The #Youth4WaterIndia campaign launched a 'Plastic-Free Picnic Challenge' among youths of the State on Monday to mark the World Soil Day.

"The campaign, conceived by youths and partners associated with the campaign, will urge upon youths going to forests and water bodies for picnic this season not to use single-use plastics and clean up the sites of all the non-biodegradable wastes after their picnic party is over," informed Odisha’s water man, who is also the co-founder of the #Youth4Water campaign, Ranjan Panda. 

"We want to reach out to thousands of youths with messages of conservation of our natural spots," said State Programme Director, WaterAid India, Anurag Gupta. WaterAid is a partner of the campaign.

Other partners of the campaign are the Sattvic Soul Foundation, Odisha ParyavaranSanrakshanAbhiyan, Radio Bulbul, Ceiba Green Solutions, Educo, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Rotary Club of Sambalpur Greater, Odisha Local, NYKS and Biswaparibaar.

“During the 28 days of the #Plastic Free Picnic Challenge campaign we will take up several innovative ways of raising awareness in as many locations as possible. We are sure this will pave the way for a long-term drive in which more and more partners will participate,” said Panda, who also convenes Water Initiatives, a network of several organizations  and individuals working on water, environment and climate change for more than three decades now.

Panda further informed that the “Youth4Water” campaign was flagged off at the 3rd Odisha River Conference organised by the Water Initiatives and partner organisations at Baripada in March 2019. “It has now reached out to thousands of youths directly and lakhs of them through online platforms.  We have now decided to call this campaign “Youth4WaterIndia” as partners from other States have also shown interest to join this initiative,” said Panda further, seeking everyone’s support.