Mandar And No More Foundation (MANM) working for the cause of drowning prevention here on Saturday organised a Workshop to develop content for their awareness programme titled Tinka P Narahari, Secretary and Commissioner Public Relations Department of Madhya Pradesh was the Chief Guest of this programme who emphasized on the need of partnering with the media in solving the grave problem of frequent drowning deaths.
It is a matter of great concern that Madhya Pradesh is reporting about 4000 accidental drowning deaths every year which is the highest in any state. In India more than 35,000 lose their life to accidental drowning, according to National Crime Records Bureau.
The Guest of Honor, Amitabh Saxena, Vice Chancellor of CV Raman University, praised the efforts of MANM and suggested that the text books at primary level should contain education on water safety.
He was of the opinion that NCERT should take cognizance of this matter and work with organizations like MANM to address
this issue.
The workshop was aimed at developing appropriate content for drowning prevention awareness programs conducted by MANM. As this intervention is expanding, the Foundation will be covering 100 schools and colleges in Bhopal and Indore each.
About 100 participants contributed their expertise, experience and perspectives in developing the content. These included Psychologists, Counselors, Trainers, Teachers, Motivational Speakers,
Parents, school & college students, academicians from Scope College, RKDF and RNTU, office bearers of Bhopal Management Association, representatives from Rotary Clubs, industrialists and
businessmen from Bhopal and Mandideep.
This group was able to carve out a viable, practical and effective structure of awareness program, which will be conducted in various educational institutions. P Narahri assured the support of his department in developing audio-visuals which will help sensitizing the masses on the issue of drowning risks. He said considering the highest number of deaths reported, the Tinka Program should be taken across the state.
He also said that the department of Sports and Youth Welfare can play an important role in propagating this program of preventing drowning. The workshop was also attended by Amit Raje, Director of AIC-Aartech, Sanjay Agrawal, Dy Commissioner Income Tax, Vishwas Ghushe, Founder Director of MANM, NK Chhibbar, Hon Secretary, BMA. The program was conducted by Ameya and Preeti Khare.
