Ramanathapuram, January 24, 2020: Driven by an intent to protect the earth and its environment, Martin Charitable Trust in association with the district of Ramanathapuram, and through the support of the Government of Tamil Nadu, organised a world-record event ‘Let’s make Seed Balls’, at the auditorium of National Academy School, Ramanathapuram. Leema Rose, the Managing Trustee of the Martin Charitable Trust, handed over the seed balls to the District Collector after the event concluded.
Spanning over a period of 72 hours (Three days) from January 21 to 23, 2020, the event created awareness on the importance of green cover, reducing global warming, preventing soil erosion, generating oxygen, bringing in rains and reducing weather extremities. 34, 00,000 seed balls were prepared by 2500 participants, which included students from the National Academy and Ramanathapuram District Government Schools.
This achievement was observed in person and was certified by four different world record agencies, including the Elite World Records (United States LLC), Asian Records Academy (United Arab Emirates), the Indian Records Academy, and the Tamilan Book of Records.
The event was inaugurated by Leema Rose, Managing Trustee of the Martin Charitable Trust on January 21, in the presence of the District Collector of Ramanathapuram District, K. Veerara Ghava Rao, IAS, Additional District Collector (Development), M, Pradeep Kumar, IAS, and Mrs. Sayyed Abdullah, Registrar of National Academy School.
Speaking about the record-breaking feat, Jose Charles Martin, Managing Director, Martin Group of Companies, said, “Martin Charitable Trust believes in sustainable development and we are proud to be part of the record-breaking event. We are hoping to make one crore seed balls by December 31, 2020, as a part of our #GoGreen mission and today’s event is our first step of success towards it. The bare minimum one can do is plant a tree and these seed balls will ensure that we plant as many as possible. I would like to thank the Govt. of Tamil Nadu, District Collector of Ramanathapuram and the students for their support, participation, and efforts.”
He further added that Martin Charitable Trust will be doing more such events in the future where sustainable development is promoted.
To suit the weather conditions of Ramanathapuram, seeds of Custard Apple (Seetapazham), Wood Apple (Vilampazham), Guava, Golden Shower Trees (Sara Kondrai), Peacock Flower Tree (MayilKondrai), and Portia (Poovarasan) were chosen for making the seed balls. Each ball contained four seeds, totaling over one 1,46,00,000 seeds in the 34,00,000 seed balls which were made by students using red soil, cow dung, and water.
This noble world-record making event was witnessed in person by Karthikeyan Jawahar, Asia Pacific Ambassador of Elite World Records (United States LLC), Dr. A.K. Senthil Kumar, Indian Ambassador of Asian Records Academy (United Arab Emirates), and P. Jagannathan, Associate Editor of the Indian Records Academy. The certificate for world record was handed over to the District Collectors of Ramanathapuram and to the Directors of Martin Charitable Trust. The delegates also congratulated the students on their accomplishments.
These seed balls will now be planted all over Ramanathapuram district, through the office of the District Collector, and Martin Charitable Trust.
