Sahyadri ISE,CSE hold “Think Green” initiative for Greener Earth

Mangaluru: The mInDS – An association of students belonging to the Department of Information Science & Engineering and CSE (Data Science) of Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management, organized a seed ball-making event, thereby growing sapling for plantation, an environment-friendly initiative at Sahyadri College. The amount of forestland is decreasing, and the environment’s greenery is deteriorating day by day. The purpose of this activity was to increase environmental awareness among the student body.

Among many initiatives to improve green cover, making and distributing seed balls is a quicker and cost-effective method to reclaim the lost green cover of our environment. Hence, it is an emerging afforestation technique adopted worldwide, seed balls are most commonly used for ecological restoration.

Making seed balls is fun and an easy way to grow trees. The composition of the seed ball makes it self-sustainable and favourable for germination in most environments.

Bhandary Foundation Trustee Devadas Hegde guided and supported the team in all the means for preparing seed balls and inaugurated the event by making the first seed ball along with Dr Mustafa Basthikodi, Professor and Head of Dept. of Information Science & Engineering and CSE (Data Science). Devadas Hegde motivated students to involve in environmental conservation work by sharing his own work in 2022, Hegde and his daughter planted 300 trees to conserve the environment.

Dr Mustafa addressed the team, mentioning that the seed balls are an easy and sustainable way to cultivate plants that provide a larger window of time when the sowing can occur. A seed ball is a seed that has been wrapped in soil materials, usually a mixture of clay and compost, and then dried. Essentially, the seed is ‘pre-planted’ and can be sown by depositing the seed ball anywhere suitable for the species, keeping the seed safely until the proper germination window arises. Seed balls have an 80 per cent growth success rate in comparison to regular seedlings.

The team of faculty members including Rithesh Pakkala, Faculty Coordinator-mInDS, and event coordinators Jayapadmini Kanchan, Madhura N Hegde, Ganaraj K and Shwetha S Shetty coordinated this much-needed beautiful event with the help of other faculties and Student team lead by mInDS vice President Madhur Rai.

More than 150 students and faculties of the department were involved in the preparation of 1000+ seed balls and 100+ plant sapling. The event was organized most beautifully with successful outcomes and appreciations.