YEPW in India Plants Seeds of Peace With Eco Ten Minutes
In 2025, a wave of peace is spreading across India, led by the nation’s youth. At the heart of this movement, where universities, local governments, and civic organizations join hands to build peace, is the Youth Engagement & Peacebuilding Working Group (YEPW) in India. By forming diverse partnerships across regions, YEPW in India is working to embed peace as a core cultural value within local communities.
One of the representative initiatives is the Eco Ten Minutes Project, which delivers messages of peace through environmental action. Built on the idea that “anyone can act for peace in just ten minutes,” the project launched earlier this year has already been held more than 40 times. In August, the Eco Ten Minutes Project took place at Tikaram Jagannath College on the 4th, Mahatma Gandhi Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University, Gadag, on the 6th, Akshara Techno School, Gadag, on the 7th, and Vidhana Soudha on the 10th.
Mahatma Gandhi Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University (MGRDPRU) in Gadag District, Karnataka, has been closely collaborating with YEPW in India since last year. Together, they have set a strong example of practical peacebuilding by carrying out street and facility clean-ups across 10 areas of Gadag. In August, the university also held a roundtable during the IPYG Network Meeting under the theme, “The Peaceful City We Want to Live In.” The outcomes of this discussion were delivered to the Deputy Commissioner of Gadag District, prompting the local government to pay closer attention to HWPL and IPYG’s peace initiatives.
The momentum of Eco Ten Minutes is also growing in Bengalore, Karnataka. Maheshwari Vividhoddeshagla Mahila Mandal, a civic organization in Gadag District, partnered with Akshara Techno School in Gadag to host an Eco Ten Minutes event attended by more than 170 participants. Both students and teachers experienced firsthand that nurturing one’s surroundings is the starting point of peace. Another Eco Ten Minutes event was held at Vidhana Soudha, the Karnataka State Legislature building, in collaboration with the Indian Ploggers Army, led by plogging influencer Nagaraj G. Shared widely across social media, this activity helped raise public awareness and contributed positively to the process of introducing a resolution in support of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW) in the Karnataka State Assembly.
Tikaram Jagannath College (TJ College) in Pune, Maharashtra, has been partnering with YEPW in India since August 2024 to advance peace initiatives. During the event celebrating International Youth Day (August 12), students were invited to reflect on the message that “true peace is not only the absence of physical violence. It is complete when justice, dignity, and mutual respect flourish within our society.” Students expressed their hopes for peace by writing messages on paper airplanes and launching them into the air. Inspired by this event, the university committed to establishing a peace club and promoting regular peace-related programs. In addition, through its campus-based radio station, TJ 89.6 FM, the university helped spread information about HWPL, IPYG, and peace education throughout Maharashtra, bringing the message of peace to listeners across the region.
YEPW in India is more than a campaign; it is a youth-driven working group that continues to grow through collaboration with diverse sectors of society. By demonstrating that peace is a value anyone can bring to life in their everyday surroundings, YEPW is planting seeds of peace across India.
