Henkel moots national level strategic environmental competition

Mumbai, Oct 6 (UNI) Henkel India, the leading FMCG major in the country, today announced the launch of its Environment and Sustainability Initiative called Henkel Enviro-Learn, a strategic activity related to promoting awareness amongst school and college students in major cities across India.

As part of Henkel's endeavor to inculcate awareness and enhance sensitivity to environmental issues amongst the younger generation of the country, the company has launched 'Eco-petition' a nationwide environmental competition, said a Henkel release here today.

Enviro-Learn is part of Henkel's sustainability strategy to raise awareness of environmental protection and promoting education and research for sustainable development, the release added.

Eco-petition is a paper presentation competition targeted at more than 500 schools, in the first phase, across five major cities- Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The competition is open to students of class X and XI.

The topic for Eco-Petition is ''Eco-Concerns and Sustainability -''My Action Plan for a Better Tomorrow''. The participants will write a paper on environmental issues such as global warming, ozone layer depletion, waste management, recycling resources, non-conventional sources of energy, usage of environment friendly products, etc.

Entries will be shortlisted and finalists will be invited to an event, wherein the short listed candidates will present their papers, followed by a Q&A Round and a Panel Discussion by which the winners will be adjudged.

The panel of judges will be drawn from renowned personalities in the field of environment, social work and education. The winner will receive the Eco-petition- Henkel Enviro Care Award along with a gift cheque for Rs 10,000, the second prize will be Rs 7,500 and the third prize will be Rs 5,000. In addition, all contestants will be awarded certificates for participation and there will be a trophy for the Best Cheering School as well.

The first episode of Eco-petition was conducted in 2005 in Chennai, where more than 60 city schools participated and three winners were chosen.

This year, Henkel takes Eco-petition national where the semi-finalists from the five cities will get an opportunity to compete with their counterparts on a national level at the Grand Finale that will take place by end of 2006 where the All India Eco-petition winner will be chosen.

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