April, 2009

"Don’t just sit there and crib about corrupt politicians and incompetent governments. These elections, you can make a difference by not just voting for the right candidate but also joining the campaign to help people — your friends, neighbours, colleagues, even your old aunt — make an informed choice and get them out in big numbers on election day on May 7. " That was the message delivered by Janaagraha, a non-profit organisation working on urban governance, in partnership with Hindustan Times, to mobilise citizen volunteers to conduct a door-to-door drive to get more people out to vote.

Janaagraha’s One Billion Voters programme was launched in New Delhi.

One Billion Voters campaign aims to do this by leveraging modern technology, building partnerships and creating a social network of voters who are passionate about better governance in India, and are willing to engage with the political system to create a change. The first leg of the campaign i.e. enabling voter registrations has been achieved through Jaago Re! One Billion Votes. Conducted in partnership with Tata Tea, the campaign resulted in over 500,000 online voter registrations in 6 months.

• Hindustan Times, April 27, 2009 : Help other voters choose
• Zee News Interview with Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra: `Change` in Indian democracy