Priyanka Chopra for a greener tomorrow
After enthralling cinegoers with her portrayals in ‘Dostana’ and ‘Fashion’, Bollywood actor and former Miss World Priyanka Chopra will now be seen in a new role; as NDTV brand ambassador lending her might for a greener tomorrow.
Priyanka, whose next film ‘Kaminey’ is set to hit the theatres on August 14, has been roped in by NDTV as the brand ambassador for the second wave of their ”Green Campaign”, aimed at encouraging every citizen in the country to adopt causes like ”Say No To Plastic Bags”; ”Save Water”; ”Plant A Tree”; ”Get Rid of Air Pollution” and ”Save India’s Coastal Lines and Save the Rivers” in an endeavour to create a cleaner and greener tomorrow.
Speaking at a press meet organised by NDTV to roll out the second wave of their Green Campaign, Priyanka said, ”My decision to be a part of the ‘Greenathon’ campaign is to show that as a representative of the younger generation of today, which drives all of us, I want to do something for the cause of environment.
As a campaign ambassador, my endeavour will be to demonstrate to the youth how little things that we do to help preserve the environment can sometimes do wonders.” Priyanka, who was present at the press conference along with the Union Minister for Environmenmt and Forests Jairam Ramesh, Director General of TERI R K Pachauri, Chairman of NDTV Prannoy Roy and the Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, Hiroshi Nakagawa, said as part of the Green campaign, they would try to explain to the people that there were a lot of ways in which they can get involved in changing the environment, like being a part of the process of cleaning the Yamuna.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jairam Ramesh, stressing on involvement of the common people in the cause of preserving the environment, said projects like the Yamuna Action Plan, saving trees and tackling air pollution could not be fully successful as long as they were just being done by the Government.
In this context, he lauded the NDTV Green Campaign as it provided a medium for mass mobilisation to help sensitise people to environmental concerns.
He said it was wrong to say that saving the environment was a cause which was the preserve of the uppper middle class.
”Environment is a cause that affects day-to-day livelihoods and pertains day-to-day concerns of people about water, energy and power,” the Minister said.
NDTV-Toyota Green Campaign, with the promise ‘Open up tomorrow, Today’, is a three-year nationwide environmental campaign that aims at creating awareness abour issues that threaten the future of our planet.
The second wave of the NDTV Green Campaign follows a hugely successful first year which raised over Rs 2 crore to light up 50 villages in India for TERI’s ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ project.
With an aim to garner public support, NDTV will telecast documentaries on each of the mini campaigns, organise on-ground events, clean up drives and signature campaigns. These mini campaigns will culminate into ‘Greenathon, a 24-hour non-stop television programming across all NDTV channels dedicated to improve the environment.
Speaking at the press meet, Dr Pachauri said under the campaign last year, 55 million villages were lit up .
”The fact that 400 million people in this country are still without electricity is a matter of concern for all of us. By the end of this year, we hope to provide a solar lantern in 250 million villages through the Green Campaign,” he said.
