BREADS Bangalore has joined hands with Concerned for Working Children (CWC) and organised the Campaign ‘Me & My Vote are NOT for SALE at Don Bosco BEST Academy, Lingarajpuram, Bangalore on 25th March 2019. This campaign was primarily launched in 2007. The Concerned for Working Children is a not-for-profit secular, democratic development agency based in Bengaluru, India. This campaign is mainly a move by the Hakkottaya Andolana (Movement for self-determination of Local governments. Consisting of representatives from the gram panchayaths and gram sabhas of Karnataka, the main focus is to secure and safeguard the provisions of democratic decentralisation. The campaign has set its focus on enabling the elected local governance to institutions at the grass root level to become an agency of social justice and advancement. Thus promote the practice of citizens voting judiciously, without being influenced or bribed by any of the political party/ group of people.
Ms. Kavita Ratna and Ms. Deepti from CWC were the speakers for the session and they sensitised the potential voters about the importance of judicious voting without being bribed by the corrupt politicians in exchange of votes. There were over 50 students who are being trained in Retail management and BPO sectors at DB BEST Academy who hail from different parts of the city and country (both rural and urban). The campaign created awareness among the youth to demand for accountability and responsibility from their elected representatives. It is said that only around 30% of Bangalore’s urban population votes and we need to convince citizens that it is actually necessary to exercise their franchise. Many students, inspired by the campaign, while expressing solidarity with the campaign, shared that they wished to take forward the campaign to many colleges and communities in their own towns and villages. The team was accompanied by four interns from TISS Guwahati in support of the campaign.
