Pics: Jeevan D'Costa
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (JD)
Udupi, Nov 30: ‘Nadige’ towards a thousand miles, an initiative by social activist Avinash Kamath, Abigail S Anchan, MGM College NSS units was inaugurated on November 30 at the MGM college premises.
This movement aims at collecting the old footwears and reusing it in creating new mats, bags, and footwears. The programme will be held for three days till December 3 at the MGM college premises.
Dinesh Holla, social activist and environmentalist inaugurated the programme. Addressing the gathering, he said, "The real living is living with creating some hallmarks. Today's youths go on hiking and turn the joking sports into waste garbage dumps. I gained knowledge about the forests by living with the tribals of the forests. The tribals living in the forests are the real protectors of forests. I started the ‘Vana Chethana’ project for the children of the tribal community and it is growing in a very good manner. The real garbage of the world is the thoughts of mankind. We need to be really concerned about the rain, and the droughts we will face in the next summer season. I have witnessed many incidents in tribal schools where tigers, snakes, and many other animals come and sit inside the classrooms, here our children are worried about entering the classrooms for a little cockroach also. If the animals had the right to vote many of the problems would be solved by them. This initiative of collecting old footwears and turning them into useable materials is a really commendable initiative.”
The collected footwears will be sent to Greensole company as a raw material. The Greensole foundation will convert these raw materials into new footwears, and will distribute to the needy persons all over the nation. Public can deposit their old footwears at collection centre in MGM College.
Vishwanath Shenoy, honorary president Sanskriti Vishwa Prathishthana, Ashwath S L, co-founder Creative Educational Institutions Karkala, Ravindra Shetty, promoter Girija group of concerns, Ansar Ahmed, founder Hope India Foundation, Dr Sulatha V Bhandary, president Manipal Mahila Samaj, Prof Laxminarayan Karanth, principal MGM College, Adolf Sheriwn Ammannaa, founder Vision Academy of Music were present.
Suchith Kotian, professor journalism department compered the programme. Avinash Kamath welcomed the gathering and Abigail D Anchan proposed vote of thanks.
A sapling was also planted on the occasion as commemoration of the event.