PRAKRITI

Prakriti, the environment society of LSR is a platform through which students enlighten themselves and others about the importance of environmental issues and sustainable development.

Every fresher enters the vast arena of extracurricular activities of LSR by first planting a sapling on their orientation day organized by our society. We hope to initiate freshness, new life into the college, by entrusting each student with a sapling to nurture, to love and enjoy the beauty of watching it grow.

Throughout any given year, we organize various competitions, workshops, seminars and talks on nature to explore the different ideas that students may embark upon. During the annual LSR Diwali Mela, Prakriti displays LSR jute bags and calendars. We also lead the colleges in the Delhi University Flower Show and have won the prestigious Green Cup of Delhi University for the 9th consecutive year.

Prakriti seeks to foster every individual’s natural love for nature and works to inspire their willingness to work for the environment.

Society Executives
Project Head: Vidhi Agarwal
President: Raashi Parakh
Editor : Shivangi Mehta
General Secretary : Charul Verma

Staff Advisors :
Anjani Kochak(Convener), Kalyani A., Sonali Mishra, Shernaz Cama, Pankaja Ghai, Parul Gupta, Neha Sharma, Suman Bhanoo, Inderjeet Singh, Ajit Kumar

Highlights 2016-17

• Sapling plantation: Prakriti begins every new academic year by organising a ' Sapling Plantation ceremony for the first year students of our college aiming to imbibe them with environment consciousness from early on. The budding sapling symbolises the journey of a student as we grow and mature during our college years.
• Fresher's competition - Sheldon's spot : Prakriti conducted a Fresher's competition, namely, Sheldon's spot : a photography competition. The participants had to send in pictures of their favourite nature spot in the college.
• Ozone day assembly: Prakriti aimed to increase awareness about the rapid degeneration of the ozone layer due to human activities by showing a documentary 'The Antarctic Ozone Hole - From Discovery To Recovery'. This short video by United Nations Environment Programme was released on the occasion of OZONE DAY.
• Ozone day competition in secretariat on  THE INTERNATIONAL OZONE DAY: On  16th September 2016  various schools and colleges including our own across Delhi met in the splendid Auditorium of Delhi Secretariat, IG Indoor Stadium. The students along with guests from various Government Departments were present to mark the 30th Anniversary of The International Ozone Day.
•   Waste Paper drive: Prakriti continued this project from the previous year and collected around 580 kilos of waste paper. It was then sent to the NGO Dakshina to be recycled into notebooks. These notebooks will be distributed among the underprivileged children of the NGO CDP under the National Service Scheme in our college.
• No to firecrackers campaign : Prakriti took up the initiative to educate children of two NGO's : Chehel and CDP, about the negative aspects of burning firecrackers. We asked them to put on paper their idea of diwali and were amazed by the results. These interactive sessions with the kids ended up with them promising not to burn crackers or at least reduce the amount.
• Movie screening - Erin Brockovich: Erin Brockovich is a tenacious young women who will make us believe in both hard work and miracles. Prakriti screened this biopic as it is a classic example of the might of man over nature resulting in disastrous consequences.
• Dusf competition: On the 26th of October,2016, the environment society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi organised a meeting of environment societies of all DU college.  There was a discussion on the activities and programs undertaken by the environment societies of the colleges present. SBSC took the initiative of forming a group called 'Delhi University Sustainability Forum' or DUSF which would comprise all the colleges present as its members. DUSF  would represent the environmental society of DU as a whole, standing strong to deal with important environmental issues and concerns.
• Talk by the Founder of Chintan, an eco friendly NGO: Prakriti was proud to organise a talk with Ms. Bharati Chaturvedi, the Founder and Director of Chintan Environmental Research and Action group. She spoke on 'The counterproductive act of consumption'.The amount of waste generated by humans will soon result in a plethora of dumping sites  rather than parks. She made us realise the importance of sustainable living and reducing consumption.
• National Research Paper Competition: This was the first time that Prakriti organised a national level Research Paper Competition. Our topic was ' Environmental Politics' and we received some very insightful and innovative papers with unique perspectives on environmental issues and their solutions.
• Marker project: Prakriti aims to make the campus a sustainable place. We have initiated the Marker Project to reuse old markers instead of buying new one's by refilling their ink. This will greatly reduce the waste generated as well as make instigate recycling in the campus.
• Pom pom workshop : We held a session with the NGO Pom Pom which specialises in recycling plastic and other products. The session gave us valuable insight into recycling and it's myriad benefits.
• Tarang event- Bounty Hunter: For the annual fest of college, Tarang, Prakriti organised a treasure hunt with an environmental twist. The treasure hunt tested the environmental knowledge of participants as they solved initial clues to find non environment friendly products. They also had to come up with alternatives for these products, only then were they given the next clue indicating the location of the sustainable substitutes. We aimed to augment awareness as well as encourage usage of these products through our hunt.
• Tree census: We have continued with the project of naming all the trees in our campus to identify the different species present in our campus enhancing our knowledge about their their beneficial properties.
• Tree of the week: Scrapbooks were made on three main trees in the campus laying down their uses, benefits and advantages of their planting in the campus.
• Nest making workshop : We planned to build homes for the birds under the expert guidance of Mr. Khatri. This workshop helped us get in touch with nature in the most rudimentary manner.
• Upcycling of plastic bottles: Prakriti took up the initiative to recycle plastic bottles by using it as flower pots using the drip irrigation method under the guidance of Sonali mishra Ma'am, our staff advisor and with the help of our maali bhaiyas.
• Green Cup and DU Flower Show: Prakriti has been wining the prestigious Green Cup award for years now and we continued with our wining streak this year too. We managed to bag 13 trophies in Antardhwani for our green campus as well as the beautiful flower arrangements by students and gardeners.