Chandigarh: Driving licence test set to get tougher

Adorned with artful illustrations that bring it closer to Chandigarh and its satellite towns, the road safety manual for the UT administration has been readied by the NGO ArriveSafe, giving the subject a friendly treatment and a tasteful twist.

Updated on: Jul 10, 2015, 16:02:53 IST

Hindustan Times | By Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh

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Adorned with artful illustrations that bring it closer to Chandigarh and its satellite towns, the road safety manual for the UT administration has been readied by the NGO ArriveSafe, giving the subject a friendly treatment and a tasteful twist.

In the works for nearly three months, the book is now in its final draft in English, undergoing proofreading, and would also form the curriculum for the learner’s licence test that is set to get tougher.

“We will make a question bank from the subject matter of the manual,” said Harman S Sidhu, the president of ArriveSafe and the man behind the project, who has been a prominent voice in the road safety drive ever since an accident two decades ago left him paralysed in his torso and legs. Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) Kashish Mittal confirmed the development.

“The idea behind the manual is to make a bridge between the law and the enforcement. Right now, we have just the Motor Vehicle Act and the cops’ challan book! There was a need for a book that explains what’s actually required of the commuters,” Sidhu added.

The 200-page book has four parts, covering subjects from the challan amounts to how to examine your vehicle, to scenarios for each road sign, and also victim care. Sidhu, who is also a member of the UT Road Safety Council, prepared the book as part of a larger project of awareness, with the backing of the UT administration. The plan next is to translate the book in Hindi and Punjabi, to cover all the three languages in which the test is held.

He had planned to complete it in April, starting in March, but the artwork and the “intention to make it more than just another manual” took time. It would also be available as a soft copy online, besides being available in a printed version for a minimal price. “The text stays away from the bureaucratic language available already in the guidelines, rules and laws,” he added.

The next meeting of the road safety council is on July 14, where the manual is to get a formal nod. “We are hoping to include a message by the UT administrator before the release,” Sidhu told HT.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aarish Chhabra
Aarish Chhabra is an Associate Editor with the Hindustan Times online team, writing news reports and explanatory articles, besides overseeing coverage for the website. His career spans nearly two decades across India's most respected newsrooms in print, digital, and broadcast. He has reported, written, and edited across formats — from breaking news and live election coverage, to analytical long-reads and cultural commentary — building a body of work that reflects both editorial rigour and a deep curiosity about the society he writes for. Aarish studied English literature, sociology and history, besides journalism, at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and started his career in that city, eventually moving to Delhi. He is also the author of ‘The Big Small Town: How Life Looks from Chandigarh’, a collection of critical essays originally serialised as a weekly column in the Hindustan Times, examining the culture and politics of a city that is far more than its famous architecture — and, in doing so, holding up a mirror to modern India. In stints at the BBC, The Indian Express, NDTV, and Jagran New Media, he worked across formats and languages; mainly English, also Hindi and Punjabi. He was part of the crack team for the BBC Explainer project replicated across the world by the broadcaster. At Jagran, he developed editorial guides and trained journalists on integrity and content quality. He has also worked at the intersection of journalism and education. At the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, he developed a website that simplified academic research in management. At Bennett University's Times School of Media in Noida, he taught students the craft of digital journalism: from newsgathering and writing, to social media strategy and video storytelling. Having moved from a small town to a bigger town to a mega city for education and work, his intellectual passions lie at the intersection of society, politics, and popular culture — a perspective that informs both his writing and his view of the world. When not working, he is constantly reading long-form journalism or watching brainrot content, sometimes both at the same time.Read More

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