Tag Archives: Afroz Shah-Champion of the Earth Award

Mithibai Alumni Association to felicitate achievers

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, , , , , , , ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

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Mumbai :

The ex-students of  Vile Parle’s Mithibai College will hold their seventh reunion Saturday December 9 at Club Millennium,  Juhu.

“We will felicitate composers Sajid-Wajid, film director Vikram Bhat, stage artiste  Paritosh Painter and Afroz Shah who initiated the Versova beach clean-up,” said Krishna Hegde, convenor,Mithibai Ex-Students Association (MESA).

The glamour quotient coupled with social messages makes the Mithibai alumni meet an awaited event. This year, performances by Purani Jeans, Cutting Chai and An Evening Down Memory Lane are on schedule.

Mithibai College has among the largest number of students worldwide and approximately one million alumni in different countries.

Hegde said, “It has been a tradition to felicitate outstanding ex-students for their achievements at our reunions. We are very excited with the names selected for this year’s  MESA Hall of Fame 2017.”

The previous edition of the reunion saw a turnout of over 500 alumni. Senior media professional Balakrishna Pillai’s batch is celebrating its silver jubilee since passing out. He said, “Our reunions are one of the largest and grandest in India. For us, reunions are not just about get-togethers but also celebrating the success of our college mates and being socially responsible. Since MESA was founded about 19 years back, besides getting the students together at regular intervals, it has arranged various blood donation drives, health camps, fund raising for Kargil jawans, supporting the education of underprivileged and other activities.”

“It is not uncommon to spot a film star, industrialist or sportsperson at other college reunions but at ours, celebrities seem to outnumber the average alumni! Ex-students like Ajay Devgan, Raveena Tandon, Vivek Oberoi, Praveen Amre attend the reunions frequently,” said Khalid Khan, MESA president.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Mumbai News / by Bella Jaisinghani / TNN / December 07th, 2017

Mumbai lawyer Afroz Shah to receive top UN environment award for Versova Beach clean-up

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Green Products, Leaders, , ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

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Highlights :

  1. Shah and his 84-year-old neighbour Harbansh Mathur had started manually cleaning Versova Beach in 2015.
  2. The clean-up grew into a massive volunteer movement that saw 4,000 tons of garbage being picked up.
  3. UNEP has hailed the movement as an example of the key role of citizen action in protecting the environment
  4. ______________________________________________________________

 

AfrozShahMPOs31dec2016

New Delhi :

The largest beach clean-up in the world would be a reward in itself. But for spearheading it, Mumbai-based lawyer Afroz Shah has been named as one of winners of the top environmental honour of the United Nations. Shah will be among those bestowed with the Champions of the Earth award for leading the clean-up of Mumbai’s  Versova Beach.

Shah will receive the award under the ‘Action and Inspiration’ category for kick-starting a volunteer campaign to pick up, by hand, all the plastic bags, cement sacks, glass bottles, pieces of clothing, and shoes, that covered the entire 2.5-km stretch of the Versova Beach, even rising many feet high in some places.

The movement grew and grew over the past year and picked up a whopping 4,000 tons of garbage.

“Shah’s efforts, and the hundreds of volunteers he’s inspired, is a wonderful example of citizen action and reminds the rest of the world that even the most ambitious, global agreements are only as good as the individual action and determination that brings them to life. His outstanding leadership is drawing global attention to the devastating impacts of marine litter,” said United Nations Environment Project (UNEP) chief Erik Solheim, who had joined Shah in the clean-up for a day in October.

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Lewis Pugh, the United Nations Patron of the Oceans, too, congratulated Shah in a twitter. “So delighted that Afroz Shah has won the UN’s highest award for his incredible efforts to clean Mumbai’s beaches!!” he tweeted.

Pugh has for long hailed the Versova clean-up as the ‘largest beach clean-up in history’. He had made it a point to visit Mumbai and take part in the clean-up in July.

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“This award is in honour of the hundreds of volunteers who have joined me over the past year to clean up our beach and ocean. I am an ocean lover and feel that we owe a duty to our ocean to make it free of plastic,” said Shah as part of the announcement on the UNEP website.

“I just hope this is the beginning for coastal communities across India and the world – we have to win the fight against marine dumping and that involves getting our hands dirty. We humans need to reignite our bond with the ocean and we don’t have to wait for anybody else to help us do that,” he added.

Shah and his 84-year-old neighbour,  Harbansh Mathur, had started picking up garbage off the beach in July 2015. This grew into a movement, with a rising number of volunteers, outliving Mathur.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> India News / TNN / December 03rd, 2016