On 29th September 2020, at the 3rd edition of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) Action Awards 2020, The Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) Foundation received the UNSDG Action Award 2020 from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Government of Punjab for their work on crop residue management. CII received the award under the category of “Integration, Convergence, Joint Action and holistic Solution Approach – Industry”.
Note:
Along with CII Foundation, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)’s underground pipeline(UGPL) project for improving irrigation system, the rural education through value based system initiative of the Kalgidhar Trust and Sewa Bharat’s Punjab team for empowering women by securing employment and self-reliance also won the award under the same category.
About UNSDG Action Award:
SDG Action Award that identifies the initiatives which are accelerating action towards the achievements of the SDGs.
Background:
The burning of crop residues in the north western region of India has degraded the quality of air in this region which gets severe during the month of October.
CII Foundation’s work on crop residue:
i.CII partnered with NITI Aayog during 2017-2018 and researched the issues of air pollution and made a roadmap for the action on crop residue burning.
ii.The CII Foundation launched the field project in 2018 in Punjab.
Owing to the vastness of the issue, CII brought together a diverse stakeholders like Birlasoft, BPCL, PTC, CLP India, Cummins, ONGC, GAIL and Royal Enfield etc.,to deliver this collaborative project.
iii.To create awareness and support the community centric extension service to farmers, grassroot organisations like GBDSGNS Foundation, Doctors for You and the Guru Nanak National College Trust were involved in partnership with farmer co-operatives.
iv.Various awareness drives, technical training and fundings to procure requisite farm machinery were done through this initiative in collaboration with the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare of Punjab and Haryana.
Outcome of the initiative:
i.The initiative expanded in 2019 and covered around 147 villages with 20000 farmers and 1.02 lakh acres of farmland in Ludhiana, Patiala and Barnala in Punjab, and Rohtak, Sirsa and Fatehabad in Haryana.
ii.In 2019, the initiative of CII foundation prevented more than 183000 tonnes of rice straw from burning and recycled them in the soil and saved around 1.3 thousand tonnes PM10, 770 tonnes PM2.5 and other green gases.
Sonu Sood & SPS Oberoi won the Special Humanitarian Action Award:
i.The Special Humanitarian Action Award 2020 was conferred upon Action Sonu Sood and SPS Oberoi, Dubai based businessman and philanthropist over a virtual ceremony presided by Vini Mahajan, Chief Secretary of Punjab.
ii.The event was organised in collaboration with UNDP’s sustainable development goals coordination centre.
Other Awards:
i.Other Awards like SDG Action Award for Economic Sustainability, SDG Action Award for Social Upliftment and Welfare, SDG Action Award for Environmental Sustainability, SDG Action Award for Leaving no one behind Spirit.
ii.“Leave No One Behind Spirit (Individual) Award” was awarded to Iqal Shah for serving food amid COVID-19 lockdown.
iii.“Leave No One Behind Spirit (NGO)” was awarded to the Speaking Hands Foundation for empowering deaf children.
iv.“Economic Sustainability (NGO) Award” was given to Red Cross – Infosys PGI Sarai and Samvedna.
Click here to know the other awardees.
Recent Related News:
i.On 24th September 2020, Kerala won the UN Interagency Task Force (UNIATF)Award 2020 for its contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) related to the non-communicable diseases.
ii.The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col awarded the annual environment awards of UNIFIL to 7 mission entities. An Indian Battalion (INDBATT) stationed with UNIFIL is declared first for environmental contributions.
About Confederation of Indian Industry(CII):
President– Uday Kotak
Director General– Chandrajit Banerjee
Headquarters– New Delhi
