JANAKROSH - FOR BETTER TOMORROW

Human Life : According to Hindu mythology, after going through eighty four lakhs yonis, one gets the birth of a HUMAN. This shows how important it is to utilize this human life meaningfully throughout it's natural cycle. Life is precious and every life has some purpose. A person can serve that purpose only when he/she is alive for full natural life.

Even the Constitution of India has observed that the right to life is the most fundamental of all rights. Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 provides, "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” In other words, nobody has right to take other's life.

Still we find that in road accidents some or other person is responsible for taking lives of other persons, be it a bike rider, pillion or four-wheelers passengers, morewheeler heavy vehicle drivers, pedestrians or even innocent bystanders, mostly for no fault of theirs.

Road Accidents :Around one lakh fifty thousand peole in India lose their lives in road accidents every year which means about over 400 deaths daily. Hardly a day dawns when, on opening a daily news paper, one does not come across the news about road accidents which happened a day before.

The backdrop : Alarmed and saddened by such unfortunate deaths and injuries on roads Shri Ravindra Kaskhedikar, a noted social worker coined an idea of forming a NGO to propogate the message of road safety to all strata of society. Initially he had handful of supporters and admirers. Gradually, Nagpur citizens specially senior citizens realized the significance of the issue involving human lives and started joining Janakrosh voluntarily. Today it has a network of around 130 Members who are vigorously passionate and pursing this cause of spreading road safety education to all concerned. All Janakrosh acivities are conducted under the able guidance and leadership of Shri Ravindra Kaskhedikar who continues to be it's Secretary since it's inception till date.

Main causes of road accidents :Every year, people are killed when they or others fail to observe various road safety measures. There are countless factors that are responsible for causing traffic accidents. However, three major factors contribute to the road accidents namely (1) Human Error (2) Road environment and (3) Vehicular condition). Unfortunately, Human error constitutes 81.4% of road accidents- meaning careless driving & non-following of traffic rules.

The FOUR 'Es": The main thrust of accident prevention and control across the world has been on 4 E's viz (i) Engineering; (ii) Enforcement; (iii) Education and (iv) Environment and Emergency care of road accident victims.Janakrosh decided to focus on the third 'E' and continues to centre its activities around road safety Education.

The N.G.O.: "JANAKROSH FOR BETTER TOMORROW” is an NGO based in Nagpur registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Since 2012, it is engaged in spreading the road safety awareness message amongst the motoring public, pedestrians, vehicle drivers and school/college/ coaching classes students who are on the threshold of attaining majority shortly.

Janakrosh is a group of about 130 members, engaged in road safety education since last more than eight years and is comprised primarily of the senior citizens retired from various Central/State Government departments, Banks, MSEB, various PSUs & Private sector. They have been effectively and dedicatedly shouldering the responsibility of spreading the road safety message through Janakrosh activities. They work without any expectation for any appreciation remuneration or any other benefit. All Janakrosh programmes are conducted FREE OF COST.

PRIME ACIVITIES ON ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION

In addition to many other activities, following prime activities have been undertaken by Janakrosh regularly, except for the Coronavirus pendemic period.

1. Road Safety education to the general public : On Every Wednesday, we have been providing hands on training to road users about safety on roads by about 20-30 members standing on selected road intersections of the city. By now over 150 intersections have been covered - some many times over. We also point out to municipal Corporation, the shortcomings observed at the intersections for rectifying the deficiencies.

2. Road safety education to the Heavy vehicle drivers : Till 2019 (bfore Coronavirus) Janakrosh team provided an hour long power point presentation, in RTO Office, Nagpur to the drivers of four wheelers who come for driving license renewal. During last 6 years, over 500 presentations have been made by us wherein we have successfully trained over 40,000 drivers.

3. Road Safety education to students of Schools, Colleges & Tuition Classes : Under our program "Catch them Young", Janakrosh embarked upon the idea and conducted road safety education training programs to large number of schools, colleges and coaching class students in Nagpur and neighbouring districts..

• Other activities and Achievements :

• (1) Janakrosh conducted road safety awareness programs for City Bus Drivers and School Bus drivrs in Nagpur to inculcate in them the habit of following traffic rules and safe driving.
• (2) Quality Circle : Janakroash is aware that its efforts are not the last word and hence will need to improve continuously and has formed a Quality Circle group within Jankrosh with dedicated members, to improve on its process and contents of the 'spread of safety message'.
• (3) A MINIBUS donated to Janakrosh : Considering the since efforts of Janakrosh, Nagpur in spreading the road safety education, National Insurance Company Ltd. was kind to donate it's new Traveller Minibus to Janakrosh to help it extend it's area of operation. With the availability of minibus, Janakrosh has also conducted it's programmes in many schools and colleges in neighbouring districts of Naggpur and also in adjoining rural areas of Nagpur district.
• (4) Collaborations : Janakrosh, Nagpur also conducts road safety education programme with ppt presentations in collaboration with G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur and Butibori Manufacturers Association.
• (5) Janakrosh has also conducted study of Black spots in Nagpur city, alongwith Nagpur Traffic police..
• (6) Nomination on National Road Safety Council: Shri Ravindra Kaskhedikar, Secretary of Janakrosh, Nagpur has been nominated as a Member on the National Road Safety Council by the Government of India.
• (7) Nomination on Maharashtra State Road Safety Council: Janakrosh member Shri Ashok Karandikar has been appointed as a Member on the Maharashtra Road Safety Council, by the Government of Maharashtra.
• (8) Awards and recognition : Janakrosh has been, inter alia, conferred with following prestigious awards:
• (i) Good Samaritan Award : The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India also evaluated & appreciated the persistent efforts of Janmakrosh on road safety education and presented a Good Samaritan Award-2020 to Janakrosh at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi in Jan. 2021..
• (ii) Nagpur Police Award : Janakrosh has been regular recipient of the Road Safety award given by the RSP Wing of Nagpur city.
• (iii) A short film produced by Janakrosh on road safety has received the "Best Short Film Production" and "Best Photography Award in a "Road Safety short film Competition" organized jointly by the RTO Pune and All India Marathi Film Corporation in 2021.
• (iv) Qualitiy Circle Forum of India- Nagpur Chapter has, in appreciation of the work of Janakrosh Quality Circle Members issued a Certificate of Achievement for their outstanding participation in the Case Study Presentation.
• No Horn Day : Janakrosh has also implemented the idea of observing No Horn Day on 3rd of every moth and it is being regularly conducted in Nagpur intersections.
• New Year Calendars : Janakrosh has been publishing it's New Year Calendars every year since 2020 and distributing free to various Organizations, eminent personalities, Schools,, Colleges etc.
• Branches : Janakrosh, Nagpur has also opened it's Branches at Jabalpur in M.P., at Raipur & Bilaspur in Chhatisgarh and at Amravati city in Maharashtra State, where it's local members carryout the regular activities.
• Outlook : Janakrosh mission on road safety education continues with the infusion of new active and enthusiastic members in the NGO. New ideas are being conceived and implemented by Janakrosh to expand it's wings in newer terrain with the objective to reach to maximum people possible.