[cr-india]Building solidarities... Jharkhand (Dr Vinod Pavarala)

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

Building Solidarities: a Case Study of Community Radio in Jharkhand

Vinod Pavarala

Introduction

Organizations experimenting with participatory communication for social
change across the world have found radio to be the most important medium for
development and social change. A recent Rockefeller Foundation report
asserts that community radio is "one of the best ways to reach excluded or
marginalized communities in targeted, useful ways," and in giving them a
'voice' that matters most in development communication (Dagron, 2001). 
Experiences from Latin America, dating as far back as mid-1940s, have
demonstrated the potential of community radio for social change.  More
recent legislative history of countries like Australia, the United States,
Canada and Ireland offers us durable examples where community media are
operating on a self-managed, democratic basis (Pavarala and Kumar, 2001).
Even more pertinent for the Indian context are the experiences of the less
developed countries of the world that are allowing community radio stations
to function as autonomous media spaces for people.  Nepal and Sri Lanka in
India's immediate neighbourhood already have community radio in some form or
the other.

In India, however, radio stations still remain centralized,
government-controlled, and lacking in editorial independence.  AIR has had
some historic experiments in development. It also has a network of local
radio stations in districts for serving the local communities but the
stations have not proven to be locally relevant as they are not
community-run (Mukhopadhyay, 2000). Several non-profit and development
organizations have been campaigning to get permission to set up low-cost
local radio broadcasting facilities to support their community development
work and to get communities access to means of representation.  Even as the
government is dithering over legislation to facilitate the functioning of
community radio in India, a few community-based organizations have initiated
radio projects that seek to deploy communication technologies for
development and community empowerment.
 
The Bangalore-based media advocacy group, Voices started an audio production
centre, Namma Dhwani (Our Voice) in 2001 at Budikote in the Kolar district
of Karnataka and has been narrowcasting programmes made by rural men and
women trained in basics of radio production. The community at Budikote is
currently in the process of setting up a cable link through which they
intend to transmit their programmes.

The Deccan Development Society (DDS), a non-governmental organization
working with poor, rural women in the Zaheerabad area of Medak district,
A.P. for over a decade, set up, with assistance from UNESCO, a community
radio station.  A couple of young dalit women from the area produce
programmes and manage the station.  As their request for a license to
broadcast has not yet been acceded, the DDS women take the audiotapes of
their programmes for narrowcasting in the villages (Pavarala and Narsamma,
2000). More than 300 hours of programming has been done so far and put
together in a magazine format that includes talk, interviews, discussions,
folk songs, and other forms of entertainment available in rural Telangana. 
The Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghatan (KMVS) in Gujarat operates on a model
different from that of the above initiatives.  The organization built on its
long presence in the area doing development work with women and trained some
of them to be community reporters for a radio programme.  In 1999 the group
started airing a 30-minute programme made by them in the Kutchi language on
All India Radio's Bhuj station by purchasing a commercial slot.  The
organization has been growing in strength in the last four years.  Its most
recent programme, Kutch Log Ji Bani (The Voice of Kutch) has gained immense
popularity and aroused the aspirations of the community, with special
investigative features and emphasis on local issues such as water,
panchayat, literacy, alcoholism, mid-day meal, and healthcare facilities
(Kumar, 2003).  Yet another project worth mentioning for the media hype it
had generated recently is Mana Radio (Our Radio), an experiment of the World
Bank- funded Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty of the Government of
Andhra Pradesh.  Located in Orvakal village of Kurnool district, a
short-lived low-wattage (500 m radius) radio station run by women belonging
to various self-help groups in the village actually went on air in October
2002.  In February 2003 officials of the Union Communications Ministry
seized the equipment and shut down the broadcast as it was done without a
license.

This paper is based on detailed evaluation research undertaken to examine
the functioning of one such community radio initiative in India.  Broadly
modeled after the KMVS project, Chala Ho Gaon Mein is a community radio
programme supported by the National Foundation for India and produced by
community representatives of Alternative for India Development (AID), an
NGO.  The programme is broadcast once a week on AIR Daltonganj in the
Palamau district of Jharkhand.

Jharkhand: The Geographical Context

The state of Jharkhand became a functioning reality on November 15, 2000
after almost half a century of people's movements around Jharkhandi
identity, which disadvantaged societal groups articulated in order to
augment political resources and influence the policy process in their
favour. The Jharkhandi identity and the demand for autonomy was not premised
solely on the uniqueness of its tribal cultural heritage, but was
essentially a fallout of the failure of development policy to intervene in
socio-economic conditions of both the adivasis and non-adivasis in the
region.

Hence, even at present, the dynamics of resources and the politics of
development largely influence the socio-economic structures in Jharkhand,
which has been carved out of the relatively 'backward' southern part of
undivided Bihar. According to the 1991 census, the state has a population of
over twenty million out of which 28% is tribal while 12% of the people
belong to scheduled castes. Jharkhand has 21 districts, 211 blocks and 32,
620 villages out of which only 45% are electrified while only 8,484 are
connected by roads.  Jharkhand is the leading producer of mineral wealth in
the country, endowed as it is with vast variety of minerals like iron ore,
coal, copper ore, mica, bauxite, graphite, limestone, and uranium. Jharkhand
is also known for its vast forest resources. This paradoxical development
profile of Jharkhand is combined with the fact that distortions in
distribution and access to resources have made little difference to lives of
ordinary people. However, the people of the region are politically mobilized
and self-conscious and are actively seeking better bargains for the state.
The people in Jharkhand have the advantage of being culturally vibrant, as
reflected in the diversity of languages spoken, festivals celebrated, and
variety of folk music, dances, and other traditions of performing arts in
the region.

The Palamau district, where the AID's community radio project is located,
has a population of about 1.5 million (15% SC and 10% ST). With its
headquarters in Daltonganj, the district is divided into 16 administrative
blocks, including Daltonganj, Lesliganj, and Panki. Developmental
infrastructure in Palamau needs drastic improvement: roads are in poor
condition; electricity supply is erratic; the public distribution system is
irregular; and, hand- pumps are the only source of water both for
agriculture and household usage. Palamau is a neglected area developmentally
and is generally underserved by media.  One of All India Radio's 76 local FM
radio stations has, therefore, been located in Daltonganj and local
communities in the region are familiar with its programmes.

People living in the district earn their livelihood out of minor forest
produce and grow basic crops like paddy, wheat and lentils. Rampant
deforestation has led to ecological changes, which have adversely affected
both the natural wealth of the region as well as the lifestyles of the
communities. Most live on the edge of poverty, with more than 70% of women
illiterate and a sizable number of men dependent on
migratory-labour-opportunities to earn their living. Poverty, however, has
not hampered their aptitude for song-writing, musical compositions, folk
theatre, and information dissemination in non-formal styles. It is in this
context that AID started functioning in the area about a decade ago,
mobilizing rural communities for participatory development and
self-empowerment.

