“There has long been a belief that the sea,
at least, was inviolate,
beyond man's ability to change and to despoil. But this belief, unfortunately, has proved to be naive."
~Rachel Carson
The Ocean Savers of India is an organization started on the 21st of June 2011 under the aegis of the Indian Maritime Foundation which works towards the awareness about the marine environment in today’s genera
tion. As we all know the life as we know today , as well as the bygone lives have originated from the ocean; In the primordial days the mollusks ,one celled organisms which multiplied into multi celled organisms & finally into the whales , owe their origin to the oceans . The fine tuned product called the humans owe their existence to the ocean i.e. Thus we owe everything to the ocean .A clean ocean is the only life line for the key existence of mankind. Now a days the waste and pollution originating from the human hordes of the world is polluting all water ways and finally the ocean itself which slowly is turning into a toxic water. Now and then we hear about the dead fish and the dead birds which is a result of them consuming toxic water. This continuance of the destruction of the various species of bird life and animal life will have a domino effect at a foreseeable distant future, the non existence of the human species themselves. With a view to prevent the deterioration of our oceans and water bodies we at the OSI are striving to inculcate a sense of love and respect for our water bodies by organizing various activities like costal clean ups interactive quiz competitions oriented towards ecology and environment .We also go to various schools in and around Pune to present presentations and documentaries to increase awareness amongst the students. As a humble effort on our part the OSI assisted the IMF (Indian Maritime Foundation) in the ‘International Coastal Cleanup’ which took place on the 8th of October 2011 at about 30 sites all over Pune. This cleanup aimed at keeping our rivers and their banks clean, so as to prevent the threat of ‘marine litter’. Over the past year and a half, in addition to the five river bank cleanups that were conducted we also held an inter school quiz competition-QUIZZAC. A new branch of the OSI was inaugurated in April 2012 at Ludhiana, under the able leadership of Mrs. Prior to that in March 2012 we had the release of our quarterly newsletter-LIGHTHOUSE. From a 4 page newsletter the Lighthouse is today a 20 page Magazine which we can proudly say is designed and compiled by young Council Members of the OSI. Lighthouse serves a beacon to make people aware of what is happening in our environment, our surrounding etc. We celebrated our first anniversary in June 2012 by organizing a weeklong event of programmes aimed at school and college children, awakening their interest in the environment. During these activities we had a delightful presentation on SAGAR PARIKRAMA, by Commander Dilip Donde IN Shaurya Chakra who solo circumnavigated the globe and brought great laurels to our country. This was followed by a tree plantation drive under our new project GITA (Green India Trees Association) founded in memory of our mentor Late Mrs. In April 2013 Mrs. Prajakti Patki and her team set up the second branch of OSI in Mumbai. Under her guide ship the branch members successfully pulled together a rally against POP idols of Ganpati. About 100 odd participants took to the streets in the rally. October 2012 saw the International Coastal Cleanup Pune Chapter where over 3000 student and citizen volunteers participated in cleaning up our river banks. We began 2013 with a formal release of the Coffee table book NOSTALGIA A voyage of 20 years authored by Karn Ragade as a tribute to the IMF for having completed 20 years of cherish able existence. A trek to Bhaja Caves was conducted in the early days of March 2014 which was fused together with a cleanup drive at the site itself. This instilled in the minds of the 45 odd volunteers the thought that our tourist locations are probably the dirtiest places to visit. In the current year the OSI now aims at setting up a branch at Vishakhapatnam and Delhi. Our motive will now be to conduct awareness generating events on a regular basis which would give the people of Pune and India a chance to serve the environment and help protect mother nature. Our major aim will be to make people sea minded. For further details Contact us on 9545939524 or email us on [email protected]
