Jaagte Raho! club...It's your turn to become an active citizen

In September 2008, Janaagraha in partnership with Tata Tea, launched Jaago Re! One Billion Votes as a non-partisan initiative to awaken and enable the youth of India to register to vote. Covering 37 of India’s largest cities, the movement enabled more than 6 lakh online voter registrations ahead of 2009 General Elections, making it the most successful online registration drive in Indian history. In the run-up to General Elections ’09, there arose a need for an active platform that enabled registered voters to participate in electoral issues. After having polling on 30^th May everybody was asking what after this? How you are goanna move on from here? The reason behind that, the voter turnout was so poor. It’s a history, around any election many organisations come forward and run the campaigns to spread the word about voter registration and better voter turnout, but once the elections get over they all disappear. Here we (Janaagraha) are different from others. We understand the need behind putting continues effort to resolve electoral & civic issues. So we launched our new campaign Jaagte Raho! on 15^th December, 2009 which inspire value of active citizenship in urban India by bringing out the vote for union, state and local elections and by promoting participation in neighbourhood areas.

As a campaign the entire focus on major cities and youth. One of fundamental aims of a university education is to prepare better citizens for the nation. While the ideal is an extremely noble one, most colleges tend to focus on academic excellence as a means to achieve it. And it’s a same case with corporate too. Most corporates today have a sustained CSR program, and firmly believe in playing a pro-active role in ensuring the well being of their employees and society at large. However, CSR programs very often look at opportunities outside the organization and not within. This results in unfortunate scenarios where voter registration and turnout rates in the best Indian universities and corpotares are way below the national average. There is a dearth of systems that nurture and promote the ‘Citizenship’ potential within the employee and student base.

To some extent, this is also due to the difficulties faced by institutions in promoting civic engagement internally – be it voter registration, regular volunteering with nonprofits, spreading awareness on civic issues etc. Experiences during the Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign last year, where voter awareness talks and registration drives were conducted in 180+ institutions nationally; show that there is tremendous enthusiasm amongst colleges & young employees to support electoral and civic engagement activities. What is needed is a permanent setup (a Club) within each institution that catalyzes and manages all internal electoral and civic engagement activities in an informed manner.

In response to this need, Janaagraha has introduced the concept of Jaagte Raho! club – an internal group within each Institution that will work in a sustained manner to catalyze active citizenship amongst all students/employees. Any institution with more than 500 students can setup a formal Jaagte Raho! club, in partnership with Janaagraha or they can also run the activities under an existing club. Besides being the key platform within institutions to contribute towards nation building, Jaagte Raho! clubs will play a key role in developing the leadership qualities among youth.

What India needs today is engaged active citizens and youth are part of a large section of this citizenry. This does not mean we need to become part of a political party to make a difference. The simple act of being aware of our governance structure, keeping track of the Acts and laws passed by the government, monitoring the policies being made and to voice out your opinion at public forums can make a big difference. By holding our government accountable we would bring a greater sense of responsibility to the leaders we elect.

Many of us don't take interest in nor participate actively in the formation of our government and administration of our country, because most of us view politics as quicksand, once in it there's no way out. During the election a lot of political figures come into the limelight, but how much do we know about their contribution to the development of our country? Some politicians take advantage of the fact that most people don't really understand how the government functions and neither do they try to find out! Reasons for the citizen’s apathy towards politics are many, like rampant corruption, criminalisation of politics, indifference towards people's needs; lack of accountability and the list goes on. Here your simple acts of participation can make a BIG difference to your neighbourhood and country. By engaging in electoral and civic activities you will deepen the democracy in our country and soon see results of a better quality of life.

Jaagte Raho! club is an answer to most of your questions. The permanent platform within institution which gives you an opportunity to sharpen your leadership quality and which will also gives the space to experiment your new ideas. Everyone has their own limitations & this journey will be difficult. The road will be long. But with limitless faith in the capacity of the young people nothing is impossible. If we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then it absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to work toward the longer vision, which we have achieved today.

JRC is a platform where people meet regularly to discuss issues they are passionate about. This should ideally be a public space which enable opening of the platform to the greater audience, hence creating the platform for free speech and public discussion. This could even be a place on your institution campus which is thrown open to all. Every young person associated with JRC has a deep desire to learn and we recognize this. Janaagraha will be providing training to core team & Advisory group members to understand the need of participation, what the club activities are & how to do that. As Core team members, you must lead institution and get others interested.

Jaagte Raho! Club also works to build skills and mentor youth enabling them to take initiatives. To give youth grassroots experience of participating in local issues, we encourage students to work on NGO’s projects to nurture the spirit of volunteerism. Over the past few years large numbers of students have engaged with different NGO’s in various projects. Some involve interacting with communities, investigating city problems, surveying, campaigning and interviewing. These experiences have given students a chance to consciously look at urban problems. Having been on projects students go back with a better understanding of challenges of city governance and most importantly with a positive will to engage in local community issues.

In India, political discussions and debates exist only in the informal space of our social circles, mostly limited to our friends and family. The youth today are displaying an increased interest in discussing politics and passionately debate issues which don’t just concern them directly but also affect the country as a whole. The youth is willing to engage and understand these issues, but lack a platform that facilitates this. Given our strong belief in participatory democracy, we see Jaagte Raho! Club gives you chance to become an active citizen.