DARBHANGA, Oct. 5 -- Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awardee environmentalist Dr Anil Prakash Joshi, 71, reached Darbhanga as part of nearly 3,000-km bicycle journey aimed at reconnecting people with nature and driving home the message that ecological conservation must become a central social and moral responsibility. Joshi, founder of the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), reached Khutwara More in Darbhanga on the evening of October 3 along with more than 20 fellow cyclists after covering around 70 km from Jaynagar. The cyclists are undertaking the 'Prakriti Path, Pedal for Nature' journey, which began in Janakpur, Nepal, on October 2. The 50-55-day journey will cover nearly 3,000 km through villages and cities across Nepal and several Indian states and territories. Its central message is summed up in the campaign's belief that "Nature is God, it is the greatest religion, and life is impossible without it", according to a press release issued by World Natural Democracy on Sunday. The journey was deliberately started on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as the organisers seek to connect the environmental campaign with Gandhi's concerns for society, self-reliance or Swaraj, and a healthy ecology. During an interaction in Darbhanga, Joshi said human life could not exist independently of nature and expressed concern over the continued neglect of air, soil, forests and water despite growing challenges such as global warming and climate change. He said people across the country had traditionally acknowledged the divine, but their understanding of nature remained incomplete. The campaign, he said, sought to bridge this gap by encouraging people from different walks of life to look at nature, ecology, the Divine and prayer from a fresh perspective....