Learning lessons on progress with peace at Pali jamboree

Jaipur: The 18th National Jamboree of Bharat Scouts and Guides in Pali has turned into a classroom-cum-workshop imparting training on plastic bricks by reusing waste plastics and sharing water conservation practices or green energy to 35,000 participants attending the event.
The participants from across the country are getting lessons and hands-on activities to fight climate change and to achieve 17 sustainable development goals which is based on the event’s theme ‘Progress with Peace.’
The teams in Rohat village which have turned into a tent city with 3,500 tents are collecting plastic waste and depositing it in the workshop area to make plastic bricks. The idea is to teach the Scouts and Guides on to reduce the use of plastics and how to dispose of them.
“President Droupadi Murmu has rightly remarked that if we will not act now, it will be too late to mitigate the impact of climate change. Here the participants are learning the art of how to reuse plastic which is among the single worst polluter and to imbibe the reuse of products to reduce the stress on scarce resources,” said Darshana Pawaskar, joint director of Bharat Scouts and Guides, Delhi. She is in charge of activities related to climate change.
Manu Singh, a participant from Pali, told TOI that they have shared how during the summer season they rationalise the use of water in all wells in tune with its refuelling time.
“During the summers, the refill in the surface of wells takes five to seven days while in winters it takes one to two days. So accordingly, the lifting of water is allowed for the villagers,” said Singh to a gathering of participants during a discussion.
Every participant is taking a pledge to follow a sustainable life model and work towards minimising the impact of climate change.
The site has listed all 17 goals listed in SDGs to create awareness on the subject and those with interest are being given detailed information with ideas on how to disseminate it in their local region.
Promoting the idea of gender balance is also high on the agenda of organizers. This is for the first time 40% of participants are women in the jamboree with 14,000 against the total of 35,000.
Govind Meena, CO of Scouts Rajasthan, said, “In all the activities from sports, adventure and cultural, we have ensured that participation of girls should be almost 50%. The idea is to provide women equal opportunities here so that they can serve the nation when required.”