The Community Development Context: A Brief Profile of AID

Alternative for India Development (AID) is a non-governmental organization
that emerged as an umbrella unit for several smaller community-based groups.
Many of the groups and individuals who became part of AID were involved in
mass struggles against corruption led by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) in the
mid-1970s.  Students, inspired by JP to believe that real development must
first take place in villages, formed the Chatra Yuva Sangarsh Vahini
(Student Youth Struggle Force) initially in Bihar and later in other parts
of India.  The movement aimed to fight against injustice, corruption,
illiteracy, poverty, exploitation, and unemployment. AID was founded in 1982
by a group of Vahini activists and social scientists, who felt the need to
have an organization that could provide support and technical assistance to
volunteers and other grassroots movements working for transformation.

According to AID documents, the organization is committed to sustainable
development, basic education and health, and adequate livelihood for the
disadvantaged through their active participation in analysis of problems as
well as decision-making.  AID's larger philosophy of development emphasizes
grassroots democracy, decentralisation, equality, respect for women's
rights, an end to caste discrimination and non-violence
(http://www.aidindia.net/aboutus.htm).

AID-Jharkhand, a subsidiary of Alternative For India Development, covers
1,622 villages and a population of 837,500 people. It has been working in
Palamau for almost a decade now, through youth groups, women's groups, and
community organizations, on education, reproductive health, micro-credit for
women, child marriages, and alcoholism.  AID preferred to start its
community radio pilot project, initiated and supported by the National
Foundation for India (NFI), in Palamau because it is an area with poor
communication infrastructure and lack of electricity. For most of the
villages their only contact with the outside world is through radio. With a
majority of the population illiterate, the print media has negligible
presence. Television and video are yet to make inroads into the region. Even
on radio, barring a very few regional programmes, hardly any programming
caters to the rural population. The main aims of the community radio
programme of AID are:

To enable people to produce programmes locally

To build expertise among rural people to speak about everyday issues
affecting their lives

To do the above in their own language

And, to rejuvenate local art forms and culture

Interviews with AID representatives suggest that the organization views
community radio primarily as a pedagogical tool to extend the development
goals of AID and to use this as a mass medium to highlight local issues,
through local language and culture.  During one of our focus group
discussions in a village, Suresh Kumar, the community radio coordinator of
AID, offered the following explanation to an elderly woman who wanted to
know why the radio project was started and by whom:

AID, which has its office in Lesliganj, wants more and more people in the
villages to be educated. AID desires that all villages and villagers develop
equally, that people give up bad habits and work hard, that government
officials come and help in solving your problems, and that every person
leads a happy and peaceful life. For this purpose, AID, along with Manthan
Yuva Sangathan of Ranchi and NFI of Delhi have started the programme Chala
Ho Gaon Mein.

Chala Ho Gaon Mein: The Community Radio Project of NFI/AID

>From August 5, 2001, the National Foundation for India, in collaboration with Alternative 
for India Development-Jharkhand and their technical partner, Manthan started
airing a community radio programme on the local All India Radio FM station
at Daltonganj. The 30- minute programme, Chala Ho Gaon Mein is broadcast
every Sunday on FM band at 7.15 pm and covers 45 villages in Lesliganj and
Panki blocks of Palamau.

National Foundation for India (NFI), a national level grant making and
fund-raising non- governmental organization, supports development
activities, focusing especially on issues of poverty, illiteracy, and
health.  NFI also has a programme area for development communication, which
recognizes the significance of media in facilitating grassroots level work
for social change and community empowerment. Following the Supreme Court
judgment in 1995, which emphasized people's right to the airwaves, NFI got
interested in promoting initiatives with direct participation of the
communities in the use of media, with the belief that access to media could
empower marginalized groups. In the absence of state policy for an
independent community radio sector in India, NFI decided to avail the state
infrastructure for experimenting with community radio for development at the
grassroots level.

As a first step, members of NFI's gender programme visited Bhuj in Gujarat
in March 2000 to study the community radio project of KMVS (Kutch Mahila
Vikas Sangathan). The KMVS visit not only reinforced NFI's faith in radio as
an effective medium, particularly among the non-literate communities, but
also highlighted the need for building the capacities of community members
to handle an entire range of activities related to community radio (NFI,
2001).

Initially, NFI linked the community radio project with its gender equity and
justice programme and decided to work with an NGO whose areas of activity
were familiar to NFI.  Workshops conducted by NFI with NGOs addressed three
facets concerning community radio, namely, community radio as a tool for
development, presentation of community development projects using radio, and
technical training for radio production. At a content development workshop
held subsequently at Lesliganj, a media activist group from Ranchi, Manthan
Yuva Sangathan, was invited to join the project as a production planner and
also to provide technical training for the community representatives to
build their capacities in radio production over a period of time.

Among the volunteers who had gathered from villages across Lesliganj and
Panki blocks, AID identified 16 community representatives, including four
women, to form the core group of the project. Each volunteer was asked to
identify two more villages in addition to their native village for which
he/she could act as a local reporter-cum-motivator. At the end of the
workshop, 45 villages were identified as target area for the first phase, a
project coordinator was selected, and a technical team was also put
together. The Lesliganj workshop was also devoted to identifying focal
issues for the radio programme. It was decided that the issues to be
highlighted in the community radio programme would be of wider interest and
those chosen by the community.  The core issues identified by the community
volunteers were:

adult literacy, education for the girl child, child marriage, practice of
dowry and related domestic violence, health and hygiene issues, rural
development and livelihood schemes. The volunteers also arrived at Chala Ho
Gaon Mein as a suitable title for the programme. These 16 volunteers were
divided into four groups, according to their choice of villages.  Each group
was asked to choose one central issue and make recordings in the field using
portable cassette recorders. Manthan provided the initial operational
training for field recording. These field recordings were then used as basic
study material at a five-day long training workshop conducted by Manthan in
Ranchi.  At this workshop the volunteers were acquainted with the techniques
of audio presentation and production. The aptitude of the volunteers was
assessed so that they could be selected for specialized aspects of
programming. The field recordings of the four groups and studio exercises
conducted at the workshop formed the basic raw material for the first set of
four 30-minute programmes of the project. The radio dramas developed by the
community volunteers and the content of the field recordings apparently
amazed even the resource persons at the workshop. AID took these four
programmes to selected villages for narrowcasting.  This process helped in
assessing the acceptability of the programmes, testing the impact on local
communities, and in designing advance publicity for the community radio
initiative.
 
After a month of narrowcasting, another two-day workshop was held in
Lesliganj to integrate the community radio initiative with the ground level
work of AID. The project coordinators suggested that the period of
narrowcasting be limited to three months as the novelty of the initiative
lies in broadcasting. Title music for the programme was composed by some of
the villagers who came to see the progress of the project at the workshop.
During the various narrowcasting sessions in the villages, many villagers
expressed their desire to participate in the community radio initiative and
utilize it for social education.  NFI eventually requested AIR Daltonganj
for a 30-minute commercial slot on Sundays at 7.15 pm for Chala Ho Gaon Mein
and the first episode went on air from August 5, 2001.

