Every year Seva Mandir marks 12th February as Ummedmal Lodha Environment Day. This February the Ummedmal Lodha Trust and Seva Mandir distributed the 13th Ummedmal Lodha Environment Awards to communities and individuals who have done remarkable work in the field of Environment. Five individuals were given away a cash prize of Rs. 2,000 each and a certificate. Two forest protection committees won the award in the second category with a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 each and a certificate. Two village communities were awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000 each and a certificate in the third category. This year a scholarship of Rs. 12,000 was also distributed to a girl from Kotra who wants to pursue higher education.
Ms. Neelima Khetan (Country Director AIF, India) was invited to give a memorial lecture this year. She considered these initiatives of communities and efforts of many individuals involved in similar development activities with ‘experiments of Swaraj’. She quoted a definition of Swaraj given by Gandhi ji and brought forth how communities in villages are using non-violent means in bringing the change. Especially, when today, individual and economic wealth is considered essentials of life, these communities (in areas where Seva Mandir and similar organizations are working) are protecting common lands and forests for common good. She considered ‘honest expectations’, ‘trust that everyone is capable of doing the right thing’, ‘asking everyone to follow the rules’ and ‘honesty and respect towards the work’, as some of the ingredients of doing this work that these communities have been able to do.
