22-year-old Poonam was excited when she joined the game. When she got the task, as a part of the initiative, she thought it would be easy; and it indeed was. As she was not allowed to carry any mobile or books inside the bathroom everything was as calm when she started but within half an hour the same silence turned into a stream of thoughts.
“Thousands of thoughts ran down my head. I couldn’t continue being there for six hours and therefore, I gave up. I can’t even imagine about girls who are trafficked in boxes. I learned how powerful our fundamental ‘Right to Freedom’ is and how important it is to value it,” Poonam said.
Just like her, many young people came forward to take part in the game by participating in different tasks and actions as a part of Samvidhan LIVE — The Jagrik Project, an initiative conducted by more than 25 civil society organisations.
Just before the Republic Day, this project has engaged several youths from different parts of the country to help them understand the essence of Indian constitution.
A Guwahati-based NGO, We Are Young Foundation (W.A.Y.) has taken it upon them to engage the young people in Guwahati in this national initiative of Samvidhan LIVE. Since November 2016, they have engaged 20 changemakers from different colleges, who in turn, helped them reach out to over 500 youth to do a survey on the understanding of citizens on our constitution.
Winning changemakers of this 6-week long game, Neeta Basnet and Debia Nana from Guwahati will fly to Delhi to be part of the national culmination event where winners from all over India will meet up and submit a petition to the President of India.
Through Samvidhan LIVE, 23 youth-based organisations across 15 states in India have come together to create this initiative for young people. The 6-week long game focuses on deepening the volunteers’ refl-action (Reflection+Action) abilities and helping them articulate their understanding of the Constitution while performing tasks and engaging in discussions with peers.
“I got a task on ‘Right to Equality’. I lived with my partner with only Rs 32 a day. It was almost impossible for us to live with that little amount. We checked online and found that people below the poverty line index actually live with Rs 32 or at times lesser than that, while 57 Indian billionaires own wealth equal to the 70% of the country’s population. Being part of this initiative led me to a question the right to equality,” said Haripriya, one of the participant.
The Samvidhan LIVE — The Jagrik Project, an initiative led by local partner We Are Young Foundation, Guwahati, and initiated by The Youth Collective, New Delhi, enables young people from 15 Indian states to understand and live their life through fun filled interactions and a board game specially co-designed by youth activists from across the nation.
“This campaign is very important for us to continue as it helps a young person understand the real meaning of active citizenship and leadership in a fun filled manner by letting creating stimulating social actions and not boring lectures in a classroom set up” said Indrajit Sinha, Director, W.A.Y.
The preamble starts with “We the people”, but how many of us are actually following it in our day to day life? We talk and voice our opinions on fundamental rights but how much eager are we to follow our fundamental duties? Samvidhan LIVE is all about executing the framework of the Constitution on an individual level by observing spaces, real-life incidents, and behaviours around us, and by executing our rights and duties, which we often violate or do not exercise because we are oblivious to them. The board game offers a space to answer some of the questions asked above but in a fun and meaningful way. An aware citizenry is the basis of an inclusive society, and that’s exactly what Samvidhan Live – the Jagrik Project is all about.
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