Bengaluru: Waldenwood Eco Village (WEV) of Odisha launched a mega mission entitled ‘ Back to Village ‘ in Bangalore recently. Situated at the foothill of Kapilash range of mountains on the border of Dhenkanal and Jajpur Districts of Odisha, the WEV has been growing as a popular destination for eco lovers of India and abroad. Conceptualised and designed by the founder of WEV Ram Krishna Dash, the launching of the mission was attended by the leading environmentalists, eco lovers and hygiene experts of the country.
Popularly known as the eco man R.K, Dash has been the sole initiator and architect of the unique mission aimed at inspiring the urban population to revert to the village and ensuring world-class amenities available in the rural areas.
Delivering the welcome address the main organiser and Chairman of New Delhi-based Waldenwoods Foundation, Ram Krishna Dash disapproved of the current trend of large-scale migration of people from rural to urban areas. The global warming clubbing with this kind of social aberration has been proved to be catastrophes for the human race, Dash observed. In search of better education, health care and employment opportunities people used to migrate in the past he added. Since the advent of modern technologies and state-of-the-art infrastructures in rural areas the scenarios have recently changed drastically, he pointed out. Keeping in view of the changed circumstances and massive scale development in rural belts, R.K gave a clarion call to the delegates to come back and settle in the villages. Particularly when the work from home has become a much popular practice at present due to the corona factor, Dash appealed to include work from the farm and work from the garden in the same phenomenon. Addressing the gathering the chief guest former CMD Nayivali Lignite Corporation Sarat Chandra Acharya focused on the need to realise the power of the time and urged the participants to accommodate themselves with the emerging situation as per the requirement of the hour.
Acharya further elaborated that the success of life depends on welcoming the changing lifestyle and adjusting to the evolving nature as per the time dictates. Appreciating the noble endeavours of enterprising Odias like R.K, the Guest of Honour renowned startup mentor Pranab Pani advised the audience to take good care of the protection of the environment and preservation of the ecosystem, while working on sustainable development in rural areas. Drawing a comparison between picturesque Kapilash hill with the Kurk region near Bengaluru, the Keynote speaker Shantanu Pradhan stressed the need of building more and more Eco Villages in Odisha to attract non-resident Odias to the State. Looking back at his twenty-five years of service in the corporate sector the Guest Speaker Ahimanikya Satpathy lauded the initiatives of WEV to divert the attention of the urban population towards their roots and declared that he is going to embrace the farming profession shortly. The Young and Dynamic Director of Waldenwood Eco Village Nandini Dash proposed the vote of thanks.
The distinguished dignitaries present in the three hours long marathon and brainstorming conclave, include Soumyashree Das, Surya Prakash Mohapatra, Reena Mohapatra, Ashutosh Panigrahi, Lipsa Panigrahi, Deepak Acharya, S. Mandy, Debasish Sahoo, Subrat Mohanty, Uday N Tripathy, Sabita Rani Das, Asha Satpathy and Sashmita Pradhan.