Sudhir Pal, Manthan Yuva Sanghatan, Ranchi explains that the present
structure of the programme was influenced by feedback obtained during the
narrowcasting sessions as also by the technical requirements. As an example
he states that people rejected the professional AIR narrators of the
programme, and created the characters of 'Phulwa behen' and 'Raju bhaiya' as
presenters. These characters have now become so popular that children in the
villages frequently play act the two roles. The structure of the episode
currently is as follows: drama (10 minutes), folk songs (5-6 minutes),
Chaupal (discussion) (5 minutes), vikas ke saathi (rural news) or lok katha
(folk tales) alternately (3-4 minutes), and letters (2 minutes).  Earlier
episodes had interviews with professional experts on various subjects. A
content analysis of the 43 episodes broadcast by the time our field work
shows that the issues covered most commonly include: literacy, dowry,
agriculture, superstitions, child marriage and alcoholism (see Table 1).

Table 1.  Number of programmes by subjects covered in Chala Ho Gaon Mein 
(Based on data available for 43 episodes from August 2001-May 2002)

Subject Category Interview Drama Discussion Song Total Literacy

3
4
6
3
16
Dowry
2
6
1
2
11
Superstition
1
7
3
-
11
Child marriage
1
4
1
3
  9
Health
1
5
1
1
  8
Alcoholism
2
2
2
1
  7
Forests & Environment
-
1
2
4
  7
Agriculture
-
-
4
2
  6
Development schemes
1
-
4
1
  6
Gram swaraj
-
2
2
1
  5
Child & bonded labour
-
2
1
2
  5
Corruption
-
2
-
1
  3
Migration
-
1
1
1
  3
Women & gender
-
1
1
-
  2
Gambling
-
1
1
-
  2
Public distribution
-
-
2
-
  2
Veterinary
1
-
-
-
  1
Day care
1
-
-
-
  1
Rural banking
-
-
1
-
1

[NOTE: This table could not be rendered adequately in plain-text]

Sudhir Pal informs that the reporters now record about two-and-a-half hours
for a 30- minute episode, but only three members of the core team have some
post-production ability.  The post-production process is digital and AIR is
finally handed over a CD of the programme.  No audio-cassettes of the final
edited version are available. According to the project coordinator, Suresh
Kumar, the production schedule follows a system whereby he holds planning
meetings with the community reporters at the end of every month to list out
issues for four episodes, about eight weeks in advance. These issues are
then prioritized and finalised in a meeting of all AID programme
coordinators. After consultations with Manthan's production controller in
Lesliganj, the final recording schedules and instructions are passed on to
the community reporters in the first week of each month.

Methodology

This study sought to evaluate certain key characteristics and basic norms of
the initiative as stated by the project:

1. The project would be conducted through regular interaction with village
communities.

2. Decision-making would be with the communities so that the process of
dialogue and participation in the developmental planning for the region is
facilitated.
 
3. Programmes will be in the local Magdhi-Bhojpuri dialect using local
styles of communication.

4. The programmes will help define the real and felt needs of the people. 

The above norms prompt queries such as: To what extent is community
involvement discernible at various stages of the project? Has an internal
democratic process been strengthened in any manner? Do grassroots issues and
indigenous ideas get transformed into radio programmes? To what extent does
the participatory process of community radio help in raising the
consciousness and understanding of the community about social reality,
problems and solutions?

In a region where the number of radio receivers in a village barely reaches
double figures, where poverty largely determines lifestyles of the people,
the acceptability of a community radio initiative had to be assessed
carefully. A qualitative approach to audience responses, focusing more
closely on the core issues of concern for the communities, was, therefore,
chosen accordingly. Some of the critical questions considered while
conducting the audience research included the following:

1.	Listeners' profile and listening patterns: Who are listening to the
programme? How do they listen to the programme: in groups or alone at home?
Has the programme listening generated more communitarian feeling among
villagers?

2.	Technical problems in the reception of the programme, if any.

3.	Responses to the content, including the subject matter, language,
and formats of the programme.

4.	Does the programme generate any follow-up discussion at village
level leading to awareness/sensitization about the issues and themes tackled
there in?

5.	Any gains in terms of the problems faced by villagers in their day-to-day lives; any 
action taken by authorities?

6.	Sense of ownership and/or sense of participation among volunteers
and listeners.

7.	Perceptions of rural audiences about the role community radio
(programmes) can play in empowering them to participate and negotiate in the
process of development in their villages.

Focus group discussions were conducted in the sample villages, covering the
concerns indicated above. Following discussions with the project coordinator
and the community reporters, the sample villages for focus group discussions
were selected on the basis of geographic and demographic variations.  This
was done to ensure representation of the different communities in the 45
villages of the two blocks of Lesliganj and Panki covered by the community
radio project. Of these 45 villages where the radio reporters work, it was
decided to select at least one village each from among those chosen by the
reporters.  Keeping in mind the ratio of villages in the two blocks, it was
decided to select nine villages in Lesliganj and three in Panki. Selection
of villages in Panki ensured that perceptions of listeners who are farthest
from the radio station were also included.  Thus, the research team covered
villages, which were located about 20 km-60 km away from the Daltonganj
radio station.  Since there was a mixture of tribal and non-tribal (dalit)
villages, it was decided to include both types of villages in the sample.
The composition of the focus groups was then decided along variables of:
tribe, caste, gender, and age. Since literacy was not very high in the
region, it was not considered as a major variable. Similarly, as most of the
members of the focus groups belonged to a lower socioeconomic status, class
was not considered a variable (Table 2).

Table 2.  Villages where Focus Group Discussions were conducted

S.No.
Village/ Block
Description of Group
1.
Goradih Khas
Lesliganj
Mixed Gender Group
2.
Rajhara
Lesliganj
Older tribal men

3.
Purushotampur
Panki
Tribal men
4.
Mahe Dema
Panki
BC men
5.
Bhalmanda
Lesliganj
Women's group
6.
Kundari
Lesliganj
Older women
7.
Harsangra
Lesliganj
Young men's group
8.
Chandaigir
Lesliganj
Women's Self Help Group
9.
Nawadih
Lesliganj
Young girls' group
10.
Cheri/Chaparna
Lesliganj
Listening session
11.
Barunahi
Panki
Tribal men
12.
Pipra
Lesliganj
Men's group

These discussions with groups of 7-10 persons each, assembled for the
purpose, were recorded and transcribed for detailed analysis.  There were in
all 77 people who participated across 12 focus group discussions.  In
addition, in each village the research team interacted informally with
scores of others who formed curious spectators for the focus group
discussions.

