Prajyoti Niketan College boasts of a verdant campus on a small hilltop in Pudukad. “Our college always supports sustainability and that is why one will find a lot of greenery and vegetation across our campus. Students as part of NSS (National Service Scheme) used to plant saplings during environment day and recently a Nature Club was inaugurated too,” says Aswathy Radhakrishnan, a final-year English student. Coordinator Jibish Mathew says, “The campus has lot of free land and the management is also interested to start green initiatives inside the campus for the progressive development of both college and its students. So with the support of Fr Harshajan Pazhayattil, the founder-director, and around 40 student volunteers, one acre of college land will be transformed into a vegetable garden.”
The club which was inaugurated recently has also seeked professional help. “When such an idea came, we consulted Apsara Madhav, agriculture officer, Pudukad and also Joseph Pallath, who bagged this year’s state award for the best vegetable farmer.”
The club has decided to grow vegetables like tomato, pumpkin, lady’s finger, cucumber, long beans and ash gourd. They are already setting up a herbal garden inside the campus. They are planting 101 medicinal plants as a start up initiative. The college has also brought out a save energy advertisement titled ‘Please’ to conserve electricity. The advertisement was selected by Kerala State Electricity Board and was aired in all Malayalam TV channels.
— aswathy.k@newindianexpress.com