Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 Environmental Awareness and Environmental gainful conduct in India

Submitted by : Prem Chand

Abstract

Both creating and created nations are confronting genuine ecological issues. While a portion of the issues may be similar because of their worldwide nature (e.g. a dangerous atmospheric devation, consumption of the ozone layer), others are particularly neighborhood ones. How do individuals out of various societies see these issues? How would they respond to them?

The point of this study is to make sense of what variables are most essential in clarifying distinctive levels of mindfulness concerning natural issues and to think about the level of mindfulness and additionally the real conduct towards environment of individuals living in creating and created nations.

As the nations of study India and the Federal Republic of Germany have been picked. India is thought to speak to a creating nation while Germany gives a case of a financially created nation. An extra perspective while picking the nations of study was to utilize the ability of the creator who lives in Germany, however has the immense plausibility to do some hands on work concentrates on in India and to cooperate with Indian partners.

Introduction

The design of the study has three stages:

First, information on India as far as environmental awareness and environmentally friendly behavior are concerned will be obtained by both fieldwork and a systematic survey of the available literature. This paper will focus exclusively on the first part of the study design. Second, the same will be done for Germany. The third and final step will be to compare the results obtained for India and Germany. The first part of the country study will focus on the different factors that might be able to explain awareness of environmental problems. The ultimate objective is to find the most decisive factors in creating awareness of ecological issues, since this is the first step in developing effective campaigns to promote a higher level of environmental awareness among the population. The special emphasis of this study is on the role of media in creating environmental awareness with the underlying concept of media being a very broad one. The different media sources considered can be categorized as follows: Mass media (e.g. radio, television, newspaper and magazines)

AI. Institutional media (e.g. school, government officials or village leaders)

AJ. Traditional media (e.g. family members, other relatives, friends and neighbors, NGO work) Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 As a first explanation of environmental awareness modern mass media will be considered. It is still to be confirmed that the role of mass media is one of the most important factors underlying the knowledge of environmental problems: This can only be true on the conditions that first, mass media are accessible to large proportions of the population, second, are spending some time on environmental issues and third, people are interested in information on ecological issues provided by the media so that they view or listen to the corresponding programs as well as read newspaper articles or other written publications dealing with environmental issues.

Objectives

The particular perspectives to study would be

1) to discover the most definitive components in making ecological mindfulness

2) to assess the part of current broad communications in this procedure

3) to investigate the amount of time media are spending on natural issues

4) to know whether individuals are occupied with data on environment gave by the media

5) to evaluate the significance of instruction in making ecological mindfulness

6) to see whether instruction in school is preparing an ecologically benevolent conduct

7) to make sense of if the social environment of a man, e.g. its family, companions, neighbors and associates and also the work of NGOs, can somewhat clarify diverse levels of ecological mindfulness.

Methodology

The planned study will be based both on fieldwork (a household survey as well as interviews with media managers, experts, government officials and teachers, a list of the interviewed persons is available in appendix) and a survey of literature and secondary information available. a. Survey of literature and secondary information

By studying literature an attempt will be made to find out how many time and space media like television, radio and daily newspapers provide for environmental issues and what kind of issues are tackled: Are the problems in general described and their causes explained? Or is the main emphasis on politics concerning environment like legislation and implementation? Which specific problems are tackled? How often are global environmental problems in comparison to national or local ones are addressed to? Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 b. Interviews

Each of the three sorts of meetings (those with media chiefs and writers, with specialists and authorities and with instructors) have been composed as open meetings. The meetings with media directors will handle the accompanying subjects: Which natural issues are said in Indian media? What is the point of media when managing biological issues: data, instruction or amusement? To whom (age, level of instruction and so forth.) do natural projects address? Why are media investing not by any means more energy in natural issues? Specialists and authorities will be solicited on their perspective from how natural mindfulness appears and what should be possible to advance an all the more earth inviting conduct. The potential and genuine part of the Ministry of Environment and Forests in making natural mindfulness will be inspected, as well. c. Household survey

The main objectives of the household survey are to find the most important factors explaining environmental awareness, to assess the individual level of environmental awareness and to learn about the person’s behavior towards environment. For this reason the questions asked have been designed to find out the sources of information on environmental issues, e.g. media or education at school. An attempt will be made to assess how the interviewed person thinks of environmental pollution: It is an important and interesting issue? Does the interviewed person feel exposed to some kind of environmental pollution in its everyday life? What environmental issues are considered the most urgent ones? Additionally, the amount of the interviewed person’s knowledge concerning environmental issues will be judged. Another objective is to find out if the interviewed person is in some respect behaving in an environmentally friendly way. Based on the assumption that Indian and German middle-class households are most comparable (as opposed to lower- or upper-class households) the study will focus on middle class households.