In order to understand the internal dynamics of the production and
implementation of the community radio project, the research team also
conducted in-depth, open-ended interviews and discussions with the 12
community reporters, the AID project coordinator, the AID- Jharkhand
(Palamau) project manager, station director of AIR Daltonganj, and the
Manthan production coordinator. These interviews and discussions were also
recorded and transcribed.  In addition, the study analysed relevant
documents, feedback forms, and letters from listeners.

Project Evaluation and Analysis of Audience Responses

Reception of the programme

The research team traveled to nearly 15 villages in the Lesliganj and Panki
blocks of Palamau district, although the focus groups were actually
conducted in 12.  Most of these villages did not have electricity and were
marked by substandard roads and other basic infrastructure.  Widespread
illiteracy means that newspapers hardly play a role in their lives.  Some of
the younger, literate men, who travel to nearby towns, occasionally bring
back regional or local newspapers with them.  Television, although
negligible, has made its appearance in the region, with some young men who
have migrated to Punjab and UP for employment returning home with television
sets that are battery-operated.  So radio, as a post-literate and
inexpensive medium, becomes the only link to the outside world for the poor
and deprived communities.  In fact, it is obvious that in regions such as
these, which are under-served by other media, local or community radio
serves as a lifeline.

There seems to be a culture of radio listening in the area, as was evident
from the sight of farmers returning from or going to their fields, with
radio sets slung on their shoulders.  Twenty-eight year old Nandakishore of
Harsangra village spoke of how radio provides 'manoranjan' (entertainment)
while they work.  A blacksmith in Pipra village said that the radio was
always on when he was at work, although he could not recollect much of the
content.  However, it is difficult to obtain any reliable figures of the
number of FM receivers in each village.  Focus group discussions revealed
that there is one FM receiver available for approximately every three
households in nine of the 12 villages studied (Table 3).

Table 3. Number of FM Radio Receivers in Focus Group Villages (based on
information provided in focus group discussions)

S.No.  
Name of the village
No. of Households
No. of FM receivers  
1.	
Rajhara
500
150
2.
Purushottampur
  30 (in 1 hamlet)
	
  12
3.
Mahe
Dema
  14
  30	
    4
  10
4.
Bhalmanda
117
  30
5.
Harsangra
  40
  21
6.
Chandaigir
  95
  21
7.
Pipra
200
  35
8.
Barunahi
  23
    4
9.
Nawadih
105
  38

Total
1154
325


In many of the villages, several people reported that they have converted
their existing radio sets into FM receivers because they wanted to listen to
Chala Ho Gaon Mein.  A Manthan representative told us that FM radio sets
were available for as less as Rs.100 and the chip to convert existing radio
sets into FM receivers costs as little as Rs.40. Cost and affordability are
factors that are somewhat difficult to assess. Rajinder Oraon of
Purushottampur claimed that he had to spend as much as Rs.125 to convert his
radio set, while another man in the predominantly dalit village of Goradih
Khas complained that many times the choice may be between buying batteries
for the radio or paying school fee for the child.  The Programme Coordinator
of AID estimated that approximately 100 new FM radio sets have been bought
in about 40 villages since the programme, Chala Ho Gaon Mein started
broadcasting on AIR.  In Harsangra village, for instance, we were informed
that eight new FM receivers were bought in the village since the programme
started.  Thus, even though confirmed numbers are unavailable, it is clear
that the programme has generated a fair degree of enthusiasm among the
people, motivating them to invest in a FM receiver. Residents of each of
these villages who participated in our focus group discussions reported that
the signal of the Daltonganj FM station was quite clear, although there were
occasional glitches during broadcast.  This was true of even the farthest
village, Barunahi, which is a predominantly tribal village, about 60 km from
the radio station.

People we met in almost all the villages we traveled were happy with the
Sunday evening time slot for the Chala Ho Gaon Mein programme.  It is
slotted after the news, which has a high listenership, and at a time when
both men and women are relatively free from work.  The young adivasi men in
Barunahi felt that the duration of the programme should be increased, while
the young women of Nawadih village wanted two episodes to be broadcast a
week.  Thirty-seven year old Surajdev Prasad Yadav of Rajhara village
suggested that a second episode could be broadcast on Wednesday, which is a
wage day and a holiday.  Listeners in many villages expressed their
disappointment that if they missed the broadcast on Sunday evenings, there
was no other opportunity to catch it again.

The Listening Context and Listener Profile

Of the 77 people who participated in our focus group discussions across 12
villages, 51 (66%) owned FM radio sets.  These people tend to listen mostly
at home, either with family members or with friends and neighbours who may
not own a radio set.  Men who have occupations that require working at home
(e.g. blacksmith) as well as women who are homemakers do their work with the
radio playing in the background.  The radio set is also frequently taken out
of the house by the men folk into the neighbourhood to listen collectively
in small groups.  However, larger and more organized group listening
sessions are occasionally arranged by AID to create awareness, to elicit
feedback, and to invite participation in programme production.

Most of the men who owned radio sets reported that they listen to radio
regularly, especially Chala Ho Gaon Mein on Sunday evenings.  Many of them
said they try to finish their work and assemble around the radio set by 7.00
pm on Sunday, waiting for Chala Ho to start a quarter of an hour later. 
However, the frequency of listening as well as the degree to which they
listen attentively to the programme varied according to age, literacy, and
socioeconomic position.  Chandrika Bhuinya, a 35-year old dalit labourer in
Goradih Khas village shouted at us angrily:

	Can we eat radio? Nothing will come out of all this. People here
	don't have land, water, or electricity while all the upper caste
	villages around us enjoy all these facilities.

Similarly, the case of Nanhu Bhuinya, a 65-year old man of Rajhara village,
reinforces our observation during the field trip that radio listening and
enthusiasm for a particular programme are less evident among those
struggling to meet basic needs.  When asked if he listens to radio, he
replied:

We have nothing to eat or drink. There are no wells or roads. Kids are going
hungry.  What do we gain from listening to radio? Can a radio drama reduce
our hunger?  It's another matter if listening to radio can solve these
problems.

Most of the tribal men in the focus group discussion held at Barunahi
village in Panki block did not either own a radio set or even those who did
said that their work pressures do not allow them to listen regularly or
attentively.  Walking long distances searching for daily work leaves them
little time to 'indulge' in radio listening.

Further, among the men, those who are younger and relatively more literate
seem to listen to the programme more regularly.  Many of the elderly men,
even those who said they listen fairly regularly, seem to be alienated from
the programme as could be seen from their poor recall of the content.  In
striking contrast to the older tribal men, the younger literate men of
Rajhara village listened to Chala Ho regularly and exuded a great deal of
enthusiasm for the programme.  Thirty-seven year old Surajdev Prasad Yadav,
who has completed his B.A. and has participated in radio productions on AIR,
is an avid listener.

I have a radio set at home and like listening to Chala Ho Gaon Mein.  Every
Sunday at 7.00 in the evening, I set aside all my work and sit down to
listen to the radio.  Once when I had to go out of the village on a Sunday,
I walked out restlessly searching for a radio in the evening.  I finally
found a group of people sitting together, listening to the same programme
and I joined them.

