New Delhi, Aug 28 (INB) President Droupadi Murmu urged school students to extend the core values of Raksha Bandhan — love, care and protection — to the environment and make planting and nurturing trees a lifelong commitment, according to an official statement. Addressing students from schools across the country at a special Raksha Bandhan celebration at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Murmu said the festival symbolised a bond of love that could be shared with anyone, including family members, friends and even trees. Expressing concern over the deteriorating environmental balance, the President asked the students to tie rakhis on plants and trees as a symbolic pledge to protect the ecological equilibrium necessary for human survival. She emphasised that students were the future of the country and urged them to turn their resolve to plant and nurture trees into a lifelong commitment, the statement said. A total of 122 participants, including 89 students and 32 teachers, took part in the celebration. The delegation included 13 Children with Special Needs (CwSN) and representatives from 17 states, one Union Territory, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. As part of their visit to the national capital, the students visited the Pradhan Mantri Sangrahalaya on August 27. Following the programme at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday, they participated in guided tours of Rashtrapati Bhavan and Amrit Udyan. The students will also visit the “The Light and the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One” exhibition at the Raipithora Cultural Complex to view the sacred Buddha relics on display. On August 29, they are scheduled to visit the National Science Centre, National War Memorial and India Gate as part of their educational visit, the statement said.
