Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) cell at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur in collaboration with the National UBA Cell IIT Delhi and Centre for Sustainability and Environmental Management (CSEM) conducted a national webinar on the topic 'The path to a sustainable future' on 28th October' 2020 to mark the Sustainability Day. The sustainability day is celebrated to mark the relevance of balance in our economic, environmental and social needs, thus allowing prosperity for current and future generations. The national webinar was attended by more than 500 participants from UBA registered institutions across India. The experts who delivered the talks were Prof. Virendra Kumar Vijay, CRDT, IIT Delhi and National Coordinator of UBA, Dr. Mrityunjay Chaubey, Global Vice President, UPL Ltd., Dr. Krishna Nirmalya Sen, Head EHS, L&T MMH, Kolkata and Mr. Arun Sharma, Manager Government Reforms & Infra Development, PwC.
Director IIM Sirmaur Professor (Dr) Neelu Rohmetra presided over the national webinar. During her presidential remarks, she pointed out the importance of coexisting in harmony with the environment for a sustainable future. Professor Rohmetra emphasized community outreach and welfare programmes as it is equally important to give back to the society and serve our rural population. She was positive about the fact that the UBA team at IIM Sirmaur will be able to take small but steady steps and create a difference in the lives of local community. She thanked the expert speakers for their inputs and stressed that these kind of discourse and debate help in creating opportunities to translate opinions into ground level action and policy formulation.
Prof. Virendra Kumar Vijay delivered the keynote talk for the webinar in which he discussed about the inception of UBA including its prime objectives and also stressed upon an inclusive academic system integrated with holistic rural development. He emphasised on the role played by higher educational Institutions in the developmental activities of our society. Prof. Vijay further mentioned that the interaction between the villagers and the students should be a 2-way learning process so that the grassroot problems may be identified and rectified. He urged to link the work of UBA with Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and motivated everyone to follow the path of 'Vocal for Local'.
Dr. Mrityunjay Chaubey spoke on sustainability management and environment footprint reduction. Dr. Chaubey shared case studies on how his organisation has embedded sustainability in their core operations in the form of triple bottom line approach (Economic, Environmental & Social). He mentioned about the new sustainable technologies such as Scale Ban, Volute, OH Radical and FO Technology that are being developed at UPL Ltd.
Dr. Krishna Nirmalya Sen, Head EHS, L&T MMH, Kolkata underlined the importance of sustainability practices in the construction sector. Dr. Sen shared examples from the construction sector where they have developed a Sustainable Sand (E7) Plant Process which uses eco-friendly, economical and efficient waste material for production.
Mr. Arun Sharma discussed about how urban local bodies are functioning and laying down plans for integrated solid waste management. His talk focussed on reduction in waste generation by using techniques of reusing, reducing and recycling. He highlighted the need to create a balance between development goals, sustainability, resilience and mentioned that we need to give back what we take from the environment.
Earlier, the welcome address was given by Dr. Pradipta Patra, UBA Coordinator and faculty at IIM Sirmaur who shed light on the importance of the Sustainability Day and how it is important to educate people around globe regarding environment management. Dr. Patra threw light on the work undertaken by IIM Sirmaur in the UBA adopted villages (Ajoli, Kunja, Danda, Dobri and Jamniwala) in Himachal Pradesh. Dr. Arpita Ghosh, CSEM Coordinator and Co-organizer of the national webinar reiterated that the path to reduce global warming can only be achieved by developing and adopting green technologies. Several scientific institutions are endeavouring in this direction. Dr. Amrinder Singh, Chairperson CSR Committee, IIM Sirmaur presented the formal vote of thanks.
