BENGALURU: The ninth edition of Wipro Earthian award ceremony saw young minds coming together with solutions to promote sustainability. Over 55,000 schools and colleges, about 1,30,000 students and 13,000 teachers from across India were part of the programme, which took place at Wipro campus on Sarjapur Road on Saturday.
The teams from schools demonstrated their understanding of biodiversity, waste and water through a combination of activity-based learning programmes and written essays. BMS College of Engineering bagged an award for their project on the theme of ‘water’.
Navya Shree Vedachala, a student of the college, who worked on water conservation at Rainbow Drive Layout in the city, said, “One of the most interesting aspects was the emphasis on methodical steps that the residents of the layout took, instead of a single overwhelming project. They looked at water crisis as an opportunity to come together, instead of a cause for paralysis.”
More than 1,300 project entries were received for this edition of the awards, out of which winning entries from 10 schools and eight colleges were selected by an independent jury. The occasion was attended by Rishad Premji, chairman, Wipro, who interacted with the participants, showing a side of him that turned out to be inspirational for them.
“We came to know little things about him that are hugely motivating, like how he loves to eat dal-chawal, and that his shower time is just one minute because he wants to conserve water,” said Mandar Chandravadan Bhanuvanshe, a B.Tech final year student of College of Engineering, Pune, which won cash prize of `1 lakh for their project on food insecurity.