Outgreen yourself results!

To celebrate life in all its beauty and diversity and to mark the World Environment Day, an enthusiastic campaign ‘OutGreen Yourself’ was conducted for our valuable readers on the IndianOilXpress portal during May 29 to June 11, 2010. IndianOilPeople voted with their mouse clicks and made this campaign a thumping success. Our colleagues from across locations zealously participated in the three major competitions, ‘Innovative Idea Contest’, ‘Coin a Catchy Slogan’ and ‘Green Articles’. We are happy to announce the winners…..

1. With a hunt to find a unique idea, the First Prize for Innovative Idea Contest goes to Mr. Sukumal Paul. Mr. Sukumal Paul’s idea ‘Planting Jackfruit trees on roadsides for a cleaner environment’ was quite impressive. According to it, planting jackfruit trees will certainly check environmental decay and boost health of the people. How? Well, jackfruit is a known carbon di-oxide dump. The leaves of the Jackfruit plant have a very strong capacity to absorb carbon di-oxide and harmful chemicals from the atmosphere. This plant also has the ability to attract floating carbon particles from the surrounding atmosphere and hold it for a long time. On top of it, only a strong wind can detach the particles from the leaf. Secondly, jackfruit would also address the problem of food for cattle. This in turn will have a positive impact on the milk crisis. Thirdly, the poor people can also use this fruit as curry and juice without purchasing it from the market since it is available on the road side. It is better to mention here that Swami Vivekananda used to take a small amount of Jackfruit seeds every day as they are full of vitamins. The seeds can also be used as curry for a healthy diet. This way, deficiency of vitamins among poor Indians may also be minimised.”
   
   The Second Prize for an Innovative Idea goes Mr. Shamik Bhadra’s idea of instituting an ‘Electricity Saving Competition’ is also very innovative. It is suitable for localities, residential complexes and company townships where residents are from almost equal socio-economic backgrounds. The data for consumption of electricity is easily available from electricity bills or the readings from the electric meters. Based on that, one can figure out the family that has the lowest consumption. Everyone else should contribute the differential amount i.e. the difference between lowest consumption & every particular family’s incremental consumption from the lowest bill. The accumulated amount should be used to buy eco-friendly electric appliances like solar lights, solar heaters, etc. for the winner family and the locality. This will encourage people to buy energy-efficient appliances and to move towards re-useable energy sources. Such activities can be initiated by local committees, RWAs, housing board societies and especially the Electricity Board or Township Estate Office.
   
   The Third Prize has been won by Mr. Biswak Sen Das’ idea - ‘A tree with each employee’s name to be planted in their respective refinery/township/office complex’. Mr. Das elucidates, “For a common man, Carbon Footprint, CO2 Emissions, Greenhouse Effect , Global Warming, etc. are complex concepts .So the need of the hour is to spread awareness among all the sections of society to save the environment. The first step should be that everyone participates in a massive drive to plant trees. They should make it their motto. We all should take baby steps towards planting trees inside our units. In Ecological Parks, saplings are planted by dignitaries whenever they come to visit therefinery. A name plate bearing their names hangs near the sapling. So all our employees should be encouraged to plant saplings in their names at a suitable places at their location. All the saplings would carry their names, designations and employee numbers. This will encourage them to spare some time after work hours to nurture their individual saplings. In this way, we can create awareness as well as inclusive participation of all our employees towards creating a green corridor inside our locations. Whenever these employees would travel to their quarters, residence, schools, colleges, villages, temples, they would definitely spread the green efforts. In this way all the IndianOil employees will become green ambassadors.”
   
   
2. The Coin a Catchy Slogan Contest brought out the creative instincts of the IndianOilPeople.
   
   For the First Prize, there is a tie between Lt. Col. C.S. Shankar and Mr. Sunil Kumar Arora. They have both won the first prize. Lt. Col. Shankar’s slogan is “We inhabit this planet, not inherit it. Let us live responsibly”. Mr. Sunil Kumar Arora’s Hindi slogan is “Agar Pradushit Paryavaran, Nahin Surakshit Koi Jan”. Mr. Sujit Shirishkar won the Second Prize for his slogan: Jal hai to kal hai”. Mr. D C Verma came third with his slogan “Lagao Ped Bachao Jal - Tabhi Hoga Jeevan Safal”.
   
   
3. The Green Articles competition generated ideas that could prove to be instrumental in environmental protection.
   
   Leading with the First Prize, Mr. Joseph Benedicto shed light on a plethora of environmental issues in his article. Mr. Ali Sajid Hussain has won the second prize winner whose article on ‘Let us Together create a Beautiful & Bountiful World’ speaks about the implementation of green practices. The Third Prize has been won by Ms. Shobhna Mittal.