Student cycles across the country to spread water conservation message

Student cycles across the country to spread water conservation message

PUNE: “India is on the verge of a severe water crisis and the situation will only worsen if we do not start taking water conservation seriously,” said Philem Rohan Singh, a postgraduate student from Sharda University, who is cycling from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to spread the message of water conservation across the country.

“The problem is that the common man in the country is not really aware of this situation,” he added. 

Originally from Manipur and an advocate of eco-friendly lifestyle, Philem has travelled from Srinagar to Pune taking his campaign ‘#WaterForLife’ from city to city, village to village. 

He has planned to reach Kanyakumari within a month’s time.

CRISIS IN THE CITIES
“I have mainly targeted the cities across the country and surveyed the situation there. You would not believe that just two kilometres away from India’s first and most well-planned city, Chandigarh, the residents struggle to get drinking water even once a week. In Delhi, clean and pollution-free drinking water is becoming one of the major civic issues. In Mumbai, I found the drinking water was not a catastrophic one, but still, rainwater harvesting is the need of the hour and people have no idea about it,” Philem said.

He stated that although Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand receive ample rainfall, they face water scarcity post-monsoon as well.

“While I am cycling across the country, I am also accompanied by a team from Sharda University, which has also sponsored this tour and we are shooting a documentary and talking to the people about their water woes.” he said. “You cannot do anything without water. You cannot survive without water. People need to be sensitised on the need to save water, and harvest the rainwater and make its optimum use,” Philem added.

ECO-FRIENDLY DRIVES
This is the fifth of such campaign tours by Philem in the past one-and-half years.

“In 2017, the pollution in Delhi at the time of Diwali had reached its peak. I took my first campaign tour in January 2018 from Delhi to Imphal, Manipur against the pollution. Since then, I have started several such awareness campaigns for several environmental causes,” he said.

“Why cycle?” Philem said, “I believe that actions speak louder than words.” 

“If I am advocating for the environment and humanity, I cannot speed around in cars. I must, myself, follow eco-friendly measures,” he added. 

Philem’s next big plan is to cycle from India to Tokyo to reach in time for the 2020 Olympics. 

MOULDING THE YOUNG MINDS
On his tours, Philem visits schools and colleges to interact with youngsters and pass on his wisdom to them. “I believe that my travels have given me more wisdom than my school or college. I try to meet students and impart this wisdom to them. Till now, I have visited over 200 schools and colleges and met over 2 lakh students,” he said.

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