Environmental education

The most important landmark for environmental education at an international level was without a doubt the International Confe rence on Environmental Education organized by UNESCO and UNEP at Tbilisi in former USSR in 1977. The goals of environmental education were defined as creating environmental awareness; impart general knowledge for a basic understanding of environment, acquiring environmental friendly attitudes and values and to generate new patterns of behavior towards environment. The more recently held United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in a) The role of mass media in creating environmental awareness

The broad communications considered here attempting to clarify ecological mindfulness are daily papers, radio and TV because of the way that these are the most generally and every now and again utilized present day broad communications as a part of both India and Germany. To start with, I will manage the supply side, Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 the scope of natural issues in the media, second we will investigate the side of interest, considering the angle if individuals are keen on the offered data on environment and use it. Since autonomy, the quantity of Indian daily papers has duplicated a few folds. Today Indian daily papers are acquired out 93 dialects and lingos. In the family unit study, 57% of the talked with persons expressed to peruse the daily paper for 30 to a hour for each day. With a normal of around 50 minutes the day by day measure of time spent on perusing the daily paper, "the foundation of news" in India, is significantly high. In spite of the fact that its number of peruses is just around 16.000, India's lone ecological magazine "Sensible" must be specified when composing on environment and media, since it fills a critical need in Indian media and their scope of environment. Begun in 1992 this magazine is a sort of sequence of Indian natural history. Radio is shabby, most effectively available and radio signs cover just about the entire nation. Nonetheless, all things considered there are just 4.4 radio/transistors sets per 100 persons. 80 percent are in urban homes, just around six million sets left with 525 million provincial populace. Besides the recurrence of listening to the radio is generally low: just 35% of the interviewees pronounced to listen to the radio frequently, the majority of them positioning between 30 minutes and two hours for every day. Notwithstanding the generally little number of individuals listening to the radio the part of radio in making ecological mindfulness cannot be viewed as a vital one because of the way that there are just ve ry couple of standard natural projects, in spite of the fact that there is a guideline by Supreme Court for all media that projects on environment ought to be telecast: Motivated by the Ministry of Environment &Forests Delhi FM is telecasting two week by week programs on environment, "Kinare– Kinare" and "Ao Dilli Savaren". Something else, contamination of environment is just unsystematically handled in projects intended for extraordinary target bunches, e.g. country populace, modern specialists or in city programs, in ladies' or kids' projects.

To aggregate up, we need to ask the accompanying inquiries: What part do Indian media play in making natural mindfulness? What are their shortcomings, what their odds? What should be possible to improve their adequacy in raising the level of awareness of natural issues?

A typical powerless point shared by radio, TV and daily paper in India is that there are no columnists specific (just) on natural issues, that news coverage on environment is neither a part of the instruction as a writer nor is there a probability of further preparing in this field. Thus, the recurrence and nature of scope on environment depends to a high degree on the individual interest and duty of the writers and editors. Further run of the mill constraints of cutting edge broad communications in India are the dialect, the instructive and the urban – country inclinations that make it important to outline exceptional projects for all the distinctive target bunches if the point is to achieve a limitless part of the populace. A general issue in utilizing media for instruction is the absence of criticism and control of the gathering of people or readership with the goal that it is hard to survey the effect of instructive television. b) Institutional media (education at school)

In 1986 natural instruction turned into an essential part of National Policy on Education surprisingly after Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 freedom. The arrangement expressed: "there is a need to make cognizance of the earth which must pervade all ages and all areas of the general public starting with the youngster. Natural cognizance ought to advise instructing in schools and universities and ought to be incorporated in the whole training process". The latest advancements are the presentation of Environmental Science as obligatory course for all the students after the creation of Supreme Court and the presentation of Environmental Studies (EVS) as an educational program territory at essential stage (first to fifth class). EVS joins science with social studies and environment and burdens the connection amongst instructing and the prompt environment of the tyke. The meetings directed with both government and state funded school principals and instructors in the South of Delhi demonstrated that EVS is as of now taught at a portion of the schools and will be presented in alternate ones amid the following months.

