One day workshop "AWAKEN 2014" on Environment & Health organised by ENVIS Centre and CSIR-IICT on 10.07.2014 at CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad.

 A One day workshop entitled "AWAKEN" 2014 was organised by ENVIS Centre and CSIR-IICT on 10th July 2014 on the topic Environment-Health. School children of class X and XI numbering 120 were invited @ 10 students from 12 different schools of the twin cities. The programme started with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by the Guest of Honour Dr. Sammaiah (Kakatiya University) Dr. M. Lakshmi Kantam (Director CSIR-IICT) and Dr. U.S.N. Murty (Coordinator ENVIS CSIR-IICT). The entire days schedule had 04 talks in two sessions with two talks slated in the pre and two talks in post lunch session.

The first talk of the day was delivered by Dr. Ratna Joseph (Chief Entomologist, GHMC, Hyderabad) on the topic "Climate Change and Health Consequences". He cited that health is the biggest wealth of the human race quoting Mahatma Gandhi the father of the nation. Dr. Joseph spoke about the extreme heat conditions prevailing due to global warming and cited that majority of them were manmade due to which we are facing natural disasters and the planet earth is experiencing variable rainfall patterns. Due to ozone depletion and melting of glaciers the sea levels are raising due to which in the years to come most of the land will be engulfed and many cities abutting the sea coast would disappear. He opined that due to this effect much of the population living in these areas have to be evacuated to safer areas which might result in onset of communicable diseases and many may suffer from mental disorders due to the catastrophe.

He suggested a few measures to mitigate the problem which includes advocacy at the school and college level students and to sensitize the school children about the environmental degradation, the government should strengthen the partnership of Science and Evidence,  overall health system prevailing in our country at present should be streamlined and made more effective by developing a global research agenda.

The second lecture entitled "Environment and Health" was delivered by Dr. Ms. Sabitha of O.U. Women's college Koti, she spoke about the deleterious effects of green house gases due to the depletion of the ozone layer. Dr. Sabitha also suggested ways and measures to reduce air pollution and said that CNG would be a better option for public transport as the vehicle exhaust does not contain lead and also emits less carbon dioxide when compared to the petrol run vehicles. In her talk she stressed upon the need to have clean potable water as water pollution is quite rampant and most of the population in our country is affected by it. She cited the examples of fluorosis in Nalgonda (Telangana) Prakasam (Andhra Pradesh) districts and Orissa State. Arsenic poisoning is quite prevalent in Bangladesh and West Bengal. 

The speaker brought to the notice of the audience that the birds vulture and common sparrow have disappeared from the horizon due to extensive urbanisation, she also said that people are falling prey to Minamata disease by consumption of fish contaminated with mercury. She cautioned the students to be very selective and careful in buying fruits like Mangoes, and Bananas from the market as they are artificially ripened by carbide, Apples and Strawberries are coated by wax which when ingested would lead to lot of health problems. The abuse of the mother earth by plastics was also highlighted in her lecture.

Dr. Sammaiah (Kakatiya University) gave the first lecture in the post lunch session entitled "Environment and Health" He spoke about the common pollutants like Carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, Hydrogen Sulphide etc., which cause health hazards to common man on a broad range. The speaker highlighted that most of the ground water is contaminated and is not fit for drinking heavy metals like Lead and Cadmium being one of the main culprits for water pollution. They enter into the soil due to extensive usage and create lot of problem.

Water borne diseases are quite common in our country which is due to various reasons one of them is over use of pesticides. The fruits and vegetables we consume have lot of pesticide residues and when these are consumed without proper cleaning we may end up having cancer. He also said that due to pollution there is lot of variance in the climatic pattern and the seasons are not adhering to the prescribed schedule putting the farming community into distress, which leads to escalation of food prices. Dr. Sammaiah said that psychological problems are more prevalent  among the populace particularly with the youth due to environmental changes.

He ended his talk by saying that due to environmental changes sociological hazards like population, growth, overcrowding, Noise and lack of privacy are more prevalent in the present day to day life.

The last lecture of the day was given by Dr. U.S.N. Murty (ENVIS Coordinator) he spoke on the topic "Integrated Control of Vectors and Vector borne diseases"  Dr. Murty spoke in length about the nuisance created by the mosquito vectors by spreading the deadly diseases like Malaria, Filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, Dengue and Chikan gunya. He said that the fight between man and mosquito is going on since long and mankind has been using all sorts of combat and control methods to bring the menace under its grip.

He said that due to climatic change new vector borne diseases are remerging with lot of vigour and posing a serious threat to the human race. Malaria is the most dangerous and many African countries are in its grip. Dr. Murty spoke about the role played by CSIR-IICT, ENVIS Centre in the area of vector borne diseases by disseminating information it is catering to the needs of academicians, students, public health workers, researchers, planners and policy makers. The speaker spoke about the role played by CSIR-IICT in this area of research and the notable contributions made which are being implemented country wide in a phased manner. He stressed the students that community participation would go a long way in controlling the population of mosquitoes and extolled the students to see to that there is no stagnation of water in and around their school and home to prevent mosquito breeding.

After every talk by the speaker there was a lively question answer session between the speaker and the school children.

A day prior to the one day workshop students were selected from various schools to participate in the "Elocution and Drawing Competition". The theme for elocution was "Climate Change" and for the drawing it was "Environment and Biodiversity". Both the competitions witnessed very spirited participation wherein the students exhibited their skills in putting forth their ideas by their talk and drawing. The top three from each category were awarded prizes and certificates, as the competition was very tough the judges decided to give consolation prizes and certificate to all the participants of the two competitions.                                                                                         

 The valedictory function was held where the winners/runners of the two competitions were given mementoes and certificates all the students were given participation certificates by the Director CSIRT-IICT and the ENVIS Coordinator. The function ended with a "Vote of Thanks" proposed by Dr.Sunil Misra. 

Inaguration of the workshop by Guest of Honour Dr. Sammaiah and Dr. M. Lakshmi Kantam, Director CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad also seen Dr.USN Murty, IICT ENVIS coordinator.	Children's participated in AWAKEN workshop held on 10.07.2014, at CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad.
Section of school children who participated in AWAKEN workshop held on 10.07.2014, at CSIR-IICT.	Children participating in the elocution competion held on 09.07.2014 as part of AWAKEN-14.
School children during the "AWAKEN 2014" drawing competition held on 09.07.2014
Winners of elocution and drawing competitions receiving momentoes from Dr.Lakshmi Kantam Director, CSIR-IICT during AWAKEN-14 workshop.