A Note on "Project Agastya"

“A hundred times everyday, I remind myself that my inner & outer life depend on he labors of other men, living & dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received.”  

- Albert Einstein, Celebrated Scientist & Thinker

Project Agastya, an initiative of the 25/Bangalore Foundation, is a unique experiment in Bangalore - a Citizens’ voluntary initiative with active support, co-operation & participation of the Central & Karnataka Governments, the industry, Educational & Research Organisations, NGOs, Residential Associations, Community Based Organisations, facilitators, experts, etc., for transforming Bangalore into a Sustainable eco-city by 2025.

Lead by prominent citizens of Bangalore such as Justice M N Venkatachalaiah (Rtd.), President, The 25/Bangalore Foundation [Former Chief Justice of India], Dr. A Ravindra, IAS (Rtd.), Chairman of the Steering Committee [Former Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka], etc., The 25/Bangalore Foundation & Project Agastya seeks to enhance the quality of life in Bangalore by transforming Bangalore into an Sustainable eco-City within a time frame, through efficient participation of Government, various stakeholders & NGOs, and deployment of Environmentally Sound Technologies.

Project Agastya has been working on Ecocities and planning & development of ‘Cities of the Future’. Project Agastya along with several reputed Organizations – local & international – are organizing an International Convention of the Cities of the Future, at Bangalore, with Satellite/Partner events in all major cities of the World. The main event is scheduled to be held at Bangalore during July/August 2006. The highlight of the Convention is the Sixth International Conference on Ecocity Development that comes to Bangalore after 5 successful conferences at various cities around the world. The theme of the Bangalore Conference is “From Planning to development and the Future of Sustainable Ecocities”.

Project Agastya has done pioneering work in several of its initiatives such as Urban Water Resources Management (incl. Water Conservation, Stakeholder participation, Pollution control, Rain Water Conservation, etc.), Integrated (Solid) Waste Management, E-Waste Management, Eco-Tourism, Urban planning/Eco-cities, Integrated & Sustainable Energy Management, etc.