A multi-faceted personality,Vasantkumar Mysoremath has donned many hats, after his retirement from the office of the CAG where he served 39 years of meritorious service in many capacities and at various levels. He is a World Bank honoured innovator, a social activist, a parisara mitra, a consumer activist, a human resource development expert, a convener for voter awareness movement as well as an adviser on public forums in Bangalore and Mysore.
Narrating his participation in various campaigns and movements, Vasantkumar expresses strong reservation about many civic issues, especially the collection and disposal of waste in Bangalore. He feels that people have been suppressed for a long time and their voice is hardly heard when it comes to implementation of various projects.
Social concerns
The issue of lack of consumer awareness in Bangalore led him to turn an advisor and TV Anchor for Graahaka Jaagruthi Vedike of Karnataka Graahaka Parishat. He has conducted about 52 episodes of live interaction with consumers for 4M TV channel which was basically for creating awareness about rights of consumers and consumerism.
The past decade, he has been on many a public affairs committee after shifting from Bangalore to Mysore; being a member of JNNURM committee on solid waste management, city sanitation task force while at the same time, carrying on relentlessly to motivate people and take up conservation of water bodies, conducting skill development interactive workshops for poor youth while also carrying on the voter awareness movements in the district. Apart from this, he has been passionate about ecological issues and responsible for planting of thousands of saplings in urban and rural areas.
World Bank honour
His 'Save Electricity Campaign' in the state fetched him the World Bank honour for innovative projects. As a result of his project, U-SEE (Unlimited Savings of Electrical Energy), he was invited by the World Bank for presentation of his innovative idea of saving electricity and natural resources. Vasantkumar says, "With the help of a mirror, one can reflect sunlight during the bright hours through a window, on the white ceiling of your home which is equivalent to 40-60 watts of light. The bigger the mirror, brighter the light. But to get this deflected solar light for four hours, from 8 am to 12 noon, one has to nudge the mirror a bit, every hour. With U-SEE, my ambition is to spread this idea to one and all, save the scarce resource and as such my idea has no charges," he smiles.
Anti-tobacco forum
The passionate Anti Tobacco Forum Convener who has held 150 workshops and seminars on the ill effects of tobacco in schools, colleges and multi-national companies says, "On one side, the government passes the Food Security Bill while on the other, farmers are shifting their acreage from food to commercial crops. Unfortunately, elected representatives who are hand in glove with farmers in the Hunsur belt, have blatantly violated WHO norms by taking part in tobacco promotion events recently."
Hoping to continue with his work and motivate the youth, this 69-year-old 'young' man signs off saying, "It is about giving back to the society. Most of us are idle at times and I appeal to the youth to involve themselves in nation building."
mmeera.bhardwaj@newindianexpress.com