Brief Record of First Meeting of the
IIC Nature Group held on 3 February 2007
The first meeting of the proposed Nature Group
of IIC Members was held on the afternoon of
3 February 2007 in the Gandhi-King Plaza, IIC.
A list of the participants is attached.
Starting the meeting, the Convenor Shri Samar
Singh welcomed everyone present, including
the Director and other senior IIC officials, and
gave a brief account of the background leading
to the idea of forming a Nature Group in the IIC.
He referred to his recent discussions with the
Director IIC and the encouraging response
received from the IIC management. He also
read out the contents of the letter dated
1 February 07 from the Director.
Then, Shri Samar Singh drew attention to
the one page write up on the Nature Group
circulated to all the participants and requested
for comments and suggestions thereon, more
specially on the proposed name, objectives
and activities of the Nature Group.
This was followed by a self-introduction of all
participants and an interactive session in which
consensus was obtained on the following
main issues:
Name–It was agreed that the proposed name
of Nature Group was appropriate. It was further
agreed that this would be an informal group of
like-minded persons, rather than a structured
formal body with a constitution, hierarchy, etc.
Objectives
The following objectives mentioned in the
hand out were approved:
* To generate awareness and understanding
about Nature and its various elements.
* To provide relevant information and knowledge
on the subject.
* To inculcate an attitude of concern and care
for the natural environment.
* To undertake a range of activities in furtherance
of the above-mentioned objectives and generally
to promote nature conservation and environment protection.
Activities–Apart from the proposed activities, viz.,
Bird Watching, Tree Spotting, Nature Walks, Film Shows,
AV Presentations, Talks, Seminars, Workshops, Nature
Camps and Excursions, it was suggested by Shri Rajesh
Bedi that some activities for school children, such
as painting contests, should be included. The
suggestion was endorsed. Shri Bedi also offered to
lend the Nature group some of his
videos for screening.
Meetings
It was agreed that the group members would meet
once in three months, for which the venue and
other arrangements would be provided by the IIC.
As far as possible, the meetings would be held on
Saturdays. At the same time, planned activities
would be held regularly, at least one activity per
month, and efforts would be made to get these
activities included in the IIC Programme to enable
wider circulation and participation.
During discussions, Shri Suhas Borker suggested
that attention should be devoted to improving
the disposal of garbage in the IIC. It was agreed
to form a sub-group for this purpose and Shri Borker
was requested to convene the same. Along with
this, the Director IIC suggested that the introduction
of ‘Vermiculture’ should be considered seriously.
As regards activities for the next two months,
the following was agreed upon:
- 1. Mr. S. K. Mathur, Horticulture Advisor to IIC,
would arrange a conducted walk for group members
of the Mughal Gardens, Rashtrapati Bhawan, during
the latter half of Feburary. The date would be
communicated to all members on finalization.
- 2. Prof. H. Y. Mohan Ram would conduct
a Tree Walk on the IIC premises and the adjoining
Lodi Gardens on 10 March. All interested members
to assemble at the Gandhi-King Plaza by 7:15 am.
The walk would take about two hours.
With a view to ensure proper follow up, it was
agreed that the group activities would be coordinated
by Ms. Ajiti Misra with the assistance of two other members,
Dr Indira Kapoor and Mr. Vinod Verma.
Ms. Bela Butalia would coordinate support for the
Group activities from the IIC. Members also asked
Ms Butalia to forward a request to IIC for a slot
for the Nature Group on the IIC website which
could be updated regularly.
Finally, it was noted that several other members
were unable to attend the meeting and had expressed
interest in being kept informed. Hence, it was agreed
to send the minutes of the meeting to them all.
In his concluding remarks, the Convenor, Shri
Samar Singh, thanked all the participants and also
drew attention to the World Charter for Nature,
which was on display at the meeting.
List of Memebrs who were present at
the Meeting
- Dr Indira Kapoor
- Shri A.M. Gokhale
- Mrs. Savita Gokhale
- Dr. A.C. Katoch
- Ms Bela Butalia
- Shri Suhas Borker
- Shri Y.K. Saxena
- Shri K.S. Kutty
- Smt. Jayshree Anand
- Smt. Katharina Bhatia
- Ms. Premola Ghose
- Shri P.C. Sen
- Shri P.R. Sivasubramanian
- Cmdr.(Retd.) K.N. Venugopal
- Samar Singh
- Ajiti Misra
- Hemant Misra
- Prof H.Y. Mohan Ram
- Smt. Gayatri Ray
- Smt. Mohini Bhussry
- Dr. Nina Dey-Gupta
- Shri Keshav Mohandas
- Shri Barindra Prasad Baruah
- Vinod Varma
- Ms Bharati Varma
- Shri Naresh Gupta
- Mrs. Anita Agarwal
- Shri Rajesh Bedi
- Dr. Kusum Kumar
- Shri S.K. Mathur
