“The youth of the nation are the trustees of posterity.”
With this theme, we are at Kshitizz to take up this opportunity as a social responsibility to establish a better Earth. Kshitizz literally means ‘horizon.’ The ideal reason for such a name can be enumerated based on two principles:
Rapid industrialization has given rise to various social, environmental, educational and economic problems. The society shall be making efforts to bring both industrial and sustainable development on par with each other, just as the Horizon, where the Earth seems to meet the sky. This paves the path for the second interpretation.
Horizon is a myth and so is the present state of development. Things appear to be perfectly normal, but deep down we realize that situations have dramatically changed, and have to be taken care of, forthwith. Pollution is on a rise, at an alarming rate. There is grave imbalance in the eco-system due to uncontrolled developmental activities. The societal structure is on the verge of getting shattered owing to the prevalent inequalities.
Thus, having observed the present state of things, the team seeks to work towards the over-all development of the society. It is created with an objective to implement the sustainable development goals as prescribed by the UNDP, to cause development at the grass-root levels. Efforts are to be made to establish a social equilibrium, to remove social evils, reduce and neutralize the harms caused by industrialization and globalization, encourage people to live a healthy and safe life and to provide for it.
Team Kshitizz is formed by a group of people, who are concerned about the happenings around them. They want to do something to make a difference and contribute towards the society at large. People so involved have varied areas of interest and have hence taken upon different activities, based on their personal choices and convictions, under one umbrella. The University can’t get to every other place & activity and hence the NGO has been registered to operate all over India, such that the students can work at different places, when they get there. Further, the NGO also encourages voluntary participation into its activities and allows private individuals to join the same to support the cause. The team seeks to protect nature in general and water resources in particular with a view to combat water scarcity leading to drought-like situations, as is the case in Chennai, now. To attain this goal, we had worked in association with the water man of India, Mr. Rajendra Singh, conducted various surveys and submitted reports to the Visakhapatnam district administration.
In the recent past, the NGO has conducted several cleaning drives and awareness programmes on segregation of waste. The team has also installed water pots and earthen nests in various areas and has noticed a significant increase in the number of brown sparrows, pigeons and Indian mynahs. It has also put posters and created videos to increase awareness regarding issues like saving electricity, reducing food wastage etc. The NGO has successfully launched the concept of ‘DONATION BANK’, which accepted donations in the form of old clothes, shoes, bed-sheets, electronics and any other thing which is sought to be donated. These collected goods have been disposed off to the poor and the needy. Having taken up such activities, the team was extremely astonished when they learnt that the collected items could help the people of Odisha, who have been badly affected by the extremely severe cyclonic storm ‘Fani; thus, we extended our help to them. The electronic goods, bottles and few other items have also been distributed to the workers, house-keeping staff etc., who are found working in and around our University.