In a bid to strive for a cleaner environment while chipping in with its own share of social responsibility,the University School of Management (USMS) at the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU),has started a Go Green project an idea that has its roots in the plastic ban enforced in the Capital. The project started in January 2009 under the aegis of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) has tied up with three NGOs,Jan Shikshan Sansthan Prayas,Active Education Society and Family of the Disabled. The projects core team consists of 10 students and 40 volunteers,all of whom are MBA students. Sona Vikas,faculty advisor,SIFE-GGSIPU said the basic idea of the project is to popularise the use of paper and jute bags in Delhi and create more markets for the sale of these bags for those producing them. We created markets in areas like Karol Bagh,South Delhi areas like South Extension and GK,and Kamala Nagar for people making these bags at the NGOs. We are also training them in business skills, Vikas said. Our students assist and train the manufacturers on how to strike a deal,set their profit model and pricing till the time they can do so independently, she said. Pragya Jain,GGSIPU-SIFE student president for the project,feels it has been a great learning experience. This is a project that has given us the opportunity to work for nature as well as the underprivileged, she said. Apart from the Go Green project,the university had started another programme Parivartan in August 2007. It was aimed at training mushroom cultivators on G T Karnal Road in financial literacy,business ethics and ways to enhance their yield. The programme has now been extended to educate the same cultivators on the ill-effects of plastic-packaging on the environment and human health. We have found an alternative,a paper bag in which the produce can be sustained and marketed, said Vikas. Apart from GGSIPUs support,corporate houses KPMG and HSBC have been providing grants for the two projects.
