Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu called for a people's movement to protect the environment and urged people to voluntarily participate in various conservation activities on Sunday.
According to the press release issued by the Vice President's Secretariat, Naidu called upon the youth to proactively lead environmental movements from the front and motivate others to adopt sustainable practices.
"They should drive the point among people that if we take care of nature, nature, in turn, will take care of mankind", he said.
The vice president spoke at the book release of 'Nursery Rajyaniki Raraju', a book on the life story of the late Palla Venkanna, who is credited with transforming the village of Kadiyam in Andhra Pradesh into a popular hub of plant nurseries.
He expressed his appreciation for Venkanna for his tireless efforts towards a 'Green Bharat'.
Naidu said that Venkanna, who collected over 3000 varieties of plants from around the country, believed that 'if every home can turn green, the country, as a result, will turn green'.
There has been an increased frequency of extreme weather events in recent times such as flash floods and landslides in different parts of the world. 'These are clear signs that climate change is real and it cannot be business as usual anymore, he said.
"To mitigate such weather events, it is imperative that we co-exist harmoniously with nature," Naidu said.
"We must balance our developmental needs with environmental protection and make sure everyone understands the importance of sustainable living," he added.
Development is possible only when it takes into account the cost of the environment, Naidu said.
As per the release, On the occasion, he lauded the Telangana government for taking up the plantation of trees as a movement under 'Haritha Haram'.
He suggested that all the state governments should take initiative in creating awareness among the children about environmental protection and tree plantation from the school level.
( With inputs from ANI )
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