Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas, 2008

Celebrated on August 20 every year since 2004, the ‘Akshay Urja diwas’ is an effective and far reaching awareness campaign about the developments of renewal energy in our country. The day commemorates the birth anniversary of former prime minister and visionary leader Rajiv Gandhi.

The Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas advocates the essence of renewable energy in the sectors of bio energy, wind, hydro and solar energy, since Rajiv Gandhi was a keen enthusiast in India’s scientific advancement which would enable the nation to leap into the 21st century.

The day informs the end users about the latest developments in this filed and encourages all stakeholders and policy makers for constant improvement in this filed.

The Ministry for Non-conventional Energy Sources, Govt. of India has been promoting technological innovation to successfully utilise renewal energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, biomass and urban and industrial waste to not only produce power for the electricity grid but also for several stand alone applications and decentralised power production.

Reaching renewal energy to the people and convincing end users of the benefits, achievements and shortcomings, demand much public awareness programmes. Since the first national level function of Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas, the government has been organising awareness drive on the very day in terms of mass rallies, formation of human chains, organising essay, quiz, slogan-writing and painting competitions, and debates, seminars and group discussions, etc. on renewable energy.

The first national level function of Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas was organised at New Delhi in 2004. On this occasion a commemorative stamp was released by the Prime Minister. A human chain of nearly 12,000 school children was formed in the national capital to promote a renewable future. In the year 2005 also this celebrations were held in Delhi. Nagpur was chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Akshaya Urja Diwas celebration for 2006 and Hyderabad, 2007. The function for the year 2008 of this Special Day is being held at Panchkula, Haryana.