CHENNAI: It was in 1995 that Sekhar Raghavan initiated a door-to-door campaign in Chennai to create awareness on the importance of rainwater harvesting. His knowledge has been significant in making a change in the city, for almost three decades. So when Thuvakkam NGO shared its idea of bringing change through its 75-day non-stop volunteering campaign, he was more than excited to collaborate with them. Addressing a gathering of almost 30 city college students at The Rain Centre, Adyar, he shared, “Almost all cities in India grapple with the dual problem of floods and droughts. This is an important issue to be looked upon as it originated due to the mismanagement during the rainy and summer seasons. Everything in nature is made up of the panchabhutas — earth, water, fire, air, and space. If we look into every element and think about ways to preserve that, we can live in a sustainable environment.”
Need of preservation
The 25th day of the volunteering activities by Thuvakkam on Monday was focused on water conservation and rainwater harvesting. Sekhar who is also the director of The Rain Centre shared, “The area of Chennai is 426 sq km and the average annual rainfall in the city is 1.4 metres. The quantity of rainwater that falls in Chennai is 5,96,40,0000000 litres. For a population of about 100 lakhs, litres per capita per day is 5,96,40,0000000 from rain alone.
When most of us complain that the city is parched, we are not preserving the sources we have and giving much importance to rainwater harvesting.” Sekhar also emphasised that rainwater harvesting was a recent invention but a practice that was there since 3000 BC. “Silappadhikaram speaks of harvesting rainwater through the construction of lakes and tanks. Our country is one of the first areas where this practice was started. The water management we have here isn’t there in many places around the world. But due to urbanisation and the shrinking of open spaces, there has been an imbalance in the environment,” he said.
Implementing initiatives
Through spreading awareness, helping in the implementation of various water conservation schemes and carrying out periodic surveys to analyse the needs of the society, The Rain Centre has been helping the city save water. Thuvakkam has also been deeply engaged in initiatives in the fields of the environment, education, and humanity. Since its establishment eight years ago, the NGO has been involved in relief causes like disaster aid, social awareness through street plays and skits, and many more.
The ‘75 days of Change’ to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, includes continuous events that began on August 26 and will go on till November 13 in collaboration with government partners and other private supporters. Krishnakumar, co-founder and CEO of Thuvakkam stated, “The idea behind the campaign is to pay tribute to the founding fathers of independent India.
We inaugurated the campaign with the planting of a Miyawaki forest in Perambur, and many other events, like weekend workshops for government schoolchildren and cultural programmes like street plays have been planned.” Jeba Rupavathi A, communication associate and Monica M, Partnership associate, Thuvakkam, agreed and added, “‘75 days of change’ has drawn engagement from around 900 volunteers so far, from class 5 students to senior citizens. We also focus on government schools and have held educational initiatives in government schools, built urban forests in schools, colleges, parks, and public spaces.”
To follow the upcoming events by Thuvakkam, visit: https://thuvakkam.org/75-days-of-change/
(Inputs from Nikhil Jayakrishnan)