The younger men, nearly half of whom were literate, in the focus group at
Harsangra village were keen listeners and demonstrated very good recall of
programme content.  They were aware of the community radio process put in
place by AID and seemed to be involved with the activities of the radio
reporter assigned to the village.  Their palpable enthusiasm is also related
to the fact that the village and some of its residents figured in at least
four different episodes of Chala Ho Gaon Mein.  From this as well as
examples of other villages such as Nawadih and Purushottampur, one could
draw the conclusion that the more a village participates in programme
production, the more its residents would listen and pay attention to the
programme.

Chala Ho and the Gender Dimension

A significant factor in radio listening is gender.  In fact, people closely
connected with the project at the field level admit that there are three
areas in which women's involvement in Chala Ho Gaon Mein is still
unsatisfactory.  Women do not listen as much or as attentively as men; their
participation in programme production is minimal; and, women's issues are
not covered adequately in the programme.

The habit of group listening by men, with friends or neighbours, as well as
the domestic division of labour ensures that women rarely get an environment
conducive for listening.  As a result, many women said that they are not
able to listen to the broadcast attentively (dhyan se nahi sun paate) and
during the focus group discussions it was obvious that this has not only
affected their ability to recall the content of the programme, but also
rendered them incapable of stating any benefits from the programme.  One
woman said that they would start listening only when there is some benefit
(faida) to the village.

Women do not have access to radio as they do not get time from work and men
take the radio set outside the house to listen with friends.  Chatni Devi, a
50-year old agricultural labourer of Kundari village in Lesliganj block,
said:
	
	We have FM radio at home.  I try to listen every Sunday.  But I can
	only listen while doing housework.  When my husband or his brother
	takes the radio outside the house, I can't listen.

Kunti Devi of Bhalmanda and Biphni Devi of Chandaigir, among many other
women, echoed this problem.  Thirty-year old Malti Devi, member of a
recently formed Self-Help Group in Chandaigir village, explained:

	We have a radio at home, which can receive FM.  But I don't get to
	listen much because the younger brothers of my husband keep taking
	the radio set outside the house to listen with their friends. I
	listen sometimes, but I have so much work that I can't listen with
	concentration.

Those women who have a radio set in their homes get a lot of neighbours and
other visitors during the broadcast. And in the small, cramped physical
spaces, the cultural constraints on women almost make it impossible for them
to sit in the midst of all the men and listen to the programme attentively. 
In the one organized group listening session observed by the research team
at Cheri village in Lesliganj block, there were about 50 men, women, and
children. The men occupied all the space close to the radio set, while
barring a few, most women preferred to sit at the back. Mid-way through the
broadcast, some of the women lost interest and started discussing domestic
issues.

Older women, like their male counterparts, seem to be alienated from the
radio programme, Chala Ho Gaon Mein. None of the elderly women gathered for
the focus group discussion at village Kundari could provide any details
about the programme and nor could they cite any benefits from it.  There was
not much in the content that was relevant to the lives of these elderly
women, many of whom were widows abandoned by their sons who migrated to
greener pastures for employment. One of the women felt that if there was
some kind of women's group or collective (sanghatan) in the village, it
would provide a more conducive environment for reception of radio.

Kamala Devi, who joined the discussion at Kundari towards the end,
demonstrated a high recall of at least two different radio dramas, one of
which was about the dowry problem and the other on over-population. She was
a younger woman who was married into a literate family and insisted that the
programme has many benefits.  This was also true of Bhalmanda where 35-year
old Kamuda Devi, the only literate woman in the group, was a regular
listener and was able to recall many programmes.  Similarly, at Chandaigir
village, we met the secretary of the women's self-help group, 18-year old
Kamala Devi, originally from Chattisgarh. She was literate and eloquent
about Chala Ho Gaon Mein and its benefits. At Rajhara village, after we
finished our focus group discussion with older tribal men, we ran into
Sonamati, an articulate middle-aged woman, who was involved in van samitis
(forest protection committees) and mahila sanghatans (women's collectives). 
She was enthusiastic and articulate about the role of the radio programme in
various development efforts in the region.  She represented for us the
potential for building participation of women in radio production where
there was some amount of prior mobilization and conscientization of women.

Listenership of Chala Ho Gaon Mein among women seems to be tied in also to
their participation in programme production.  At the group listening session
in Cheri, where women generally took a backseat, the few who took a keen
interest in the proceedings turned out to be women who had participated in
one or more episodes of the programme.  At Nawadih, the adolescent girls,
who formed our focus group, had participated a number of times in Chala Ho
Gaon Mein -- in discussions, drama, Lok geet (folk songs), etc. They
recalled for us in great detail a short play they had recorded on the issue
of post-natal health of the mother and the child.  The active participation
of these young girls in programme production owed, in large measure, to the
tireless efforts of the community reporter who works with them.  In fact,
the role of the community radio reporters in the project is rarely limited
to 'reporting' on village affairs; they are, to varying degrees, involved in
constantly motivating people, especially women, to participate in the
production of programmes. This, however, given the feudal structure, has not
been very easy.

Surendra Thakur, the reporter for Harsangra village, among others, narrated
his experiences with mobilizing women's participation in radio plays:

Recording a radio drama involves a lot of practice and rehearsals.  Some
plays require women to play the roles of wives. They would say 'how can we
become some strange man's wife' and hesitate to come forward to take on such
roles. So we persuaded women members (didi log) of our own group to take the
lead and show the other women that there is nothing wrong.  Gradually some
women started feeling that if this programme is being made for the good of
our village, then they too should participate.

Shilwanti Biranchi, the dynamic reporter at Bhalmanda village, told us that she made her 
own family members participate in plays and other programmes for Chala Ho Gaon Mein 
before others could be convinced that it was not only harmless, but could also be fun.  
Another reporter, Prakash Narayan had his wife act in a drama in order to overcome the 
resistance from women to participate in the programme.

It seems obvious that one way in which women's participation could be
enhanced in both programme production as well as listenership is to increase
the amount of woman-centred programming on Chala Ho Gaon Mein. AID's
programme coordinator for community radio, Suresh Kumar spoke of their
efforts to include the gender dimension in every programme.  For instance,
an attempt is made to involve at least one woman in each radio discussion.
And many of the issues they take up, such as, dowry, child marriage,
literacy, reproductive health, etc. have a distinct gender dimension.

