Janaagraha

Janaagraha
Founded 2001 by Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan in India
Type Non-profit
NGO
Services Improving the quality of life in Indian cities and towns
Website www.janaagraha.org

Janaagraha is a non-profit organization that aims to strengthen democracy in India by working for citizen participation in urban local government. Janaagraha aims to spread awareness of the benefits of engaging local governments after electing them and to lobby the Government of India to enact legislation to extend the 74th Amendment to the Constitution of India for more representative local urban government. The co-founders of the organization are Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan.

Online Initiatives

I Change My City

IChangeMyCity is a social networking initiative that is committed to urban issues - electoral and civic. It aims to initiate change, build networks of communities & local civic bodies, provide data on urban issues, civic awareness & training – all of this at a local neighbourhood level. By providing relevant information in the form of interesting content and a platform to discuss and debate issues of importance, iJanaagraha is a platform for people to come together in support for systemic change.

I Paid A Bribe (IPAB)

IPaidABribe is Janaagraha's initiative to tackle corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens. Citizens can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corrupt acts on this website.[1] The reports, perhaps for the first time, provide a snapshot of bribes being paid (or taken), across Indian cities. IPaidABribe uses them to argue for improving governance systems and procedures, tightening law enforcement and regulation. Thereby reduce the scope for corruption while obtaining services from the government.

Offline Initiatives

Ward Infrastructure Index (WII)

Ward Infrastructure Index (WII) programme is a unique initiative to assess quality of life in urban areas. It analyses various wards by its quality of infrastructure and rates them on scale of 0 – 10 (0 being the least and 10 being the best), to give residents and municipalities an easy indicator on how their respective wards measure up against standard benchmarks set by the government. The project looks at services like water supply, electricity, public health, public safety, civic amenities, transport and environment to arrive at a rating. It not only provides valuable information to urban planners and decision makers to streamline delivery of goods and services to different wards but also facilitates direct accountability of local administration and elected representatives to the urban citizens.

References

  1. ↑ "Corruption in India: A Million Rupees Now". The Economist. 10 March 2011.
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