Virtual Chaupal 7pm to 7:45pm On 1 May,2020 Himalayan Scouts organized a virtual meeting named “Virtual Chaupal”. This was the first Episode of Virtual Chaupal and was dedicated to the biggest environmental challenge ‘Plastic’ and its demerits and how we can overcome the problems related it. This episode was titled as 'A talk on Plastic'. For the session we invited Mr Neeraj Mahar who is a Ph.D. Scholar of Wildlife Institute of India, and for a very long time working in the Ladakh region for conservation of wildlife. As he was the main presenter for this meeting, he gave his presentation starting with the general introduction to the impact of waste plastic with the data that told us around 350 million tons of plastic produced by the world and around 148 million the biggest part, which comes from the Packaging litter. And most of the plastic ends as the plastic wastes which either got dumped in the land or reach to the oceans. In both cases, the waste plastic shows the drastic effect on living organisms. On one hand it causes many human diseases on the other hand it took the lives of millions of animals and other organisms. This disaster of waste plastic becomes more drastic in the marine life. “With the waste plastic another threat that comes with the use of plastic is the Micro plastic, which is nothing but the less than 5mm particles of plastic which tend to concentrate in both the animal and marine hotspots. Many species are losing their habitats and life because of the waste amount of dumped plastic.” Mr. Neeraj Mahar showed his research to us, where he showed us the data of his case study of the Ladakh. In the very sensitive ecosystem of Ladakh, Lakhs of tourists have been visiting Ladakh since 2009-10, which did support the economy of Ladakh however at the same time the waste plastic left by tourists threatening the whole ecosystem there. This meeting was organized and hosted by Rover Umesh Kumar and co Hosted by Ranger Apoorva Dixit of Bharat Scouts And Guides District Branch Pithoragarh Uttarakhand, organizing assistance was provided by Scout Master Mr. Himanshu Thagurathi , Technical Advisor of Himalayan Scouts Mr. Suraj Dutkoti, and Rover Sahil Mittal from Bharat Scouts And Guides, Himanchal Pradesh. With 24 participants gathered from different places of our country {Uttarakhand-12, Himanchal Pradesh-8, Jammu & Kashmir- 1, Haryana- 1 and 2 were from Uttar Pradesh} who thoroughly grasp the major points which were discussed in the meeting, And took the ‘Clean the seas pledge’ and committed to reduce the usage of Plastic in every possible way. ‘The inspiration to organize such event we got from Deputy Director Boy Programme BSG India Mr. Amar Bahadur Chettri Sir and Mr. Madhusudan A S sir , Mr. Aroop Sarkar Sir both are presently working as NHQ staff of Bharat Scouts and Guides National Headquarters, India. Special support and motivation was from Mr. J. S. Gariya Unit leader Lakshman Singh Mahar Govt Post Graduation College’s Rovers and Rangers Crew, Mr. Prakash Upreti sir, District Secretary BSG district branch Pithoragarh Uttarakhand , India and Mr. Ramlal Sagar sir, DOC District Branch Pithoragarh.’ Special thanks from the Himalayas to Rover Rahul Rungta and Rover Deepak Sharma for giving your immense support and guidance to us both are from West Benagal and presently works as Task Force Members of BSG National Youth Forum. Thanks to one and all for your direct or indirect support, Regards, SRM Umesh Kumar LSM GPGC Pithoragarh