• Sujal Pradhan, NET Correspondent, Sikkim 

The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party today observed “ten minutes to earth” environment preservation programme, in presence of the former CM and SDF President – Pawan Chamling along with other party members.

During the tenure of SDF administration, Pawan Chamling had conceptualized and initiated the plantation drive called ‘Ten Minutes to Earth’ under which Sikkim residents were appealed to dedicate ten minutes of their time in tree plantation for environment conservation.

Similarly, SDF party observed the plantation programme across every districts, hamlets, block, sub-division, constituencies.

Taking to social media platforms, Chamling wrote “This year marks the 14th year of Ten Minutes To Earth, an apolitical, flagship program that the Sikkim Democratic Front government began in the year 2009 in order to encourage mass participation towards tending to our mother earth. Every year since, the people of Sikkim have been dedicating ten minutes on the 25th of June of each year to plant trees. The idea behind the program has been to encourage each and every person in Sikkim to dedicate just ten minutes in a year towards the earth. There is no other program like this in the world and I am happy that we were able to institutionalize such an initiative in Sikkim. The simple act of planting a tree has an impact far beyond what we can fathom. When such an initiative is multiplied through a people’s movement, the impact can have proportions to help tackle climate change. Today, the movement of Ten Minutes to Earth is thriving in Sikkim but I believe, in the future, this movement will spread far beyond our borders.”