Navjyoti India Foundation (NIF)
“It’s name means ‘A New Light’. It was founded with a belief in welfare and preventive policing. With a handful of supporters and great deal of determination, they began their endeavors cautiously but confidently treading unchartered waters to help more and more people, gradually changing the mission to ‘help for helpless’ and then towards ‘self reliance’.
In 1987 Dr Kiran Bedi and 17 other police officers joined together to begin a work that is now a 500 member strong organisation working for positive change. They started with their flagship programme for correction, de-addiction and rehabilitation of the drug addicts to curb the crime rate. They soon felt the need to adopt an integrated approach and they started to reach out to other left out sections of the society as well.
Theirs is a genuine intention to make a meaningful change in the lives of those they serve with a zeal and enthusiasm to learn new things and implement them. They want to challenge the social inequalities and empower the vulnerable by enabling people to help themselves.
To this end, they mobilise and harness the power of children, youth, women and people at large to combat illiteracy, ignorance, gender discrimination and the evil of addiction with an ultimate aim of crime prevention and development.
They began with their drug de-addiction programme yet since it’s inception Navjyoti has made significant contributions in other areas like education, women empowerment, family counseling, rural and urban development, health, HIV/AIDS and environment as well.
Navjyoti’s efforts have received great acclaim from many quarters. They have been accorded special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of United Nations (ECOSOC). It has been registered with the Credibility Alliance and Impact Connect, an opportunity to reach youth at larger level.
Dr Kiran Bedi
Before she retired in 2007, Dr Kiran Bedi was one of India’s top cops. As the first and highest-ranking female officer in the national police force, she earned a reputation for being tough yet innovative on the job. Her efforts to prevent crime, reform prisons, end drug abuse, and support women’s causes earned her a Roman Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Bedi also served as a police adviser to the UN Secretary General.
In retirement, Dr Bedi has become one of the most trusted and admired community leaders in India. She advocates for social change and civic responsibility through her books, columns, and a popular reality-TV show.
Her latest initiative, Mission Safer India aims to ensure that police log and address citizen complaints. Her life is the subject of the 2008 documentary Yes, Madam Sir, narrated by Helen Mirren.”
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Apply as a VOLUNTEER. Dedicated and passionate volunteers are an asset to the organisation and play a very prominent role in creating awareness through their voluntary services. Navjyoti welcomes volunteers from any part of the world, irrespective of the caste, creed, religion and nationality.
