NDTV Greenathon II to lighten homes again

NDTV in association with Toyota will telecast the Greenathon II, a green initiative that provides solar power to villages, on 6 March at 7:00pm across the NDTV network.

The 24-hour, live, non-stop programme will be hosted by Vikram Chandra and Cyrus Broacha while actress Priyanka Chopra, the campaign ambassador, will co-anchor the event to lend her support to the cause and urge people to do their bit for a greener tomorrow.

Dr R K Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and director-general of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has been invited to deliver a "green" address.

Announcing the commencement of Greenathon II, Dr Prannoy Roy, chairman, NDTV Ltd, said, ''The Greenathon, last year, was successful in making a difference to the lives of people living in 55 villages across the country by solar powering them; who would otherwise have been without electricity for a decade or more. The Greenathon has a message that is very important for the well being of our future generations and we are hopeful that this year too the campaign will see participation and support coming from India and beyond.''

Last year the initiative had raised over Rs1.6 crore to solar power 55 villages across India and will continue to support TERI's Lighting a Billion Lives project in its second year.

The Greenathon will showcase a series of on-the-ground activities all over India such as 100-km runathon by model-actor Milind Soman, mural wall paintings based on environmental themes, to be launched by the chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit and Delhi's lieutenant-governor Tejinder Khanna at Central Park, Connaught Place, where cartoonist Sudhir Telang will sketch a cartoon on the environment.