Raksha Bandhan, the festival that strengthens the bond between brothers and sisters will be celebrated on August 26 this year. And as the festival approaches, a young Telangana MP has launched a unique campaign to ensure her 'brothers' remain safe while riding two-wheelers on the road. Kavitha Kalvakuntla is spearheading a campaign named #Sisters4Change which requests all sisters to gift their brothers with a helmet.

According to a report in India Today, the campaign which was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is now being promoted as the festival approaches. While celebrities are individually promoting the campaign, the Hyderabad Police has also extended their support by gifting helmets to riders instead of issuing challans.

A rally by Kavitha Rao under #Sisters4change campaign to raise awareness on the need to wear helmets:

According to Transport Research Wing (TRW) of the Ministry of Road Transports and Highways revealed that in just 2016, the total number of road accidents were 4,80,852 that injured 4,94,624 person and took the lives of 1,50,785.

Which means there occur an average number of 1,317 accidents on Indian roads every day. From 2015 to 2016, the number of people killed in road rash has increased by 3.2 per cent. And 68.6 per cent of road accident victims were in the age group of 18-45. Hyderabad Police has been grabbing praises on social media recently for their various initiatives. They have let several terminally ill children become Police Commissioner for a day just to fulfil their dream of becoming a cop. And with supporting this initiative we hope more people understand the importance of helmets and use it.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 22, 2018 04:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).