Page 17 - HUDCO Award for Best Practices - 2024

THEME: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, ENERGY CONSERVATION AND GREEN BUILDINGS

Environmental and Social Sustainability: Green

initiatives by Indian Institute of Management

Indore (IIM Indore)

Indian Institute of Management Indore, Madhya Pradesh

BACKGROUND

The campus is situated on the foothills of the Vindhya Mountain range, at a scenic hillock, which highlights its unique and picturesque
landscape. It lies between 22.6256°N latitude and 75.7910°E longitude. The IIM Indore campus is 193 acres (78 hectares) by area.
The area presents a very rich and diverse assemblage of species due to the varied topography and climatic conditions. It comes under
Malwa plateau which is in the western part of Madhya Pradesh. In this region, the main classes of soil are black, brown and stony soil.
The volcanic, clay-like soil of the region owes its black colour to the high iron content of the parent basalt. The natural vegetation is
tropical dry forest.

The IIM Indore campus is home to over 1,800 programme participants and over 150 families of teaching, non-teaching staff. IIM
Indore flourishes 355 species, 241 genera and 96 families of plants, 50+ bird species (including migrants from Himalayas), 7 snake-
species, a family of foxes, hares, rabbits, mongoose, cats, bats, and many species of lizards, chameleons, crabs, butterflies, spiders,
flies, moths, and other insects.

Prior to the commencement of the initiative, the hilly terrain presented a desolate and rocky landscape devoid of any greenery. The
absence of vegetation exacerbated water scarcity issues, with water runoff being a common occurrence on the hilly surface. The soil
composition of the area is predominantly rocky, exacerbating the arid conditions. 20 to 30 % land area is in almost flat plains. 40 to
60 % land area is in slopes. The land consists of granular fragmented weathered rock and porous in nature. Additionally, the disposal
of debris was a prevalent practice, utilizing the accessible land area for such purposes.

MOBILISATION OF RESOURCES
For better results, IIM Indore has recruited adequate human resources at different levels with a good honorarium, which has created
a strong team that strives to give better results by working on all aspects of the environment. Not only this, for the institute provides
full financial support to their families, their education, and other avenues to maintain the effectiveness and stability of human
resources. Adequate budget has been set aside by the institute every year for all types of related activities, which also includes various
types of technical facilities. Monitoring these activities is done effectively with the collective cooperation and monitoring of related
departments such as accounting and financial department, electrical in technical group, project department etc.

THE PROCESS

In the initial stages of the initiatives, various challenges emerged. The primary obstacles encountered during this phase
include:

1. Initial Landscape:

• Before the initiative began, the hilly terrain exhibited a barren and rocky environment with no greenery.
• Lack of vegetation intensified water scarcity problems, leading to frequent water runoff on the uneven surface.

2. Soil Composition:

• The area predominantly featured rocky soil, worsening the already arid conditions.

• The soil was granular with fragmented, weathered rock, characterized by porosity.

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