Local Appeal of the Programme

When asked what makes them listen to Chala Ho Gaon Mein regularly, many
people felt that it is the local content of the programme and the language
in which it is broadcast that attracts them.  Prakash Narayan, one of the
community radio reporters, asserted that Chala Ho was very different (sab se
bhinn) from other radio programmes because the people's language used
promotes active listenership (apni bhasha apni ore kheenchti hai).  Except
for the news, which is in Hindi, the rest of the programme uses a mixture of
Bhojpuri and Magadhi, the lingua franca of the region.  Moturam, a 60-year
old adivasi from Rajhara village, compared mainstream radio to Chala Ho Gaon
Mein:

There is a big difference between programmes broadcast from Patna and Delhi
and Chala Ho Gaon Mein.  Those programmes are in 'pure' (khari) Hindi, while
Chala Ho uses the language of the village, understood even by every child in
the village.

The language of broadcast in Chala Ho clearly evokes a sense of pride in
local culture and identity.  Surender Kumar, an 18-year old resident of
village Harsangra who studied till the ninth standard, emphasized the
relevance of the language that sets apart the programme. The Akashvani
programmes are all in Hindi. Their language and ours are spoken differently.
Chala Ho is in our local (dehati), broken (tooti-phooti) language, so we
understand it well.  Our people are able to participate in the programme
because it is in our language.  This brings name to our village.

Rajender Oraon, a tribal youth from Purushottampur, said that the formal
language of mainstream media is not understood easily by the non-literate
whereas Chala Ho Gaon Mein is easily accessible to everyone.

The programme's popularity is to a large extent because of its focus on
locally relevant issues.  The community reporters of AID travel in and
around the villages, carrying back with them reports of local problems and
developments, folk songs and folk tales from the region, and record plays on
local issues with performers from the villages.  When broadcast, these
issues strike a chord in the listener, not only invoking instant recognition
of familiar names and places, but also forging a solidarity among those
placed in a similar socioeconomic situation.  Prakash Narayan, one of the
community reporters, says it is his responsibility to highlight people's
problems at the village level and help give a voice to the marginalized. 
The programme, he adds, is also aimed at giving opportunities for suppressed
artistic talent (dabe hue kalakar ) in the villages.

Keshav Ram, a 25-year old literate man from village Mahe in Panki block,
pointed out the importance of local production:

One major difference between Chala Ho and other programmes on radio is that
one can never tell whether the other programmes are getting made in the city
or the village, whereas Chala Ho is our own, local programme.  They go from
village to village recording news of the village.

A young social worker, Rabinder Kumar from village Cheri thinks that the
familiarity of the participants in the programme serves as a source of
encouragement to others. When people you know perform on radio, we also feel
encouraged to participate in the programmes.  We develop an interest because
we relate to them better.

Fourteen-year old school student, Akanksha Rani of Nawadih village was most
enthusiastic about Chala Ho and insisted that the programme would motivate
people to work for the village.

When people listen to the programme about the problems of the village, they
are inspired to do something for the development of the village.  People
could then sit together and come up with a plan to tackle the problem. 
Gradually, our problems could be solved in this fashion.

Forging Solidarities: the Intangible Benefits

We asked why people would want to listen to the programme even when their
own village and its problems do not figure prominently.  While people were
eager to have the problems of their village being represented in the
programme, they offered a much broader understanding of the functions of a
radio programme such as Chala Ho Gaon Mein.  The following exchange among
members of the focus group at Mahe-Dema reveals their hope that the
programme can help forge some kind of solidarity among the marginalized
sections.

Keshav Ram: Even if there is no benefit to our village, other villages in
the neighbourhood are gaining something from the programme.  At least it is
the poor somewhere who are getting benefit.

Loki Mahato: When we hear on the radio that another village's problems have
been solved, we will also make an effort to do something about our own
situation. Tilak Singh: We hope that when someone else could develop, so
will we.  We feel happy that some development is taking place somewhere.

In order to assess what people are deriving from the programme, beyond the
tangible benefits, we asked all the focus groups, "How would you feel if
this programme is stopped from next week? What difference does it make to
your lives?" Apart from those who reacted with utter disbelief at the
suggestion, responses ranged from the more philosophical to those who felt
it would stop all development in the area.  Shashikant Mahato, a 22-year old
visually impaired man in village Pipra, thought that the programme promoted
an atmosphere of debate and discussion on important issues, such as
illiteracy and child marriage. In his words, the programme has 'brought
light to those who have been living in darkness' (andhkar mein jo log rahte
hain, unko prakash milta hai).

Fifty six-year old Jogeshwar Singh, a small farmer in village Dema, retorted
angrily to our hypothetical question:

Close down the programme, no problem.  If the programme is coming today, we
listen.  If that were to be stopped, we would not even come to know what's
happening outside.

Radhakrishna Oraon, a 25-year old teacher in AID's non-formal school from
Purushottampur, predicted dire consequences if the programme were to be
stopped. It will certainly make a lot of difference.  Word does not reach
from one village to the other. Society will remain just the same – poverty
and unemployment.  We eagerly wait for the programme every week.  We like
it.  If you stop broadcasting this programme, our villages will become
weaker.  People gain some experience from listening to the programme there
is some influence.

Sixty-year old Loki Mahato of Mahe was confident that the programme has had
a positive effect on the lives of the people:

When all of Jharkhand listens to us, including the minister and the MLA,
everyone will come to know that the people of our village are now awakened. 
Through radio, we started understanding each other's problems better and we
started tackling them together.  We got new strength.

An educated young man, Ajay Kumar in village Cheri called Chala Ho 'a tonic'
for the people in the region.  Prakash Narayan, one of the community
reporters for the programme, suggested that a significant gain from Chala Ho
is the coming out of women from their homes to participate in public life. 
This view finds its echo in the opinion expressed by 21- year old Sanjukta
Devi, who is an active member of a self-help group in village Cheri. We
women were earlier very inhibited.  When the men used to sit outside for
discussions, we used to sit inside.  Today, after this programme, we feel we
too have a voice and are confident to come out of the house to even take
part in processions.

Addressing Social Problems: the Tangible Benefits

While many villagers claimed tangible benefits from listening to the
programme, such benefits were not only unverifiable, but it may also be
unrealistic to expect such concrete results in just one year of the
programme.  Many of the people we met during focus group discussions, with
the exception of the elderly and some women, identified the major issues on
which the programme is made, viz., alcoholism, dowry problem, superstition,
bribery, literacy, and child marriage.

Several people claimed, for instance, that consumption of alcohol in the
villages has come down after the programme started.  Loki Mahato of village
Mahe asserted that Chala Ho is gradually having an influence on several
critical problems of the area, including the drinking problem, which has
been a major burden on rural life economically and socially. The programme
had a lot of impact here.  Many people here who used to drink three to five
bottles of liquor now run away even from its smell.

Suresh Kumar of AID spoke of a dramatic intervention made by the
organization in which several people were invited to record a song against
alcoholism.  The song involved people swearing on their mothers that they
would give up drinking liquor.  He said the organization tried to take
advantage of this public pledge and urged those people to stand by it.

