Best Practices – 2

1. Title of the Practice: Green initiatives

2. Objectives of the Practice

As an educational institution, DarshanCollege is aware of its duty to educate the youth on the importance of conserving the environment by encouraging the adoption of a sustainable lifestyle. The College believes in teaching through practice and therefore attempts to set an example for the students by adopting and encouraging a number of green initiatives.

The College is located in one of the prime areas of the city and draws upon the limited resources along with residential and commercial establishments. . Pressure on water resources , electricity and vehicular pollution are some of the issues plaguing the area. As a responsible servant of mother nature the College has taken steps to become an environmentally conscious space and regulate its demand of limited natural resources.

• A holistic education is imperative to create socially responsible individuals. Higher education cannot limit itself to merely providing academic training. It is important that students are made aware of their duties and responsibilities towards society and the world at large. Being sensitive and responsive to the environment is a trait that has to be inculcated in children at a young age in school and be reinforced at the level of higher education. To set an example and inspire all stakeholders to opt for environment friendly alternatives, The College has initiated the following practices

• Solar energy: The College has installed rooftop solar panels .

• Rainwater harvesting: The College has created an infrastructure to facilitate rain water harvesting on a large scale. The green grounds around the College building allow the rainwater to percolate through the soil so that the deep water aquifer/underground water reserve gets replenished. Storm water drains have also been positioned all along the perimeter of the large terrace to collect rainwater.

• Vermi-composting: The infrastructure for vermi-composting has been successfully installed on campus and the product is put on sale during College events to promote organic gardening, solid waste management in homes and reduce dependence on chemical products

• Saving paper: The College is consciously working towards reducing the use of paper by way of digitalization of documents and introduction of an e-academic management system which involves digital management of students’ academic details including marks, attendance, etc. The College also encourages duplex printing and photocopying and recycles paper. Used printed letter heads are used for internal memos.

• Herbal garden: The College has also created a herbal garden and maintains medicinal trees. This initiative contributes to the expansion of the already green campus of Darshan College and creates awareness of the medicinal properties of plants and trees.

• E-waste management: Repairing and recycling of laptops, computer hardware, projectors is encouraged and executed frequently. Some departments use overhauled computer peripherals and laptops as a part of this process. Disposal of unusable hardware is achieved through buy-back policies and the money is utilized to get new and upgraded equipment. There is also a disposal box for E-waste collection in the College.

• Green Library: The students have a dedicated place in the garden where they can read books in the nature and connect with present

Each initiative undertaken by the College is a small step to contribute to the greater good of humankind. As it may be understood these initiatives take time to bring about significant changes, however the efforts are bearing fruit and gradual changes are becoming visible.

• There has been a sharp decline in the total electricity consumption after the installation of solar panels.

• As targeted, vermi-composting has been successfully implemented and the second batch of vermi-compost generated was sold to the stakeholders.

• The e-academic management system and duplex printing has visibly reduced the use of paper in the College.

Financial constraints remain the biggest problem for expensive green initiatives . The College is attempting to raise funds for this through a number of channels. Educating the local community about green initiatives so that they too adopt adequate measures also remains a challenge, given that there are many commercial establishments and high rise buildings in the locality.