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With plastic becoming a major menace, here is an insight into how the students as well as the authorities of Miranda House have taken up several steps to make their campus a plastic-free space of the University.

Plastic is one of the most ubiquitous materials in the economy but with the increasing awareness about its ill-effects and negative impact on the environment and the spreading of the news of its complete ban by the government, several colleges and institutions have started substituting plastic with other options.

Miranda House has also taken many such initiatives to discourage the usage of single-use plastic.

The first step taken by students and societies was to conduct a plastic-free Fresher’s party to welcome the freshers to a ‘Green Miranda’. Vatavaran, the environmental cell of Miranda House, along with the Department of Geography encouraged the student councils of all the departments to conduct their Department Freshers without the usage of plastic in decoration and food. As a novel and creative initiative, the ‘Green Departments’ which successfully conducted a ‘plastic-free freshers’ were provided with certificates.

Aatreyee Tamuly, a student of B.A. (Hons) History, Miranda House said, “I think Miranda has taken the ‘No Plastic Campaign’ pretty well. It was great seeing all the departments taking part in the no plastic campaign during the Department fresher’s party.”

The usage of plastic in the canteen has been decreased as they have started providing steel plates and spoons instead of plastic plates for serving food. Providing straws has been stopped completely. Nescafe has substituted plastic cutlery with wooden cutlery and plates with paper bowls.

All along, the National Service Scheme (NSS) of Miranda House has conducted various events to discourage the usage of single-use plastic. One such event was a collection drive on the campus to collect all the plastic bottles and other plastic waste. The collected items were then handed over to the plastic recycling centre.

Another major step by the National Service Scheme (NSS) was to celebrate Onella, a Social Mela with the theme of ‘No Single-Use Plastic’. Several posters were circulated with the message of avoiding plastic usage. The regular Diwali Mela (Onella) was celebrated as a Social Mela this year to encourage secularism, raise funds and to promote the social cause of avoiding plastic usage. A REPLAFT competition was organized by the society on the eve of Onella in which the students were supposed to reuse plastic to make craft items. The decorative stuff made by reused plastic was sold at Onella. A signatory campaign to discourage the usage of single-use plastic also found its way into the celebrations. Another initiative by the society was to organize a ‘Plog Run’, which was plastic picking plus jogging.

Priyanshi Singh, a final year student of Miranda House expressed her views on the initiatives. She said, “I feel that the initiatives taken by authorities and students to avoid usage of plastic are really good, but I feel more could be done to it. For instance, plastic bottles are still being sold on the campus, as plastic cold drink bottles and water bottles are being sold and used. Instead, they could only sell glass bottles or cans. Selling some packaged items like chips can also be avoided, which could also lead to a healthy lifestyle. Whatever has been done to minimize it is good, but still some more steps like substituting aerated drink bottles with cans and glass bottles should be done.”

However, the initiatives taken by societies and authorities can only be successful if one takes steps on an individual level.  The words of Margaret Mead ring a true bell at this moment. 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

 

Image Credits: shiksha.com

Priya Chauhan

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Recently, DramaNomics, theatre society of College of Vocational Studies performed their annual stage production. Here is the review of the same.

Pollution is one of the biggest problems of this decade. With the government taking steps towards reducing plastic usage and banning single-use plastic in some areas, plastic pollution and its adverse effects still find a way into our daily lives.  A recent study shows that microbial plastic has made its way into the food chain and it’s long term effects include exposure to carcinogens and inflammation of the stomach lining.
Street theatre has now found its way to address the plastic menace. DramaNomics, the theatre society of College of Vocational Studies performed their annual street production ‘Plastic Paradox’ as a part of the Sahitya Kala Parishad at Kamani Auditorium. Packed with enthusiasm, one-liners, and a great background music, the play finds a hilarious way to address the ongoing plastic crisis in India.

Image Credits: Jaishree Kumar for DU Beat.
Image Credits: Jaishree Kumar for DU Beat.

The play starts with an infographic on plastic usage and slowly progresses to scenes of human evolution, the development of technology, and human intellect leading to the discovery of single-use plastic. The passage of time and evolution is represented by a human clock, moving in synchronicity as one of the actors delivers the Public Service Announcement. The play moves on to showcase the hypocrisy of the society when it comes to reducing plastic usage. The play not only talks about the impact of plastic on humans, but also its impact on marine animals and their survival.

 

Plastic Paradox tackles the issue and presents it in the most entertaining way possible. With a Punjabi-English rap song on saving the environment and pointing out the anomalies in the modern day society with respect to environmental concerns, DramaNomics take the audience on a 15 minute hilarious yet thought provoking journey on the impacts of pollution, and the need to take action against.

The play has won various awards at inter-college theatre festivals and gained widespread recognition across the theatre circuit.
Feature Image Credits: Jaishree Kumar for DU Beat.

 Jaishree Kumar

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The Delhi Government has recently launched the second phase of the Odd Even scheme, keeping in mind the environmental concerns of the day. Environmental degradation needs to be combated by not just the government but also institutions and individuals to see some changes in the prevalent conditions.

Taking cue from that, Kalindi College, University of Delhi has recently put a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles on the campus. This announcement was made during the Annual Prize Distribution ceremony of the college which was attended by senior officials from the University Grants Commission (UGC) along with other dignitaries.

The college Principal, Anulya Maurya talked about the responsibility of each individual towards environment conservation. She added that the college has started using earthen pots and will discover new and alternative measures for water consumption.

“Every human being has a responsibility towards the environment. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to ban the sale of plastic water bottles in the college starting today,” college principal Anulya Maurya said in a statement as reported by NDTV on April 18th.
“We will discover alternative methods for water storage and consumption. For now we have started using earthen pots. Kalindi is the first DU college to introduce this kind of a ban,” she added.

Kalindi College is the first one in Delhi University to propose and work on such a move.

 

Akshara Srivastava
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