The tradition of tilak/dahej (dowry) is quite deeply rooted in the culture
of the region and it is unrealistic to expect that the programme would make
a dent in that so soon.  However, it is apparent that the programme has
managed to put the issue firmly on the agenda and that people are at least
discussing the problem.  Thirty-year old Kamoda Devi, the only literate
woman in the focus group we assembled in Bhalmanda village, hoped that the
programme would make a difference.

If I take dowry for my son now, I will realize the problem later when my son
has a daughter and he has to give dowry.  So it is important to stop this
practice.  If this can be done through the programme, it will be good for
society.

The adolescent girls at Nawadih village also condemned the practice as a
blot on society and hoped that the radio programme can address the issue. 
At village Cheri, 19-year old Chintamani said confidently that specific
episodes of Chala Ho on the dowry problem are already beginning to make a
difference in the thinking of women about the need for collective action.

Prior to the radio programme, we girls were never even allowed to go outside
the home, leave alone participating in meetings.  After this programme
started, we got together and formed a young women's group.  Now we all sing
together, attend meetings, and discuss issues.  A lot of change has come in
our attitudes.

Surendra Thakur, one of the community reporters, offered an example of a
specific outcome of Chala Ho in the area of gender equity:

Before this radio programme started, people used to send only their sons to
school and make their daughters work at home. However, after this programme
started talking about treating sons and daughters equally, many parents came
forward and, with our help, enrolled their daughters in school.  The
teachers, who expected to be paid for such things, did not demand any money
because of our presence.

The pathetic condition of government-run primary schools and of delinquent
teachers was discussed repeatedly in various focus group discussions. 
Rajmani Yadav, another community reporter, narrated this episode where the
threat of doing a radio programme helped solve a problem in the school. 
This incident is also illustrative of the perceived power of the medium.

One of our school masters used to siphon off the grain meant for the
children's mid-day meals. When many people in the village complained about
this, we made a surprise visit to the school.  We raised this issue with him
and told him that there are other complaints as well regarding lack of books
and benches for students to sit.  We told him that we have recorded all
these things and will broadcast it on radio.  He pleaded with us not to do
it.  We put him on alert and agreed not to go on air for now.

According to some participants in our focus group discussions, Chala Ho has
also addressed the issue of superstitious interventions against illnesses
and brought about some changes in health practices.  Ajay Kumar, a 21-year
old postgraduate in history at Cheri village, pointed this out clearly:

In the old days people used to bank on faith healers to invoke spirits, even
for such diseases as malaria, and never got the patient any medical
treatment.  Now after listening to radio dramas on the subject, more people
are beginning to take patients to the hospital instead.

Basic Concerns and Faith in the Medium

While most of these examples of specific outcomes from the programme were
related to AID's chosen focus areas, residents of several villages told us
that there are other basic problems on which episodes of Chala Ho Gaon Mein
should be made.  Some of the issues they cited as more basic and on which
they would like to see more programmes include: roads, water, electricity,
land, employment, hunger, poverty, and drought.  The programme does touch
upon some of these problems occasionally, but it seems like, given the
political disquiet generated by Maoist groups in the region, AID is
compelled to stay away from contentious issues such as land re-distribution. 
In the focus group at Mahe-Dema, an interesting suggestion was made to
broadcast prices for their produce in the local markets.  The idea was, as
one participant put it, one could listen to the rates on the Sunday evening
programme and take one's produce to the Monday market.  Ramcharitrasa, a
55-year old backward class resident of the same village, drew attention to
the need for discussing the problem of middlemen.

We would like to discuss on radio the problem of middlemen.  We never even
get to hear about the funds for new facilities that come to the village. 
The middlemen gobble up all this and the work is also not done properly.

The fact that many of the people we met during our focus group discussions
even came up with an inventory of additional issues on which radio
programmes should be made, shows that people have tremendous amount of faith
in the medium to solve their problems.  If they could come together as a
collective, deliberate on their problems and, then, make programmes on these
issues, that would make the radio stronger and more effective. Many felt
that concrete benefits would flow from the programme if it were heard by
authority figures such as the Block Development Officer, the MLA, or a
Minister.  They saw the programme as an important tool to reach out to the
outside world.

Degree of Participation and Awareness of the Process Awareness among the
listeners about the process involved in implementing AID's community radio
project is varied.  While most of the listeners seem to be knowledgeable
about the fact that the programme is made by recording dramas, discussions,
etc., right in their villages (rather than in distant studios), this
knowledge seems to vary according to the degree to which the reporters are
active in their assigned villages.  If the reporters frequent their assigned
villages, people develop a sense of familiarity with him or her and tend to
come forward with programme ideas and suggestions.  Most of the reporters
selected by AID work quite hard to cover about three to four villages each,
motivating people to participate in programme production, developing story
ideas and scripts, and recording, and get paid a meagre amount of Rs.400 a
month.  Many of these villages are not well connected by roads and public
transport.  As a result, although these may not be too many villages for
each reporter, the distance between them and the difficult terrain make it a
tough job, especially for the women reporters.

Very few of those who participated in our focus group discussions displayed
any awareness of the post-production process, which takes place in Ranchi at
the premises of Manthan.  Some thought the recorded tapes are sent to Delhi
or Patna for broadcast, while a handful of literate youth said that they
knew the programme is 'cut' suitably and broadcast from Daltonganj.  Except
for a couple of people, who had gone to the radio station to participate in
some recording of folk songs, none of them has ever been to the AIR station
at Daltonganj. There is still a fair amount of awe about the medium and we
did not get the impression that the project was doing much to demystify the
technology to its audiences. If the overall process involved in a
participatory media project such as Chala Ho Gaon Mein could be divided into
three phases, viz., definition of problems, production, and post-
production, the coordinators of the project themselves admit that none of
the phases are yet marked by full participation of the people.  It is
evident that the focal areas for the broadcast were not identified through
any specific participatory need assessment. AID's own programmatic agenda,
mentioned earlier in this report, and the experiences of field workers
seemed to have generated the priority issues for the radio programme. With
the content parameters already set by the programme, the community members
do, from time to time, offer new suggestions directly to their respective
reporter or through letters to the programme. People are actively encouraged
to submit scripts, songs, or drama plots, etc., and participate in
issue-based discussions or perform in cultural items. However, as already
discussed above, there has been a mixed response to this invitation, with
women and the non- literate still quite reluctant. As individuals with their
own cultural talents for singing and other performances, the reporters end
up taking a lead role in producing many of these programmes.

The programme has a long way to go before people can identify with it as a
radio of their own and feel confident to use the medium for self-expression
and empowerment.  The language of broadcast, the issues discussed, and the
production process certainly help in forging a closer relationship with this
programme as against mainstream media.  But a higher level of participation
in different phases of the project, in true spirit of community radio, is
not yet visible.  It is perhaps not feasible to even expect to see a fully
participatory community radio project in such a short time.  Participation
is indeed a gradual process and several facilitating factors, such as
literacy, fulfillment of basic needs, and gender equity, need to be
addressed.

