"Be a part of the solution and not the pollution” - with this message in mind, the Students’ Wing of MGIMS Bioethics Unit, Sewagram came together under a common umbrella and took the initiative of celebrating this year's Diwali in an eco-friendly fashion. The campaign began with gifting of the saplings of Tulsi plant (A symbol of new beginning) wrapped in handmade newspaper bags along with the ‘Green Diwali’ greeting cards to the higher authorities as well as to all the departments of MGIMS.
On 24th of October 2018 at 5pm, the students joined their hands to arrange themselves in a semicircle in front of MCH building. The Students’ Wing of Bioethics Unit of JNMC, Sawangi were also present. The team invited the relatives of admitted patients to join in and form the other half of the circle. This symbolized a collaborative effort of both the students as well as the relatives to work towards a common objective. The team then delivered the heath talk in which questions like, 'Were there any crackers at that time when Lord Rama returned from his Vanwasa and Diwali got celebrated for the first time; and if not then why now?', were put forth. the students also discussed the demerits of bursting crackers and told them a true incidence of a small kid who lost his life just because of a severe asthmatic attack which he suffered from during the period of Diwali. The students kept holding the hand made charts and posters which were speaking louder than their words. One individual explicitly expressed his opinion by saying that "Diwali ek pyaar ka tyohaar hain jaha hum sabhi ko dhua se zyaada dua par dhyaan dena chahiye. Aap sabhi ek bohut nek kaam kar rahe hain. Hum sabhi ko aap par bohut garv hain". This highlighted the true meaning of this festival which is nothing but spreading love through sweets and kind gestures. There was an active participation and indulgence of the spectators and this in turn gave the students an intense satisfaction.
A candle march which was intended to spread the message of 'Do what is right through the power of light', followed the talk. Around 40 students picked up candles and marched along the streets of Sevagram to spread the message of “Clean and Green Diwali” to the community outside our hospital. The students were also accompanied by 4 police officers for their protection along the route of their march. Towards the end of this march, the students placed their candles in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi (inside the college premises) and took a pledge, thereby dignifying and asserting their commitment to the cause of environmental protection from pollution by refraining themselves from bursting any cracker this Diwali.
The Green Diwali Month’s initiative will continue through another activity - 'Scintillate'; where the team has requested its mentors and colleagues for a photograph of them holding a placard with a message written on it or a photograph with a Diya and all these photographs would then be assembled and incorporated in the form of a collage to bring all such change provoking messages on one common platform.
The students received accolades by the management of the institute. Dr N Gangane, Dean MGIMS, congratulated the MGIMS Bioethics wing for taking the Green Diwali initiative and said "This is a small step towards pollution free Diwali. We, as the responsible citizens of India, should commit ourselves to an eco-friendly celebrations. "
Dr. Akshay Yadav (President of Students' wing MGIMS Bioethics Unit ) (2013) Dr. Sadaf Azam (Joint Secretary of Students' wing MGIMS Bioethics Unit) (2013), Dr. Sarang Bombatkar (Executive member of Students' wing MGIMS Bioethics Unit) (2013), Dr. Abha Yelne (2013), Nikhil Honale (Secretary of Students' wing MGIMS Bioethics Unit) (2014), Mudita Joshi (2014), Aakanksha Shukla (2016), Atharva Kokaje (2016), Ajay Kedar (2016), Khushi Agroya (2017), Samrudhi Bhalgat (2017), Nimisha Indugu (2017), ), Rahul Beria (2017), Vashishtha Zade(2017), Priya Singh (2017), Prerna Shelke (2017), Preksha Wandile (2017), Pragati Parihar (2017) Suryadev Vrindavanam (2017), Hrishikesh Dhande (2017) and Pinky Maharia (2017) participated in the event. Dr. Shiv Joshi (President and Head of Students' Wing, Indian programme in UNESCO chair of Bioethics, Haifa) guided the event.