National Energy Conservation Day on 14 December: Politicians urge citizens to conserve energy, preserve natural resources

National Energy Conservation Day is marked every year in India on 14 December, to drive mass awareness about the importance of energy efficiency and conservation. The Energy Conservation Act in India was executed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in the year 2001, a constitutional body that comes under Government of India and helps in the development of policies and strategies in order to reduce the energy use.

Representational image. Reuters

BEE recognises and encourages endeavours of industries in reducing energy consumption by felicitating them with National Energy Conservation Awards. BEE also awards prizes to the national winners of the annual National Painting Competition on Energy Conservation.

Last year, over 1.22 crore children participated in the National Painting Competition and 322 industrial units and establishments from key sectors participated in the National Energy Conservation Awards 2017. President Ram Nath Kovind give away National Energy Conservation Awards and National Painting Competition Prizes this year.

In India, many energy conservation competitions are organised by the government and other organizations to make national energy conservation campaign more effective and special.

Many politicians celebrated the day, urging Indian citizens to do their bit and conserve energy.

The Haryana chief minister urged everyone to take a pledge to conserve energy in order to preserve natural resources.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted Bengal's progress in 'augmenting generation of energy from non-conventional sources'.

"From 1.2 megawatts (MW) in 2011, solar power generation has increased to 53.216 MW in 2017-18, while generation of biomass power has increased from 1.59 MW to 13.29 MW during the same period," she added.

Union minister Harsh Vardhan also tweeted along the same lines, asking the people to pledge to make efficient use of energy and conserve natural resources.

Haryana cabinet minister Vipul Goel took a pledge to make the world a better place for our future generations.

Former minister YS Chowdary commited to work towards conserving energy and to adopt sustainable development methods.

Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Rutvij Patel asked the people to do the earth a favour and 'conserve to preserve'.