The age of the youngsters at essential stage actually requires a down to earth or even venture based methodology of showing natural issues. As anyone might expect, the educators for EVS reported that the accentuation of their endeavors was somewhat to make mindfulness on ecological issues and to give the kids solid recommendations how to act in a more earth inviting path than clarifying the experimental foundation of natural issues. All schools including those that had not yet presented EVS reported that they were instructing ecological issues albeit a portion of the schools didn't know that they are even obliged to do as such by educational programs. A typical component of almost all talked with schools is an expansion in the measure of time spent on instructing on environment. The clarifications for this marvel offered by the school principals were the decay of the condition of nature, a developing level of mindfulness towards ecological contamination and a more strong ecological instruction strategy dispatched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Supreme Court. Another way to deal with location ecological issues at school is the Eco- club conspire that means to convey NGO's all the more nearly to the educational system. c) Traditional media

Although there is no doubt that the traditional media like direct interaction and communication of an individual with his family, friends, neighbors or environmental activists can play an important role in enhancing environmental awareness, another perspective would stress that the frequency of discussions on environment or, in more general terms, the use of traditional media is more an indicator of the prevailing level of environmental awareness than a factor contributing to it. For this reason, traditional media will be discussed only very briefly. To support the work of NGOs dealing with environmental issues the Ministry of Environment & Forests started the National Environmental Awareness Campaign in 1986 with a yearly amount of 300 to 400.000 rupees. Every year nationwide spread regional resource agencies select more than 5.000 NGOs who are each granted 10.000 to 25.000 rupees to conduct campaigns on the topic of the year that is chosen by the ministry’s project team.

Additional factors in explaining environmental awareness Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 Due to the fact that environmental education via media (defined in the broad sense mentioned above) is supposed to play an especially important or even dominant role in creating environmental awareness the focus of this study on the contribution of media to the prevalent level of environmental awareness has been chosen. Nevertheless there is no doubt that there are additional factors influencing the level of environmental awareness. Since they are not the topic of this study at least some of them will be numerated very briefly: The degree to which environmental issues are set on the political agenda is not only an indicator of the prevailing level of environmental awareness itself, but will also influence the general awareness among the population.

Exposure to environmental pollution

Exposure to environmental pollution in every day life could be another factor contributing to an individual’s level of awareness of environmental pollution. In this context, it will be discussed only very briefly, because this factor cannot be used in campaigns to enhance the level of environmental awareness as long as deteriorating the state of nature is not considered as a desirable mean. An overwhelming majority of interviewees, 98%, reported to feel exposed to environmental pollution in every day life with air pollution mentioned by 97% being the most prominently kind of pollution. Approximately half of the interviewed persons had recognized water pollution and waste to be a problem they had to face in their daily life, 23% felt disturbed by noise pollution.

Level of environmental awareness

After discussing the most important factors in creating environmental awareness, their potentials and weaknesses as well as looking at their specific presence in India, the next paragraph will focus on the resulting actual level of environmental awareness. Although more than tree third of the interviewees claimed to feel that environmental pollution is an extremely urgent problem, their confidence in this belief weakened when comparing the priority of environmental pollution with other problems Indian society has to face. Unemployment was considered to be a more serious problem by 71%, insufficient education by 66% and poverty by 52%, while 39% thought of crime, 37% of corruption and 22% of religious or social conflicts as more urgent problems to be tackled than environmental pollution. people are exposed to environmental pollution. Making people aware of the relatedness of environmental and social problems could push the issue of environment more towards the top of the agenda.

Behavior towards environment

Before evaluating the results of the household survey on the actual behavior towards environment, I would like to address of few words of caution. Trying to assess people’s actual behavior towards environment by asking them about it in the context of a survey of environmental awareness will most probably lead to answers that are giving a too positive impression of the actual situation, because people will try to please the Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 interviewers expectations. 83% of the interviewed persons reported to behave in an environmentally friendly way somehow. Looking a little bit closer to what the y actually did the by far most prominent features of environmental friendly behavior were cleaning the house and its surroundings (mentioned by 62%) and doing plantation (38%). Although both of these actions contribute to a cleaner environment and help to reduce pollution by waste or air pollution it has to be asked if the motivation of people for cleanliness and plantation is not more due to their wish to live in a clean and green surrounding than to behave in an environmentally friendly way. Saving water as reported by 9% of the interviewees was the third and last activity that was mentioned by more than 5% of the interviewees. It seems that people are motivated to behave in an environmentally friendly way if there is an additional motivation to do so, e.g. saving money: 97% of the people reported to save energy, out of the people who owned a motorized vehicle slightly more than 80% claimed to switch the engine off when waiting at a red light.

