JK sets up panels aimed at spreading environmental awareness among students

The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up official panels to implement and monitor the Centre's National Green Corps scheme aimed at spreading environmental awareness among children.

The scheme was formulated by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2001-02 to build up cadres of young children working for environmental conservation and sustainable development.

Then NGC scheme is implemented through eco-clubs set up in schools registered as NGC members, said officials.

The state-level panel will comprise secretaries of the departments of Forest, Environment and Ecology, School Education, the state's principal chief conservator of forests and the Environment, Ecology & Remote Sensing Department director besides the member secretary of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), said an official statement.

The district-level panels will have the respective district development commissioners, divisional forest officers, chief medical officers, SPCB district officer and the chief education officer, said the order issued by J&K General Administrative Department Commissioner Farooq Ahmed Lone.

The programme exposes school children to in-depth field experiences and provides them opportunities to convert their ideas into creative action, they added.

This programme seeks to redirect the consciousness of students towards environment friendly attitudes and actions and goes beyond schools, promoting school-society interactions to sensitize the society, they said.