Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu today said environmental protection is a national as well as international responsibility.
"It's a moral as well as social responsibility for each and every citizen of the country and the globe," Murmu said while speaking on the occasion of the 3rd International Conference on Environment and Ecology at St Xavier's College here.
Thanking the organizers, she said St Xavier's College Ranchi, is a glorious Institution of the state and has produced many positive thinkers of the society in the form of administrators, researchers, academicians, doctors.
Murmu said from time immemorial the sages chanted Rigveda - and it was their vision that earth should be in peace, our plants be in peace, our medicines be in peace.
"And thus our everything should be in peace. In tribal culture, the people worship plants, rivers and mountains as their God. The ongoing Sarhul, Baha Bonga & Karma festivals are the indicators of love towards nature. They love nature, protect nature, they preserve nature and finally they conserve nature. They are the real protectors of the Ecology and Ecosystems," she said.
She said it is worth mentioning that Jharkhand is blessed with scenic and natural beauty with considerable forest coverage and the inhabitants are the lovers of nature. These people are the sources of inspiration.
Department of Botany of St Xavier's College, Ranchi and International Foundation for Environment and Ecology, Kolkata who have jointly organised this Conference are to be credited for this great work, she said.
"It is our prime duty to have a balance between environment and development. The educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities must introduce environmental education with a view to implementing the programme 'Catch Them Young' in order to make our students aware regarding the need to protect our Mother Earth," she said.
The idea, she said, is to create environment friendly and sustainable jobs by solving the problems related to unemployment and pollution together.
She said that the present need is to create jobs in the areas of plantation, afforestation, nursery development, horticulture, recycling, waste management, alternate and renewable energy besides production and maintenance of pollution control equipments.
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The Governor said there should be a competent cadre of young professionals for cleaning our rivers, ponds, mountain areas besides the entire rural as well as urban villages and towns where there is a possibility of creating millions of jobs.
"I am glad to say that a 10 Volume Encyclopedia titled 'World Encyclopedia of Ecology and Environment' edited by Dr Priya Ranjan Trivedi along with Dr Tanmoy Rudra, Dr Arnesha Guha and others has been released today," she said.
"We are living at a time when the threats of global warming, ozone layer depletion, effects of ultra violet rays causing various skin diseases are the hot topics. We must be alert to save our environment and make a healthy world. We must protect our ecological pyramids and ecological niches. Every life in Biosphere has its own importance.
"I would state everyone to make our environment clean and safe. Cleanliness is both the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state. Cleanliness may be wed with a moral quality, as indicated by the aphorism 'cleanliness is next to godliness', and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals such as 'health' and 'beauty'," she said.
On a practical level, she said, cleanliness is thus related to hygiene and disease prevention, adding the theme "Make India Clean as well as Cleaning Up Technologies" behind bringing out this 3rd International Conference is to strengthen the cause of "Swachch Bharat Abhiyan" as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"We are sure that this Conference will be used, read and referred by all those engaged in the cleaning of rivers, ponds, mountains, cities, industries, villages, Temples, Mosques, Gurudwaras, Monasteries, Churches, schools, colleges, offices and environment," she said and urged all educational institutions of the state to take up this responsibility to inspire its students to be aware of the environmental issues.
