President of India to Inaugurate One Day Seminar on "Universalisation of Roshni" at Rashtrapati Bhavan Tomorrow

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil will inaugurate at Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow, a one day Seminar on the universalisation of the environmental initiative already in practice in the President's Estate - "Roshni". The Seminar is being organized by the President's Secretariat to gain a better understanding of this green initiative as well as to deliberate on how best to disseminate and replicate the concept and initiatives beyond the confines of the President's Estate.

The Roshni initiative is an effort to help and equip the residents of the Estate to live in harmony with nature. The initiative, which was launched in 2008, comes against the background of issues concerned with climate change, with an effort to make the residents of the Estate more aware about the challenges faced and to be concerned about the degradation of the natural eco-system.

About 300 participants are expected to take part in tomorrow's Seminar. They include the Chief Minister of Delhi, as well as the Union Ministers of Environment and Forests, New and Renewable Energy and Urban Development and the Ministers of State for Human Resource Development, Housing, Poverty Alleviation and Culture.

Other important participants shall include the Cabinet Secretary, some members of the Planning Commission, Secretaries of the Ministries of Urban Development, New & Renewable Energy, Water Resources, and Environment and Forests, Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities, Directors of IITs and IIMs, officials from the Government of NCT of Delhi, Central Public Sector Units such as Power Trading Corporation of India Ltd., the Director General of SCOPE and private sector companies such as UNITECH, DLF, RAHEJA Developers, as well as industry associations such as FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII as well as consultants such as McKinsey & Co..

This release issued at 1300 hrs.