Akshay Kumar appointed as brand ambassador for Government’s Road Safety campaigns

Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had appointed Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as brand ambassador of its Road Safety campaigns. As part of this campaign, three short films featuring Akshay Kumar for generating public awareness towards road safety were also released. These films were directed by R.Balki and call upon people to adopt good practices in road safety to build accident-free society.

Background

The subject of road safety is of supreme importance in India as approximately around 1,46,000 people had died in road accidents across the country in 2017. Majority of the road accidents involved two-wheelers, where the victims were not wearing helmets and over 65% of deaths on roads were of people in employable age. Government had introduced Road Safety Bill in Parliament (yet to pass) having provisions for stricter penalties for offenders. Union Ministry of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways also had constituted national road safety council as apex body to take policy decisions in matters of road safety. It also had requested all states and Union Territories to set up state road safety council and district road safety committee and to hold their meetings regularly.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2018