Imphal, April 22: Manipur today joined the rest of the International community in observing Earth Day held under various themes related to protection of the environment.

Taking the lead, Manipur State Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and CC Higher Secondary School jointly observed the day along with organising a function at the school campus today.

Chairman of MPCB E Dwijamani Singh, Principal of CC Higher Secondary School Y Nongalei Devi and MLA Th Lokeshore Singh attended the function as chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.

On the significance of observing Earth Day, Member Secretary of MPCB Th Ibobi Singh said that the Earth Day is being observed all over the world as an outcome of the efforts made by US Senator Kellock Nelson in 1962 towards making it compulsory for all the countries to recognise the environmental issues as their political agenda.

Under his initiative, a Nationwide rally to spread the message of environmental protection was successfully organised on April 22, 1970.The rally was attended by around 20 million people including students from around 2000 universities and 10,000 schools.

Since then, to commemorate the event, Earth Day is being observed on April 22 every year.

Today, there is a World-wide Earth Day network comprising 17000 organisations from 174 countries, he informed the gathering, adding that in the last edition around 1 million people have participated in the Earth Day observance.

While pointing out that with change in the environmental condition, the approach towards tackling the problem has also been changing from time to time, Ibobi noted that around 1990s, the main thrust was on recycle theory but after 2000 it has been on global warming and clean energy.

Whatever may be the approach, the utmost importance is to find out the impact of environmental changes on human lives and take up necessary measures to save the environment from further degradation for the sake of future generations to come, he said, adding that bringing about behavioural changes in the lifestyle of the people and keeping the environment neat and clean should be the underlining motive behind observance of the Earth Day.

Retired Principal of DM College of Science H Nandiram Sharma and Head of Chemistry Department of the same college G Tomba Sharma were among the resource persons who spoke at the occasion attended by students of the school which is also one of the members of the Eco Club.

The Earth Day was also observed at the Lamphelpat complex of the regional office of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) with Minister of Agriculture N Loken as chief guest, Joint Director of ICAR Dr N Prakash as functional president and ProVice Chancellor of Manipur University Prof H Nandakumar Sharma, Director of Agriculture RK Nayansana and Director of Fisheries K Saratkumar as guests of honour.

Organised under the sponsorship of Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, a spot painting competition attended by around 600 school children was also held to mark the event.

The painting competition was based on the theme of global warning and water conservation.

Bio-Diversity Ecology and Environment Network, Manipur (BEE Net, Manipur) also observed Earth Day at the committee room of VC of Manipur University today.

The observance function was attended by Pro Vice Chancellor of Manipur University Prof H Nandakumar Sharma, president of BEE Net Manipur Dr Kh Samungou and Dean of Student Welfare, MU Prof Islamuddin as chief guest, functional president and guest of honour respectively.

The chief guest released a journal called BEE News published for the first time by the Network at the occasion.

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