Kudumbashree children’s summit on zero waste management concludes

The curtain came down on the Kudumbashree’s two-day ‘International Children’s Summit on Zero Waste Management’ with hopes of a clean world led by children. Novel ideas and recommendations on waste management were presented by children at the summit.

Local Self-government department Principal Director Seeram Sambasiva Rao inaugurated the summit valedictory and presented awards to children who bagged the first five spots for their paper presentation.

Sivanandan C. of Kollam, Chandan of Kozhikode, Devananda of Kannur, Abhinanda of Wayanad, and Athira Babu of Palakkad were presented with cash award, memento, and certificate.

He also gave away prizes to Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kasaragod which bagged the top three spots for district stalls and those who came from others States to present papers.

In a video message to children in connection with the summit, Minister for Local Self-government M.B. Rajesh said the Kudumbashree Balasabha members were ambassadors for taking the message of cleanliness to every house and curbing the habit of discarding unwanted materials. The Minister said throwing out unwanted material was a sign of an undeveloped society. It was necessary to rid the State of this culture. The children’s findings in their papers gave a lot of hope for the future.

Kudumbashree executive director Dineshan H. said the Udhyam Learning Foundation would provide financial assistance to find solutions to the problems identified by children for their paper presentation, and the children should utilise this assistance.

Environmental activist Ridhima Pandey who made the Thiruvananthapuram declaration at the summit said it would urge the Union government to set up a national university in Kerala to continuously study about waste and possibilities of reusing it.

She gave away prizes to children who presented the subject at the plenary sessions and those who presented papers at parallel sessions held in district stalls. Education expert Ratheesh Kaliyadan presented the summit report.