The Chandrabhaga beach on the Konark coast of Odisha will be the first in Asia to get the Blue Flag certification.
The tag is given to environment-friendly and clean beaches, equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists.
It will be awarded the honor on World Environment Day on June 5, Environment Ministry sources say.
Twelve more beaches in the country are being developed by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an Environment Ministry’s body working for the management of coastal areas, in accordance with the Blue Flag standards.
The standards were established by the Copenhagen-based Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in 1985.
The Environment Ministry embarked on the Blue Flag project in December 2017.
Taj Declaration
It is a plan to make Taj Mahal premises litter-free.
A ‘Taj Declaration to Beat Plastic Pollution’ was adopted as part of which efforts would be made to make the 500-metre area around the 17th century monument litter-free.
Steps would also be taken to phase out single-use plastic.
The declaration is in line with the Environment Day theme “Beating Plastic Pollution”.
Green Initiatives Program on World Environment Day
Indian Navy has completed four years of its Green Initiatives Program on World Environment Day.
The adoption of a comprehensive ‘Indian Navy Environment Conservation Roadmap’ has put Indian Navy on an ambitious path of synergizing ‘Blue Water capability with a Green footprint’.
With an aim to achieve zero carbon foot print, ‘Energy Efficiency’ concept of sustainable green technologies/norms based on GRIHA, LEEDS, Green Fuels, MARPOL compliance and alternative energy resources are being adopted in all future plans.
Every year, the world uses 500 billion plastic bags which contribute to 10 % of all the waste being generated.
Towards the objective, continuous and focused efforts are being put in place to ensure that the Naval establishments remains devoid of non-biodegradable material at all times.
Krishi Kalyan Abhiyan
The Ministry of Agriculture and farmers’ welfare has launched the Krishi kalyan Abhiyaan so as to aid, assist and advice farmers on how to improve their farming techniques and raise their incomes.
The Krishi kalyan Abhiyaan will be undertaken in 25 Villages with more than 1000 population each in Aspirational Districts identified in consultation with Ministry of Rural Development as per directions of NITI Ayog.
The overall coordination and implementation in the 25 villages of a district is being done by Krishi Vigyan Kendra of that district.
Various activities to promote best practices and enhance agriculture income are being undertaken under this plan such as:-
Distribution of Soil Health Cards to all farmers
100% coverage of bovine vaccination for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in each village
100% coverage of Sheep and Goat for eradication of Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR )
Distribution of Mini Kits of pulses and oilseeds to all
Distribution of Horticulture/Agro Forestry/Bamboo plant @ 5 per family(location appropriate)
Artificial insemination saturation
Demonstration program on Micro- irrigation
Ganga Praharis
Ganga Praharis will boost Bio-Diversity conservation inorder to educate, motivate and ensure protection of aquatic species of river Ganga.
A new grassroot-level volunteer workforce is out there to protect the bio-diversity of river Ganga called Ganga Praharis.
They are spread over Ganga basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
They were roped-in by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun as part of the “Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation” project.
The project is sponsored by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under the aegis of the Namami Gange program.
The Ganga Praharis will be the role models in inspiring other members of the community to join hands in the efforts for conservation of the biodiversity of river Ganga.
Each Prahari shall work on the model of ‘Each One Make Ten’.
The Ganga Praharis of the five main stem Ganga basin states will be linked through mobile applications such as Bhuvan Ganga app, my gov app and Swachhta app thereby creating a broad network among them.
