Objectives

• To encourage the students to appreciate environment
• To provide environmental education opportunities for students and involve them in addressing environmental issues of the locality
• To utilize the enormous manpower available with students as conduits for awareness of the society
• To make students practice and advocate sustainable lifestyles
• To improve the overall environmental quality of the region and the State

Coverage

All government and aided Colleges / Higher Secondary Schools in the State are eligible to establish ‘BMCs’ in their institution

Methodology

• Directorate of Environment & Climate Change (DoECC) will coordinate the implementation of this component activity in the State as part of the Plan Scheme viz., ‘Environmental Awareness and Incentives’.
• New BMCs can be established by applying through the link https://schemes.envt.kerala.gov.in/bmc/registration
• Each such BMC should have student members, who show interest in environment related issues and are ready to contribute a token sum of Rs.10/- per year for the BMC. There is no upper limit for number of students.
• Each BMC will be advised and supervised by a Faculty-in charge (FIC), who is nominated by the Head of the Institution from the teachers, on the basis of their interest in environment related issues.
• Head of the Institution can nominate additional Co-Faculty-in-Charges, if found necessary.

Selection of participant clubs and Criteria for selection of Colleges/Higher Secondary Schools

State Level Environmental Awareness Evaluation Committee (SLEAEC) will select the Institutions based on their proposed activities.

Financial Assistance

• Each participating institution with a BMC would be given an initial assistance of Rs.25,000/-. The BMC would decide on using the sum for the club activities in consultation with the Head of the Institution.
• Annual recurring grant of Rs. 10,000/- will be disbursed to each BMC, upon successful utilization of the grant and submission of annual report, utilization certificate and expenditure statement

Best BMC Awards:

Based on the performance of each BMCs, best clubs will be selected in college level and HSS level from three zones such as South, Central & North. The award prize money shall be utilized for undertaking any local environment management activities. Separate Report, Utilization Certificate in KFC Form 44 and Expenditure Statement shall be submitted.

South Zone	Central Zone	North Zone
Thiruvananthapuram	Kottayam	Malappuram
Kollam	Idukki	Wayanad
Alappuzha	Ernakulam	Kozhikode
Pathanamthitta	Thrissur	Kannur
	Palakkad	Kasargode

Fund-flow mechanism:

The grants and funds for the BMCs will be released by DoECC to the Head of the Institution after executing a biparty agreement with DoECC. This amount should be managed by the Colleges/Schools through a dedicated separate bank account (in any of the nationalized banks) exclusively for this purpose. The grant shall be released in lump sum as advance payment.

List of suggested activities for BMCs (only tentative)

• Organize Seminars, debates, lectures and popular talks on environmental issues in the College/ Schools and surrounding areas.
• Field visits to local environmentally important sites including polluted and degraded sites, wild life parks, coastal areas, etc.
• Organize awareness camps to propagate waste minimization, personal hygiene habits and sustainable life styles.
• Observance of environmentally significant days: (It is mandatory for BMCs to observe at least two of the following days).

World Wetland Day - 2nd February
World Water Day - 22nd March
World Meteorological Day - 23rd March
World Earth Day - 22nd April
International Biodiversity Day - 22nd May
World Environment Day - 5th June
World Ocean Day - 8th June
World Ozone Day - 16th September
National Pollution Prevention Day - 2nd December
National Energy Conservation Day - 14th December

• Mobilize awareness against environmentally unsound practices like waste disposal in unauthorized places, unsafe disposal of hospital wastes, etc.
• Activities like tree plantation, cleanliness drives within and outside the campus, maintain waste management units, practice recycling, implement water harvesting structures and other water management practices, etc.
• Prepare inventories of polluting sources; take mitigation measures if possible, and if not, forward it to enforcement agencies.
• Monitor the water quality of water bodies in and around the campus, including drinking water sources and ascertain its potability and suitability of use.
• Curriculum related assignments on local environmental issues including pollution monitoring, biodiversity surveys, waste management, documentation of indigenous traditional knowledge etc.
• Prepare locally relevant resource materials.

Role of Implementers

• Role of DoECC
  • To coordinate participating institutions and organize state level activities
  • To organize training programs for the FICs and student members.
  • To provide publicity for the programme to encourage more institutions and students to join BMCs.
  • To organize evaluation and monitoring of the programme with the help of State Level Environmental Awareness Evaluation Committee (SLEAEC).

• Composition and role of State Level Environmental Awareness Evaluation Committee
  • (a) Composition
    

    1.	Secretary to Government, Environment Department	Chairperson
    2.	Director, Directorate of Environment & Climate Change	Member
    3.	Director of Collegiate Education, Kerala	Member
    4.	Director of Higher Secondary Education, Kerala	Member
    5.	Member Secretary, Kerala State Biodiversity Board	Member
    6.	Member Secretary, Kerala State Pollution Control Board	Member
    7.	Environment Programme Manager, Directorate of Environment & Climate Change	Convener

  • (b) Functions
    • Selection and approval of the participating institutions.
    • Review the performance of the BMCs and select best clubs at zonal level annually.
    • To review periodically the implementation of the programme and suggest the activities to be taken up
• Role of FIC in BMC
  The Faculty-in-Charge (FIC) of BMC plays a key role in the implementation of the programme. FIC should encourage more students to join the club and take creative steps to implement the activities suggested in the scheme, which are relevant to that region. Main functions of FIC include:
  • To bring together the BMC members every week for one hour at least and take up some activity.
  • To plan and implement monthly and annual activities of the club, update programme calender and make. necessary arrangements for its execution in consultation with the Head of the Institution.
  • To document the activities and prepare the reports, Utilization Certificate in KFC Form 44 and Expenditure Statement to DoECC at the end of each year.
  • Participate in all the interactive meetings/training programmes organized by DoECC.