Bhubaneswar: At a time when many youngsters while away their time on social media, 31-year-old Sagar Pradhan prefers to pen books, and spend some time and money on conservation of the environment.
Born and brought up in Kendrapara district, Sagar’s works have been well recognised by many national and international organisations and he has also won several awards. Born to Bidulata and Tapan Kumar Pradhan, Sagar completed his schooling from Mallikeswar Government Nodal High School, Kendrapara.
Sagar has developed a habit of providing donations to environmental activities. Be it the proceeds from his books or the honorarium he gets from attending events as a speaker, he utilises all these funds in plantation drives. Moreover, he devotes the royalty he gets from his 28 research articles towards green drives.
For this the United Nations had congratulated Sagar for joining hands with them by donating all his royalty money towards various plantation drives aimed at reducing air pollution. Acknowledging his contribution, the United Nations has also awarded Sagar with the tag ‘World Environment Day Hero’.
Sagar has so far helped in planting thousands of trees and provided funds for restoration of 12 ponds. Sagar, who presently stays in Bangalore and works in an IT company Cult, said, “What prompts me to devote time and money towards plantation activities and environment safety is that we are still cutting trees for producing paper, and I feel that we have to repay what we take from the mother earth.”
Sagar said, “Youths must be imparted environmental education and sensitised about the impact of climate change, if we really want to see some changes in coming days.”
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has conferred him with an appreciation certificate as a ‘World Environment Day Hero’ for his participation in World Environment Day efforts and joining the UN programme to curb air pollution.