This September, the National Green Corps, Goa, shall award the Environment and Energy Awards to the eco clubs, that have excelled in the respective categories, in order to provide a stimulus to the sustained efforts of the students of the eco club and towards encouraging and motivating the young green minds for a sustained future.

If you want to bring about any change in society then it is very important to train young minds as they are the ones who will lead our society in the future.
They are in a better position to learn, understand and implement the change we are talking about. One such initiative is the National Green Corps, popularly known as NGC. It is a national programme aimed at building a cadre of young green groups working towards environmental conservation for a more secure and sustainable planet, with a vanguard of campaign to green the Earth.
The objective of the NGC is to impart knowledge to school children through hands-on experience about their immediate environment, interactions within it and the problems therein and to develop requisite skills of observation, experimentation, survey and recording so as to adopt reasoning for conserving the environment, says Dr Joseph De Souza Rauto, chief scientist and state NGC Nodal Office.
He further states that in Goa, with the endeavour of greening institutions, the eco club movement was embarked in 2000-01, with 100 clubs. As on date the strength of the clubs has escalated to 527.
This September, the National Green Corps, Goa, shall award the Environment and Energy Awards to the eco clubs, that have excelled in the respective categories, in order to provide a stimulus to the sustained efforts of the students of the eco club and towards encouraging and motivating the young green minds for a sustained future.
The awards will be conferred to outstanding and coveted eco clubs by Mr V K Jha, secretary, science, technology and environment, Goa at the eco workshop at Agnel Asharam, Verna on September 23 for the south Goa eco teachers. The north Goa clubs will be conferred the awards by Dr M Sudhakar, Scientist, MOES, at Museum Hall Panaji on September 24 from 9.30 a.m. onwards.
These awards are based on the submission of a Green Book which is evaluated by a team of experts, where the Environment Awards or Green awards are conferred at the State level, three categories, school, higher secondary schools and college levels. The energy audit program has been supported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES) as part of the climate change agenda.
In addition, eminent scientist, Dr Rainer Lohmann, University of Rhode Island, USA will speak on Carbon Foot Print and emissions, whilst Dr Alvariho Luis, Head, National Ocean and Antarctica Research Centre, Goa, will detail on the global warming and sustainability. Dr Baban Ingole, Sr Scientist from NIO will deliver a talk on biodiversity.
Dr Joseph states that the awards will be bigger from this year, so as to inspire clubs members to develop a stronger commitments and motivation, so as to make the programme more effectual, by invigorating the eco-club movement for a sustainable future.