Conclusion

This study gives clear evidence that the role of media in creating environmental awareness is definitively a dominant one. This thesis can be supported with different arguments: On the one hand, the results of the household survey show that more than half of the interviewees (52%) are convinced that the information provided by media has been most important in making them aware of environmental problems, followed by 38% who thought that it was their own confrontation with pollution in every day life, while education at school or other institutions was considered to be most important in creating environmental awareness by only 7% of the interviewed persons. The most essential distinction to typical classes on environment is the undertaking way Eco-club plan uses to address natural issues. Eco-clubs normally meet more than once every week under the direction of an instructor. Particularly considering the absence of instruction of instructors on the best way to educate ecological issues, it must be valued that Eco-club educators are offered extraordinary writing, as well as further preparing as workshops sorted out by the Ministry in close collaboration with NGOs.

What has been most important to make you aware of environmental problems Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914

Why are media such a powerful instrument in creating environmental awareness?

In 1986 natural instruction turned into an essential part of National Policy on Education surprisingly after freedom. The arrangement expressed: "there is a need to make cognizance of the earth which must pervade all ages and all areas of the general public starting with the youngster. Natural cognizance ought to advise instructing in schools and universities and ought to be incorporated in the whole training process". The latest advancements are the presentation of Environmental Science as obligatory course for all the students after the creation of Supreme Court and the presentation of Environmental Studies (EVS) as an educational program territory at essential stage (first to fifth class). EVS joins science with social studies and environment and burdens the connection amongst instructing and the prompt environment of the tyke. The meetings directed with both government and state funded school principals and instructors in the South of Delhi demonstrated that EVS is as of now taught at a portion of the schools and will be presented in alternate ones amid the following months.

All schools including those that had not yet presented EVS reported that they were instructing ecological issues albeit a portion of the schools didn't know that they are even obliged to do as such by educational programs. A typical component of almost all talked with schools is an expansion in the measure of time spent on instructing on environment. The clarifications for this marvel offered by the school principals were the decay of the condition of nature, a developing level of mindfulness towards ecological contamination and a more strong ecological instruction strategy dispatched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Supreme Court. Another way to deal with location ecological issues at school is the Eco-club conspire that means to convey NGO's all the more nearly to the educational system. It has been acquainted in 2001 and up with now a scope of 100 secondary schools picked by the area organization in each of India's 559 locale has been understood (a scope of 100 secondary schools for every region results in a scope of all secondary schools in 40% of the areas). Further extension is arranged. In spite of the fact that support in Eco-club exercises is deliberate, the quantity of understudies required in Eco-club exercises is generally extending around 100 to 150 and by this, even surpasses the objective figure of the Ministry of Environment and Forests of 50 understudies for every Eco-club. Besides, Eco-club educators who are chosen by the model of Airo National Journal Volume – 6 ISSN 23213914 individual enthusiasm for biological issues by the school's foremost reported extraordinary duty of understudies to Eco-club related exercises. What is the commitment of school instruction to the overarching level of ecological mindfulness?.

References

1. Bandhu, Desh and Dyal, R. (Eds.) (1999): Environmental Education for a Sustainable Future, Indian Environmental Society, New Delhi 2. Das, Nandita (2001): A study on social and ecological effect of TV and radio projects, Center of Media Studies, New Delhi 3. Das, R.C., Baral, J.K., Sahu, N.C., Misras, M.K. (1998): The Environmental Divide - The Dilemma of Developing Countries 4. National Council of Educational Research and Training (1997): Fifth Survey of instructive examination 1988-92, Vol. I 5. Pant, S., Rogers, E. M., Singhal, A. (2000): Environmental Activism Through an Entertainment-Education Radio Soap Opera in India, p. 173-177, in Oepen, M., Hamacher, W. (Eds.), Peter Lang Publishers, Frankfurt, Germany.

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