KOLLAM: ‘The Citizen’, a ground breaking campaign that resulted in Kollam becoming the first constitutionally literate district in India, is now set to be replicated in Karnataka.
The campaign, organised by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), the district planning committee, and the Kollam district panchayat, educated approximately 7 lakh families in the district on the Indian Constitution.
Now, Gadag district in Karnataka is gearing up to launch a similar campaign on November 26. This follows a visit by representatives from the neighbouring state to KILA’s headquarters in Thrissur in September. The visitors interacted with the KILA faculty and learnt about ‘The Citizen’ during their five-day visit.
“In September, officials from the district administration, planning boards, and political representatives from Karnataka visited KILA’s headquarters. They were interested in our ‘The Citizen’ campaign. We gave a detailed presentation of our methods, and they held discussions on the campaign with our officials. They also expressed eagerness to implement it in Karnataka, and announced it will be implemented statewide,” said Dileep Kumar, KILA consultant and coordinator of ‘The Citizen.’
KILA director Joy Elamon said the campaign will be launched in Gadag district. “Officials from Karnataka requested us to send one of our members to train officials in Gadag. We dispatched senior KILA faculty V Sudesan. He conducted training sessions for the officials on the campaign and its implementation,” Joy said.
Sudesan said on his five-day visit to Gadag, he conducted orientation and training sessions for the district administration officials. “They showed immense enthusiasm for the project, and have set November 26 as the deadline,” Sudesan said. In Kollam, more than 2,000 trainers were trained to implement the programme at the panchayat and taluk levels. Copies of the Preamble to the Indian Constitution were distributed among households and educational institutions.
Rights made aware
The campaign aimed at educating aged 10 years and above about the history of the Constitution, the fundamental rights and legal remedies available to citizens under it.