New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS): As the nation began a challenging exercise to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for Swachh Bharat, or Clean India, mission a success, Jamia Millia Islamia has launched a plethora of programmes to spread awareness about cleanliness among students, teachers and the neighbourhood of the 92-year-old university.

The university Friday organised a lecture touching upon the issues related to the environment and development.

Giving his keynote address, Jamia vice chancellor professor Talat Ahmad emphasised the necessity of addressing environmental issues from a legal perspective. He appealed to students and teachers to carry forward the mission of protecting the environment and to keep the campus environment "litter-free".

"The time has come to strike a balance between conserving the environment and undertaking developmental activities," he told the gathering.

Titled "Environment and Development: A Predicament?," the lecture was delivered at Jamia's faculty of law by Bharat H Desai, professor of international law from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Desai deliberated upon various issues relating to the debate revolving around environment and development, citing real life illustrations describing the various ways in which our environment is being consistently exploited and degraded.

Jamia Millia Islamia launched the 'Swachhata Abhiyan’ Sep 22. It will run till Gandhi Jayanti Oct 2.

During the period, the university is organising programmes such as panel discussions, sanitation survey of the neighbouring schools and the community, puppet shows, slogan competitions and nukkad plays, etc.