'Palathulli' award of Malayala Manorama announced

Kottayam, June 5 (UNI) Camballoor Government Higher Secondary School, Kasaragod, and Thiruvananthapuram College of Engineering have been selected for the 'Palathulli' (many a drop) award of the Malayala Manorama Daily in the school and college category respectively.

N Najeema of Thrissur won the special award for teachers.

Announcing the awards at a news conference here today, Malayala Manorama Chief Editor K M Mathew said that 1,500 institutions had registered under the scheme this year. Last year, there were 300 institutions.

Prize money of about Rs 4.25 lakh would be distributed under the scheme, he said.

Sacred Heart College, Thevara, and Victoria College, Palakkad, were selected for the second and third place respectively in the college category.

The award carries a cash award of Rs one lakh each for the first prize in the school and college category. The second and third prize winners would get Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively in the college category.

In addition, the district level winners would get Rs 10,000 each, he said.

Award committee members, Centre for Earth Science Studies former head Dr K M Nair and Advisor Dr P K Thampi, opined that the 'Palathulli' programme had helped create awareness among the students on the importance of water conservation and environment protection.

The programme was conceived and launched by the Malayala Manorama at a time when the state was reeling under severe drought in May 2004. Manorama took up the case of water conservation and ushered in a movement of rain water harvesting (RWH).

The Newspaper educated people on methods of water conservation and RWH. It made available to them the necessary information, technology and building models. Hundreds of schools, colleges, institutions and government offices have installed RWH units as a result of the Campaign.

UNI VST BL/VS1743