Write a note on Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.

 Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a not-for profit organisation was founded in 2001. The organisation has been registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. One of the missions of Janaagraha is to enhance the quality of life in urban India. To achieve its mission, Janaagraha collaborate with citizens and intend to create active neighbourhoods vis-a-vis Civic Learning, Civic Participation and Advocacy and Reforms. For perspective, under the Bala Janaagraha, the organisation is engaged with more than 200,000 school students across 500 schools covering 25 cities (Janaagraha Website). Students form teams and adopt a street nearby to their school. Upon selecting the street, students take perspectives of the residents, shopkeepers, traffic police through a survey. While defining the problem and by interacting with concerned stakeholders, students evolve a model solution for transforming the street. Thereafter, they make a presentation about their model solution before authorities, such as, City Commissioner, Mayor, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and alike.

Through this initiative, the students were able to develop their thinking and reasoning skills. Indeed, the students participated in the project aspires to be a change maker. One of the school students who participated in the project stated: “we felt good that we were part of action and part of building our city…we felt that a lot needs to be done to keep our city healthy and functioning and taking part in the civic project gave us a completely new perspective about how our government works” (Janaagraha Website).

Janaagraha has also made stride in social change network that it has received the Google Global Impact Award in 2013. For instance, its web link www.ichangemycity.com connects citizens with the local government and neighbourhood communities (The Hindu, 2013). In 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs acknowledged Janaagraha as a dynamic partner in the Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U). Earlier, Janaagraha had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry to realise the goals of clean India. For perspective, Swachhata App, Swachh.city and similar social media platforms were developed by one of the divisions of Janaagraha vis-a-vis I Change My City (The Hindu, 2020). In fact, the updated version of Swachhata App supported and addressed the citizens grievances related to coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, Janaagraha celebrates the relevance of decentralisation in urban governance context through City Governance Awards. In its second edition held in 2021, Odisha was awarded as the Best Civic Agency while Indore was awarded the Best Municipality award for its integrated Solid Waste Management (SWM) (The Hindu, 2021).

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