Last Saturday, while in Mumbai, I witnessed a power failure and ‘no-electricity’ condition in some places that I visited that evening (strange coincidence, I thought). I was kind of irritated and while sharing this distress with my friend, I came to know about an initiative “Mumbai Unplug: Batti Bandh” . However, my friend wasn’t sure about what it was either. I later found out that Mumbaikars can voluntarily switch off their electricity on Saturday for an hour from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. This was something that had derived its inspiration from Sydney’s “Earth Hour” concept, an initiative to fight against global warming. Some articles in newspapers next day carried detailed information on the “Batti Bandh” initiative. However, all reported that the response to this initiative was poor with people participating only in few pockets of the city. Many corporate houses, restaurants, offices, residential complexes took part. However, hoardings, malls, and multiplexes remained brightly lit. The ...
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