World Environment day: 5th June

United Nations General Assembly in 1972 established the World Environment Day. On the same day United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was created too.Today World Environment Day is celebrated world over in many ways. World Environment Day (WED) is not just another day but a special day about you and me. Green concerts, essay and poster competitions, rallies, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns etc. are some of the ways people, organisations and the governments express their concern towards the environment. WED is also used to enhance political attention and action. Pledges are made and actions are taken, which lead to the establishment of permanent governmental structures dealing with environmental management and economic planning.

Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) celebrated WED with enthusiasm. At Tarapur Atomic Power Station, for instance, weeklong celebrations were held. Slogan competition on the theme, "Prevention of Pollution and Protection of Environment", and two lectures on environmental monitoring and impact assessment were organised. The environmental survey laboratory (ESL) was kept open to public. One hundred forty villagers visited the ESL, and were briefed on the activities and facilities at the ESL.

Environmental awareness was the focus at Kaiga Atomic Power Project. The 'Environmental Radiological Laboratory' (ERL), the 'health physics unit' and the 'public relations' wing of the Kaiga Project jointly managed the event. Mr. V. K. Sharma, Project Director of the Kaiga Project, inaugurated the daylong celebration. The main attraction at Kaiga was an exhibition depicting various environmental and nuclear safety aspects. The exhibition and the ERL were open to the members of public. Radioactivity, peaceful uses of atomic energy, environmental sampling programme by the ERL, results of preoperational survey etc. were depicted through charts. photographs, and video shows. Demonstrations of Grab Sampler for the sediment, depth water sampler, plankton net, the use of protective wares and personnel radiation measurement system were given to the visitors. School children enthusiastically participated in 'natural vs. man-made radiation' experiments. Computer aided audio video shows were also arranged for the visitors. About 300 people from the adjoining villages and residents of Kaiga visited the exhibition.

World Environment Day is also an intellectual event. Seminars, roundtable meetings and symposia are organised to pool the intellectual inputs. The World Environment Foundation organised a two-day international conference on "Environment Management: Building Synergy between Business and Environment during June 5-6, 1999 in New Delhi. Mr. M. Das, Chief Engineer (HSE&PA) of NPCIL presented a paper. "Nuclear Energy: Power Source for Sustainable Development in India" in the Congress. The 'Golden Peacock Environment Management Award' was given, during the Congress, to the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) of NPCIL, by the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr. Suresh P. Prabhu, in New Delhi on June 5, 1999 (see Indian News in this issue).