Sagarmitra Abhiyaan (Friends of Oceans) works to mitigate the threat caused by plastic pollution by creating a cultural shift in public perceptions and behaviors concerning plastic pollution and creates an ethical shift in student-to-parent outreach whereby the cultures of Ahimsa (Non-Violence) and Vishwamaanavta (Universal Trusteeship) are sought to be embedded within each Sagarmitra student’s family.

Sagar-Mitra Abhiyan is more than what meets the eye!

Listen to the Sagar-Mitra song being sung by these young students (their very first attempt). Notice it talks about 3 Sagars – the outer, the inner and the Sagar of the children.

The endeavor of Sagarmitra is to prevent further damage to the outer Sagar (the ocean) by awakening the inner Sagar (SushumnaNadi-SaptaChakra) through the actions of the Children (the Karuna Sagar).

There are >375,000 school students (+ their families) already participating in the Sagar-Mitra Abhiyan and they have been aptly awarded with the Badge of ‘Ocean Heros’ by The 5 Gyres Institute (https://www.5gyres.org/) in 2015. They also won the ‘Great Global Cleanup HEROES’ award in 2024.

Owing to the student’s participation, not just the families, but housing societies, few village gram panchayats, city corporations (Pune, Jalgaon, Sangli, Nashik) are also adopting/exploring the Sagar-Mitra approach and Corporations (Cummins, Umicore, Suzlon, Arcelor) are supporting through their CSR to be a part of this initiative.