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Aircel presents Kids for Tigers (The Sanctuary Tiger Programme: 2010 – 2012)
Aircel has been associated with Sanctuary Magazine for their "Kids for Tigers" program for the last 2 years. ‘Kids for Tigers’ is an action based environmental education programme reaching out to more than 1 million children in 399 schools across 15 cities pan-India. It is being helmed by Bittu Sahgal, Editor of Sanctuary Asia magazine for the last 10 years. The program is aimed at building a constituency of young Tiger Ambassadors who will be equipped to spread the message of tiger conservation in their immediate environment. By using the tiger as a symbol of the environmental health of our country, the program aims at explaining how the survival of the tiger in the wild is linked with the survival of all of the diverse natural richness of India and how it can help mitigate climate change. The theme for 2010-2011 was ‘Save Our Tigers’ and for 2011-2012 is ‘Before it’s too late’.
This year we have reached out to the following schools:
No. City Number of Schools
1 Delhi 46
2 Mumbai 49
3 Bengaluru 41
4 Chennai 35
5 Kolkata 40
6 Guwahati 21
7 RamNagar 27
8 Sunderbans 35
9 Nagpur 18
10 Periyar 12
11 Goa 15
12 Chikmanglur 15
13 Dehradun 15
14 Pune 15
15 Bhopal 15
  Total 399
Achievements of this campaign

2011-2012
  • This year KFT touched 399 schools and over 8 lakh children, leveraging the impact of the program.
  • Over 67720 post cards have been signed by children across the country and sent to the high officials in the government on the urgency to save our national animal.
  • Kolkata held three massive rallies which saw the participation of over 850 children with placards and slogan shouting aimed at bringing to notice the cause of saving our tigers. These rallies were held on December 22nd 2011, January 25th and February 8th 2012.
  • 40 schools and 76 students from across the country participated in regional camps held in the various Tiger Reserves in the country. These children were accompanied by renowned personalities in the field of conservation like Dr. Anish Andheria, Dr. Arivazhagan Chelliah, Brijender Singh, etc.

2010-2011
  • A 2-day symposium was held in Delhi & Kolkata respectively on the 'The Future of the Bengal Tiger'. The Delhi program featured keynote addresses by Dr. Karan Singh, Mr. Jairam Ramesh and other known conservationists, Valmik Thapar and Belinda Wright. The symposium was followed by a Teacher’s Environmental Leadership Workshop for all the participating schools in Delhi and Kolkata both.
  • Actor Naseeruddin Shah flagged off a Kids for Tigers' rally of 400+ kids from the Mahadevi Birla Girls Higher Secondary School in Kolkata. Mr. Fateh Singh Rathore, Dr. Samir Sinha - WWF Traffic India, Mr. Pradeep Vyas- Director of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve and Dr. Monirul H. Khan (from Bangladesh) too were part of the rally. A similar two-day event took place across Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.
  • KFT along with NDTV organized a signature campaign across four metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata where more than 3.4 lakh signatures were collected:
    • Mumbai - 43,789
      Delhi - 32,982
      Bangalore - 1,27,489
      Chennai - 60,360
      Kolkatta - 82,440
      Total - 3,47,060
    • Highest number of signatures : A total of 1,27,489 signatures were collected
      by the schools in Bangalore. Vidyaniketan Public school, Ullalupanagar got the
      highest number of signatures - 29,009 !
  • Around 500+ kids participated in the "Sundarban Chapter" rally on November 11, 2010 to mark the Wildlife Week that was being observed throughout the state by the Forest Department.
Kids for Tiger Express
Mass awareness and mobilization is the key to creating a high impact in saving our tigers, which we at Aircel have so passionately been canvassing. Aircel along with Sanctuary Asia launched the ‘Kids for Tigers’ Express on the 18th of April 2011; flagged off by Shri Jairam Ramesh – ex- Minister of Environment & Forests and renowned footballer, Bhaichung Bhutia.

The KFT Express is a van that traverses the villages surrounding the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve which has a healthy tiger population but is one with a lot of Human- Animal conflict. The teachers in the van go to villages educating the children and the villagers/ communities on the importance of Tiger conservation. This is done by holding wildlife related film shows, conducting bhaitaks, lending conservation related books, holding conservation related photo exhibitions along with talks by famous conservationists and naturalists.

The objective is to create awareness amongst the villagers and thereby mitigate Human- Animal conflict. We have actively involved the Forest Department in this project by leveraging their expertise in the field besides assisting in building the bond between the villagers and the Forest Department. Over the last year, besides creating a wave amongst the many visitors to the park, we have been able to touch numerous village elders and children and impress on them the importance of environment and Tiger conservation.
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