Vrindavan, September 16th 2015: In a unique ceremonial event in Shri Swami Vivekananda Auditorium at the Ram Krishna Mission Sevashram, the Vrindavan Green Awards were given to eminent personalities who are working to protect the ecological culture of Vraj – Vrindavan.
Friends of Vrindavan has been organizing the ‘Vrindavan Green Award ceremony’ for three years on the occasion of the Varah Dev Jayanti. FoV celebrates this day as Vedic Day for Earth Conservation to commemorate how Lord Varah Dev saved the earth from the demon Hiranyaksh. This year seven nominees were selected for the Green Awards.
Presenting the awards to the nominees, Acharaya Shrivatsa Goswami, the Founding Trustee of Friends of Vrindavan said, “The religious leaderships are the powerhouse of energies. They have tremendous energy to bring a change in the society. If they pass a dictum to their followers to respect the nature and protect the environment, there could be a miraculous improvement in the attitude of the people towards nature.”
Goswami ji further added, “Religion without science is meaningless. There has to be scientific justification in the religious practices. Our Vedic traditions have always protected the interest of the nature, which has taught us to respect it. Therefore we worship the nature. Our God has appeared in different form of incarnation of Matsya (fish) to Varaha (boar) to save the earth.”
The Green Temple award for 2015 was given to Shri Rangji Mandir. Smt. Malyada Rangacharya received the award on the temple’s behalf. Rangji Mandir was given this award for its efforts for rain water harvesting, which has helped to raise the water level of the wells of its neighborhood. The temple is also famous for its gardens, where a large number of trees were planted. The Bare Bagicha is a famous place where Thakur Shri Rangnath ji visit during the Brahmotsavam.
Shri Krishna Brahma Ratan Vidya Mandir, Vatsalya Gram clinched the Green School Award of the year 2015. This school is very active in the Eco school activities and have been partnering with FoV in educating its students about the waste segregation and recycling. A big number of trees are planted in the school campus every year. Smt. Anita Chaturvedi, the Principal of the School received the Award along with the teachers of the school.
Maan Mandir Seva Sansthan, Varsana received the ‘Green Campaign Awards’ for its efforts to stop illegal mining of the hills of Vraja. It is also noteworthy that Shri Ramesh Baba’s organization has been instrumental in the Save Yamuna Campaign. Several water bodies of Vraja were restored by the Maan Mandir Seva Sansthan. Shri Radha Kant Shashtri received the Green Honor on behalf of the organization.
Senior Journalist Shri Braj Khandlewal was given the ‘Green Journalist Awards’ for his articles raising the environmental issues related to Vraja. Shri Khandelwal was first to oppose the amalgamation of the civic bodies of Mathura and Vrindavan in any national daily. The idea of the merger was later dropped by the UP government after severe protest by the brajwasis.
Eminent environment lawyer Shri Rahul Choudhary was honored with the Green Award for his legal intervention to protect the environment of Vraja. Shri Choudhary is fighting several legal cases related to protect the ecological glory of Vraja – Vrindavan.
The Kailash Nagar Residents welfare association was given the Green Community Award for its zealous effort to keep the neighborhood clean and planting a big number of trees in the community. Shri Mukesh Saraswat, the president of the RWA received the award along with his colleagues of the community.
Shri Ved Prakash Singh, the Executive Engineer of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd received the Green Officer Award for making his office campus green. He planted more than one hundred neem trees in his personal capacity within the electricity office. The use of plastic cups for tea has been banned in his office.
Apart from the Green Awards, some other dignitaries were also honored during the event. Shri Akash Vashishtha, Shri Vikrant Tongad, Shri Shravan Kumar, Shri Om Prakash Singh were honored for their pro – active approaches towards the environmental protection.
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