The group has begun removing posters around North Campus
“No paper wastage, no pizzas, no lakme kajal. If roads are dirty with your posters, we will not vote for you” — this is the campaign message issued by a group of students from Miranda House to ensure that this year’s Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections are paperless.
Launching the “No Poster Party” (NPP) campaign, the students said they want to implement the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the “truest sense”. Taking note of the amount of paper wasted during last year’s election, the NGT had issued notice to Delhi University, the Centre and the Ministry of Environment and Forests against the wastage. Further, the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations on student union elections also allow the use of only handmade posters as poll material.
Simran Kapoor, a third-year BA programme student of Miranda House, who started the group along with six others during last year’s polls, said: “Every year, there are directives from the university but no one follows them. This time, we have started our campaign early so that we can make students aware and ask them not to vote for an organisation that defaces walls and wastes paper.”
Even though campaigning for the polls is yet to begin, the group has begun removing posters around North Campus. It is also performing nukkad nataks near the Vishwavidyalaya Metro station, asking students not to support organisations that waste paper. They have also asked DU to allow them to paint it with murals depicting “DU’s rich culture”.
The group said it will speak to candidates individually, asking them to refrain from wasting paper: “You can spam students on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter to promote candidates. This won’t harm the environment.”
