The Hindu : Preserve environment: PM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

National

National

Preserve environment: PM

By Our Staff Reporter

Photo: V. V. Krishnan

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, being presented a poster by children on the occasion of the `World Earth Day' in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI APRIL 22. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, today appealed to children to recognise and respect nature. "We all address the Earth as our mother, but none of us pays due respect to her,'' he said addressing a group of school children who had called on him at his residence to commemorate Earth Day and pledge their commitment and responsibility towards the environment.

Emphasising that children were a vital link between humanity and environment, the Prime Minister said it was the duty of every citizen to preserve the planet. Pointing to the perennial water crisis, Mr. Vajpayee said there was no harmony between man and nature.

Expressing concern over conflicts in urban areas over basic necessities such as water, he said water, air and land must be preserved in their purest form so that future generations could live in harmony.

As part of the Earth Day celebrations, a rally was organised jointly by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and TERI, in which over 1,000 school children participated. The rally was flagged off by the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, T.R. Baalu, who said the world looked towards children as the only hope to bring about a paradigm shift in the way people looked at the Earth and to take the message across to their elder and younger generations. Preserving and conserving the environment was the biggest challenge today and it would be catastrophic if we failed to act fast, the Minister warned.

TERI's head, R.K. Pachauri, said the world had been witnessing a total degradation of the environment through river and air pollution, forest depletion and land degradation, and urged children to play a key role in setting things right.

The school children were administered an Earth Day pledge to save the planet.

They also adopted a new slogan, ''One Earth, One Spirit'', expressing their concerns. TERI also released "H to O: Figuring the Flow'', a book for children highlighting major environmental concerns.

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