Do Not Honk

The Earth Saviours Foundation for the past 13 years has immensely focused on issues related to environmental conservation and protection. One of these issues that The Earth Saviours Foundation has tried to tackle is noise pollution in India. Persistent roar of traffic, piercing sirens, honking horns and shrieking loudspeakers – noise in cities is clearly a nuisance. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described noise pollution as an underestimated threat that can cause hearing loss, cardiovascular problems, cognitive impairment, stress and depression. Amongst the 10 worst offenders of noise pollution, Mumbai is at the top due to traffic and overpopulation in small areas and other Indian cities like Delhi and Kolkata are also a part of this list.

One of our most famous campaigns, "Do Not Honk" (D.N.H.), was initiated by our founder Shri Ravi Kalra, which led to him achieving the title, “No Honking Man of India '' by Shri Ram Nath Govind, the current President of India. Our campaign aims to reduce noise pollution by educating people about the environmental consequences of frequent and excessive honking while driving.

We conducted our first “D.N.H.” campaign drive at the Gurgaon tollgate, in early 2013. During this drive our founder, along with about 100-odd volunteers, took paints and brushes and painted over the ‘Horn Please’ and ‘Sound Horn’ slogans behind trucks, commercial vehicles, and any car that stopped to pay toll. In the span of one week, we managed to paint over more than 1 lakh vehicles.

The Earth Saviours Foundation conducted the D.N.H campaign by collaborating with our corporate partners in various cities across India, such as Mumbai, Delhi, Dehradun Gurugram, Faridabad, and Jaipur. The campaign was open to the general public and all the costs of hosting this event were handled by our corporate well wishers. They provided our team and volunteers with refreshments, posters, banners, adequate transportation, "Do Not Honk" stickers and allowed us to conduct our campaign on the roads in front of their various offices across India.

Our team, while standing on the side of highways and roads, distributed pamphlets and held posters and banners to spread awareness about the harmful effects of unnecessary honking and noise pollution on mother earth. Another set of volunteers and social workers of TESF team attached stickers, with the words ``Do Not Honk,”on 1.5 lakh vehicles which was a ground-breaking number and led to our name being included in the World Book of Records (London).

Our “Do Not Honk” Campaigns across India:

• In coordination with the Noida police, we initiated the “Do Not Honk” Campaign in April 2015 at the DND flyway toll plaza. About 100 corporate volunteers, senior traffic police officials and employees of the DND Flyway and 300 students from DAV School; Noida, Indian Heights School; Dwarka and CRPF School; Dwarka, participated in the campaign. The senior superintendent of police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar Dr Preetinder Singh was welcomed as the chief guest of the campaign. Speaking on the occasion, he talked about the harmful effects on noise pollution on human beings as well as birds and animals and hoped that this campaign will go a long way in creating awareness about the hazards of noise pollution.” Enthusiastic students pasted “Do Not Honk” stickers on vehicles passing through the DND Flyway and distributed catalogues about the harmful effects of noise pollution.
• Many passionate and enthusiastic people gathered at Neelam Chowk NIT, Faridabad in November 2016, to participate in The Earth Saviours Foundation’s “Do Not Honk”campaign drive. Our team of social workers and a group of public volunteers all came together to conduct a successful campaign against noise pollution. For hours they stopped numerous vehicles and put our “Do Not Honk” stickers on their bumpers, along with this everyone distributed social awareness pamphlets about the campaign to any passersby and drivers. Our organisation was pleased to be in the presence of a crowd that had actual love and dedication towards mother earth and humanity.
• In April 2018, under the aegis of The Earth Saviors Foundation and Neo Vision Foundation, a Do Not Honk campaign was conducted at Darshanlal Chowk, Dehradun. The campaign was backed by the SP Traffic Lokeshwar Kumar and Uttarakhand Police Department and had participation from numerous public volunteers that included school students as well. During the campaign, school children, volunteers of our organization and the police spread awareness about the consequences of noise pollution by vehicular honking during the red light at Darshanlal Chowk. With the help of various pleading messages through posters and banners, volunteers spread awareness, one such poster read, “Without any reason even a dog doesn't bark, so how wise is it to blow the horn for no reason?”
• The youth team of The Earth Saviors Foundation in 2018 April launched the Do Not Honk campaign at Trimurti Circle, Jaipur. As part of the campaign, Rapid Action Force personnel, traffic policemen and our NGO team made the drivers aware not to blow the horn unnecessarily. With the help of the local authorities, who allowed us to paste Do Not Honk stickers on vehicles passing by and the support of our devoted volunteers, who held informative banners and posters to spread awareness on noise pollution, we were able to conduct an informative and successful Do Not Honk Campaign in Jaipur.
• Members of the Earth Saviours Foundation, along with the city police held a Do Not Honk Campaign at Gurgaon-Faridabad Toll plaza, in April 2017. There was participation from school children, people from residential areas living in Gurugram and Samaj Seva Sanstha and everyone from Bandhwari village. All the volunteers displayed banners, posters and put stickers on vehicles. We received immense support from the police and NSG commandos. The toll area was declared as a no honking zone for the entirety of the campaign day and playing of horn was completely prohibited under any circumstances. Chief Secretary Haryana- Sunil Kumar Gulati, Commissioner of Gurugramn - Hardeep Singh, Uma Shankar Gurugram Police Commissioner Toll Gate, Gurgaon District Chief Justice- Abhishek Phutela and Gurugram played major roles. Harpal Singh Gujar who is 119 years old also participated in this campaign with great enthusiasm. Director General of NSG (National Security Guard) Sudhir Pratap Singh IPS and NSG commandos all participated in our campaign. They stood with us and our team of volunteers for hours, putting stickers of Do Not Honk on vehicles that were passing by.
• After conducting numerous successful Do Not Honk campaigns in Delhi NCR, over 100 of our dedicated volunteers travelled to Mumbai, infamous for being the noisiest city in the whole world. In 2018 Feb, the campaign was conducted on the Bandra Toll Gate where volunteers stuck Do Not Honk stickers on vehicles passing by and distributed catalogues that spread awareness about the negative consequences of noise pollution, our campaign’s aim and the work done by our organisation. Various volunteers also travelled to famous tourist spots in Mumbai, such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Gateway of India, etc. holding social awareness posters and banners.

Vehicular honking on such a large scale is responsible for severely affecting people’s mental health and behaviour, resulting in depression, hypertension, stress, hearing loss, memory loss and panic attacks. Animals too, are harmed by such high decibel sounds, which impacts their hearing abilities, leading to hearing loss and a rapid increase in heart rate. Donate now to our "Do Not Honk,”campaign and join our fight against noise pollution and ignorant drivers who honk all day without paying much attention to their surroundings.