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 Last
year, Ford India introduced the Ford Motor Company's Conservation
and EnvironmentalGrants Program in India. For this program,
a sum of $ 30,000 was set up. The Ford Motor Company and Ford India
shared this equally. The programme, which is an annual feature,
is aimed at supporting individuals and organisations committed to
the cause of environmental conservation. This year the programme
was divided into two categories - the adult category and the youth
category. The 'Go Green with Josh' was an interschool
competition, which was aimed at the youth category.
Over forty of the city's prestigious schools were invited to participate
in the event. Of these eighteen schools qualified for the
preliminary round. The competition to choose the three finalists
was held at IIT, Chennai. The wooded campus provided the right
setting for the competition. The topics that were allotted for the
presentation were Rainwater Harvesting, Vermiculture and
Disposing of Plastics. Rainwater harvesting was the
most popular topic of the afternoon, as thirteen of the participating
schools chose the topic, Vermiculture was chosen by just two schools
while three schools chose to make their presentation on disposal
of plastics.
 The
panel of three judges were Prof S S Gokhale, Prof Megha Singh
and Dr Susy Verghese. The participants were required
to present an environmental project, which they are already implementing
or planning to implement in the school campus or in the neighbourhood.
Each school had five minutes to present their project and the project
was adjudged on its usefulness and practicality, dedication and
commitment of its participants, financial need, track record of
the project and replicability. Vinay Piparsania, Vice-President,
External Affairs, Ford India Ltd, while starting the proceedings,
noted that Ford India had always been committed to environmental
leadership and that it constituted a critical part of Ford's corporate
citizenship initiatives. About the 'Go green with Josh' competition,
he said that it served as a platform for school children to come
up with innovative ideas on how to preserve the environment in their
surrounding campus.
 The
three finalists who were selected are L Shubkala and J
Nithya Rosalyn of CSI Ewart's, AishwaryaSubramanian and
M Meenakshi Sundaram of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (KK Nagar)
and Rajalakshmi R J and S Purnima from Vidyodaya
Girls Higher Secondary School. An interesting fact is
that the two participants who chose Vermiculture as their topic
were among the finalists. The other school made its presentation
on Rainwater harvesting. The three finalists will present
their projects again on November 20th at IIT, Chennai
when the Conservation and Environmental Grants program awards ceremony
will be held. The winner from the youth category will be felicitated
along with two winners from the adult category during the ceremony.
The total grant amount of about Rs15 lakh will be distributed among
the winners.
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