Unique underwater voter awareness campaign by scuba divers near Netrani island for Karnataka Assembly elections
The Hindu
A scuba diving company enables divers (tourists) to display placards, with slogans like ‘voting is an important right guaranteed by the Constitution’, ‘voting is our right’, and ‘protect sanctity of voting’, underwater in the Arabian Sea
In a unique move to create awareness on the need to vote, a scuba diving company at Murudeshwar and Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) committee of Uttara Kannada are enabling scuba divers to display water-proof placards with slogans under the sea, in the surroundings of Netrani island in the Arabian Sea.
The company, Netrani Adventures, takes tourists for scuba diving to Netrani, which is known for different species of corals and fishes. The company offers its services off Murudeshwar coast from October to May. Netrani island is 20 km off the coast. The distance is covered in an hour in a mechanised boat. Divers are taken up to 30 metres deep in the sea.
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Company Managing Director Ganesh Harikantra told The Hindu that the divers (tourists) display placards with slogans like ‘voting is an important right guaranteed by the Constitution’, ‘voting is our right’, and ‘protect sanctity of voting’.
“We share photos and video clippings of our guests (tourists) holding the placards with other tourists who, in turn, share them on social media. Hence, the reach is vast,” Mr. Harikantra said. The company has about 10 such placards with different slogans. The awareness campaign for the 2023 Assembly elections was launched on April 24. The company takes about 30 persons for diving every day.
Mr. Harikantra said the company launched this awareness campaign during the 2018 Assembly elections, and continued the same during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “This year is the third time,” he said.
The initiative is being supported by Mavalli gram panchayat I and Mavalli gram panchayat II.
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