Conclusion

Chala Ho Gaon Mein is indeed a unique experiment in using media
technologies, especially radio, for development and empowerment of
marginalized, rural communities.  Designed as a community-driven project, it
takes on a special significance in an economically deprived area, marked by
illiteracy and the relatively indifferent attitude of the state as well as
the mainstream media towards the problems of the region.  Within a short
time, the programme has generated a great deal of enthusiasm among the
people.  Listeners not only feel that the programme is geographically and
culturally more intimate to their lives, but also gradually, a sense of
attachment to the programme is beginning to build up.  Suppressed local
artistic talents have come to the fore, women caught up within feudal social
structures are beginning, albeit very slowly, to find a voice of their own,
and there is a sense of optimism that the radio programme would help solve
many of the intractable problems of the people. However, after having
studied the structure of the programme carefully and having interacted with
audiences, community reporters, programme managers and project coordinators,
we offer the following recommendations and suggestions in the spirit of
making the programme more participatory and to strengthen the hands of those
involved in the programme production.

1.	Although there is some kind of culture of radio listening, the
number of radio sets capable of receiving the FM signal is still too low. 
While it might be unviable to distribute radio sets, efforts could be made
to increase the number of listeners.  This could be done by strategically
placing a few community radio sets, which by promoting group listening
followed by deliberations on the issues raised, could build more meaningful
democratic spaces within the villages.

2.	In a community radio project of this nature, it is suggested that
structure should not supersede process. The rigid structure of the fixed
format, the painstaking rehearsals, the over-emphasis on quality, the
relative lack of freedom for reporters, professional orchestral
accompaniments, etc. should not result in robbing community radio of its
flexibility and render it completely professional.

3.	As the current practice is only to make a digital master on a CD, it
makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to use episodes of the
programme in non-broadcast listening.  We, therefore, suggest that copies of
the episodes must be made in audio- cassettes for narrowcasting and repeat
listening in places such as schools, panchayats, and other village-level
collectives, especially of women.

4.	Audio tapes could also be used as audio documents to enhance
interaction between block-level officials and villagers, who otherwise feel
that government officials rarely visit them or pay attention to their
problems.

5.	Conscious attempts should be made to provide a more relaxed and
comfortable listening environment for women, perhaps through self-help
groups (SHGs) or other such collectives at the village level.  Audio tapes
could be played at their regular meetings. This would facilitate more
attentive listening and promote discussion among women.

6.	Community participation should be enhanced in identification and
definition of issues as well as in programme planning and production. 
Participatory need assessments should be taken up periodically.

7.	In terms of programme content, greater attention should be paid to
the problems of the elderly (loneliness caused by migration of children,
financial insecurity, etc.).  It is important also to acknowledge the
knowledge and contributions of the senior members of the community to
village life. Increasing the value and prestige of the elderly would help
generate enthusiasm for the program and reduce their current alienation from
the broadcast.

8.	The degree of alienation from the programme is at its most glaring
with respect to the post-production work, which is currently done in distant
Ranchi.  Many of the reporters themselves have not been involved in the
post-production process.  This number should be gradually increased, as
being cut off from the end phase also has an effect on their performance and
quality of output at the field recording stage.  Further, we suggest that
establishing the digital editing facility closer home, either in Lesliganj
or Daltonganj would help bridge this gap.

9.	In order to build a sense of identification and ownership among
members of the community, we suggest that community visits be periodically
arranged to the post- production center, the radio station, and the AID
office.

10.	Conscious efforts should be made by all the community reporters to
involve as many villages as possible in programme production as it has been
observed that those villages, which have contributed to programme content
also tend to be more committed audiences.

11.	Minimum wages should be paid to those who take time off from their
work to participate in programmes.  In a situation where their talents have
been vastly undervalued, this nominal compensation would also serve as
recognition of indigenous talent.

12.	Considering that the community radio reporters undertake a range of
work of such critical importance for the project, measures should be taken
to strengthen their capacities. The possibility of raising the remuneration,
providing transport (at least bicycles for women reporters), and increasing
the number of recorders should be given attention. Finally, without
seriously disrupting the existing social hierarchies in the villages, AID
could explore the possibility of issuing identity cards for reporters to
enhance their credibility and accord some prestige to the work they are
doing.  These cards could also serve as some kind of security in an
otherwise politically insecure environment. vinodp at satyam.net.in

References Dagron, A. G. (2001). Making Waves: Stories of Participatory
Communication for Social Change, New York: The Rockefeller Foundation.

Kumar, Kanchan (2003).  "Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan  (KMVS) Community
Radio Initiative: A Case Study – Some Preliminary Observations." Paper
presented at the UNDP Consultation on ICTs and Development, Indian Institute
of Management, Bangalore, March 11.

Mukhopadhyay, B (2000). "Why AIR has completely ignored community Radio." In
Humanscape, June 2000, 24-25.

NFI (National Foundation for India (2001). "Process Document for Community
Radio Initiative." New Delhi.

Page, David and Crawley, William (2001). Satellites Over South Asia. New
Delhi: Sage.

Pavarala, Vinod and Kumar, Kanchan (2001). "Legislating for Community Radio:
Policy Framework from Other Countries." In Voices for Change: A Journal on
Communication for Development, vol.5, no.1, May: 13-17.

Pavarala, Vinod and 'General' Narsamma (2000). "Voices from the Margins: A
Case Study of Community Media Initiatives." Voices for Change: A Journal on
Communication for Development, vol.4, no.2, October.

Notes

[This paper was made possible with a grant from the National Foundation for
India.  I gratefully acknowledge the support of AID field workers,
especially Suresh Kumar, the coordinator of the community radio programme. 
K.Kalyani and Kanchan Kumar were part of the research team, with the latter
also assisting in writing of the original report submitted to NFI.]

For a detailed analysis of the history of state policy in broadcasting in
India, see Kanchan Kumar's article in this section of EPW.

The recent announcement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of a
policy for issuing of licenses to community radio turned out to be a false
alarm.  The MIB guidelines clearly limit the policy to established
educational institutions and do not permit non-governmental organizations to
enter the field.

For details about the 'Namma Dhwani' programme, see Ashish Sen's article in
this section of EPW.

The first radio programme by KMVS called Kunjal Paanje Kutch Ji (Sarus Crane
of Our Kutch) won it the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain award.  Its second
phase was a programme called Tu Jiriyo Ain ( Tu Zinda Hai in Hindi), which
was broadcast for a brief while to address issues of relief and
rehabilitation after the devastating earthquake in 2001.

I owe much of my understanding of the history and evolution of AID to
interviews and discussions with Mr. Ramraj and Mr. Suresh Kumar of the
organization's Jharkhand branch.

An argument between a poor dalit resident of Goradih Khas village and an AID
worker revealed how radical demands for land reform place reformist NGOs in
a dilemma.

The feasibility of this suggestion, however, needs to be examined as the
production schedule currently involves planning and producing at least four
episodes at a time.