Children presented their demands for their right to clean air to the Chairperson of SIAM (Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers), Mr Venu Srinivasan, at the Auto Expo 2000.

At the Auto Expo 2000, a team of enthusiastic student reporters produced a special edition of Gobar Times which focused on increasing population of vehicles on Delhi roads and the resulting air pollution due to vehicular emissions.

They spoke to various automobile manufacturers, officials of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and consumers on the issue of air pollution. They also interviewed the Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dikshit, on what her government is doing to curb the menace of air pollution.

A cycle rally of hundreds of school children from Delhi culminated at the Prime Minister's Residence on Earth Day. They highlighted the issue of air pollution in Indian and appealed to the government and the automobile manufacturers to show genuine concern and take effective action to protect their health. Children could be seen cycling enthusiastically, carrying placards and raising their demand for clean air.

 "WE WANT CLEAN AIR"

On behalf of all the children of India, a delegation of 22 children presented the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India , Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a Children's Manifesto on Clean Air , a part of CSE's Right to Clean Air Campaign. They drew the attention of government and the automobile manufacturers to the serious issue of deteriorating air quality in towns and cities of India.

This children's Manifesto was based on contributions, text and drawings, sent by children across India - as a part of many Earth Day events organised by numerous organisations in other parts of the country.

The Ecological Footprint Project was initiated in May 1998 with the Yamuna Yuk-Ride.

The Yuk-Ride took fifty school children from 12 schools on a boat ride down the Yamuna accompanied by experts from CSE, CPCB and Development Alternatives. The students were provided with cameras to photograph their experiences on the ride. This was the first of a series of events planned as part of the Environment Education Unit’s Ecological Footprint Project’s package of 4 eco-tours for Delhi schools - the Yamuna, traditional water harvesting sites, the Delhi Ridge and waste disposal in Delhi. The Ecological Footprint Project plans to address the lack of perspective of students towards their city’s environment and the symbiotic relationship that exists between a city and its inhabitants. The neglect and degradation of our rivers, and especially the Yamuna, in Delhi’s context, seemed like a good place to start. And so the Yamuna it was.

If we wanted to jolt the kids out of their apathy, we couldn’t have chosen a better way. Comments like "But....it looks like Coke, not water!" and "I heard that the Yamuna was in a bad shape, but I never dreamed that it could be like this" were heard on each of the five boats, but nothing could match their chagrin when they saw children, their own age, bathing and swimming in, and drinking the filthy smelly water. As the sun grew hotter, methane fumes rose off the black surface silencing the chatter and drawing out hankies.

Later in the day, at the IHC office, some of the children prepared a special edition of Gobar Times with the help of professionals from the field of journalism and editorial design closely supervising, while others prepared a colourful photograph and painting exhibition based on their experiences. Young students trained by the Delhi Environment Action Network (DEAN) demonstrated how to test the water quality of the samples collected on the boat-ride. Besides getting to know about the Yamuna, the exercise aimed to give the student-investigators hands-on experience in these professions.