Over hundreds of fans, friends and fellow activists of Prof M K Prasad came together on Wednesday to celebrate 40 years of his dedicated environmental activism and to mark the ‘World Environment Day’.
A national seminar on the topic ‘Environment and Society: The India Challenge’ was also conducted.
Environmentalists and social activists released a document, Festchrift, in honour of the professor. Inaugurating the event, Prof Madhav Gadgil said Prasad has been able to educate many policymakers, the judiciary, bureaucracy, society and environmentalists themselves on the need to conserve nature and environment.
Prasad, popularly known as MKP, was instrumental in organising mass movements, including the 1970s Silent Valley protests and stir against Mavoor Gwalior Rayons plant, and was on the forefront of educating about ecology and wildlife through various platforms like Shastra Sahitya Parishad.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer honoured octogenarian MKP.
“Dear MKP, the world would have been much different for me if not for people like you,” he said.
Among the experts who participated in the event were Centre for Science and Environment Director-General Sunita Narain, World Wildlife Fund India’s former chief executive Dilnavaz Variava, Sanctuary Asia editor and veteran naturalist Bittu Sehgal, Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel Chairman Madhav Gadgil and former chief conservator of forests M Manoharan.