition to judging each logo carefully, the President shared some time with the 150 participating school children from Delhi, NCR present for the event and encouraged them to continue their efforts to learn about the environment.
“I am deeply committed to the cause of a sustainable India. I am delighted to see the reaction the Roshni logo competition has generated; the energy and eagerness in response to this call for action has indeed been heartening,” Patil said.
“It is yet another step closer to sensitise our youth to environmental issues. We need to ensure that our youth imbibe sustainability and inclusiveness as a part of their value system.” (PTI)
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