[cr-india] Ladies, you should know better...

[Rukmini Vemraju]

On Sajan's report of the report........
 
"Ladies (and Gentlemen too) should know better..
 
I do agree, much is not right with community radio in India. In fact, much is not  community radio, I'd say. The  ones who get the community part right, are not radio-yet, and the ones who get the radio going , are not quite  getting the community right yet--its evolutionary and incremental.
 
that said, lets not be  too hasty to condemn, based on our own biases , but more importantly, on insufficient information. lets not transfer a reporter's urban biases, poor understanding and presentation to the CR station,  and throw the baby with the bathwater, as they say!
 
 One of the first tenets of any communication is to speak the language of its audience- so, if the students of MOP college try  to  dramatise and create characters the local community can identify with, speak the colloquial dialect, what is the crime they commit? there's nothing in the report to suggest that  this format  is being used exclusively  as a substitute for getting real community members. 
 
On the contrary,  the report goes not to give specific examples of Saroja(30), D Ramani (42) and Kavitha (36) who go on air.
 
"And Meenakshi, 28, who tunes in.." , a bonafide community member, does not feel slighted, mimicked, mocked at-if anything, she is motivated and take her children to the polio booth... And mind you, it is she who calls it "slum" Tamil, as opposed to an anglicised version patented by FM stations. (Not being served by an Advisory by MIB, Meenakshi probably thinks of the CR  as FM, yet). If we take other parts of the report seriously, we must, this too.
 
And if the students, who work at the community radio station, go out in the scorching hot Chennai sun to  talk to NGOs and other community members, it is commendable . They should be appreciated and  encouraged, mustn't they?
 
Why does the  comment on the report   ignore all other achievements of the  community radio noted in the report like creating awareness about  traffic safety, HIV/AIDS, Audio  Books for the visually impaired and even what sounds like a  stalled  child marriage ?
 
No, irony certainly, is not this  reporters strong point, nor is leg work it would seem -since you say she got the interview on phone. 
 
It surely is yours, Sajan.  How about some  fairness, too?
 
Finally, penne nee arivaa, I believe, means. woman, you are powerful, or empowered--some such .  
 
So I believe, we all need to listen, ladies and gentleman.
 
Cheers!
 
Rukmini Vemraju
Programme Officer
Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia
8/4, Sarvapriya Vihar, New Delhi 110016
Phones:+91-11-26537146; 26537148  Fax: :+91-11-26537147
________________________________________________________________________________________
Learning for Development
In consonance with the mission of Commonwealth of Learning, The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, New Delhi, promotes the meaningful, relevant, and appropriate use of information and communication technologies to serve the educational and training needs of Commonwealth Member States of Asia

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From: cr-india-bounces at sarai.net on behalf of sajan venniyoor
Sent: Sat 4/26/2008 7:08 PM
To: cr-india at sarai.net
Subject: [cr-india] Ladies, you should know better...



This story <http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr262008/she2008042564634.asp>  on the campus radio at MOP Vaishav College for Women (see below) highlights pretty much all that's wrong with campus-based 'community radio' in India. 

 

The reporter is apparently thrilled that the sophisticated young ladies of MOP Vaishnav College are able to 'mimic' the slum women of Chennai with such flair, presenting outlandish characters like 'Idly Kadai' Muniamma in proper 'slum' Tamil. The college students (who - we are told - are in the age group of 16 to 22 years) "bring alive characters who could be residents of the neighbouring slums" and with whom 'real women' in the slums can identify. The possibility that slum residents might identify better with real slum women taking part in community radio programmes is lost on the reporter, but irony is obviously not her strong point.

 

One is almost persuaded that the real women of the slums, who presumably speak proper 'slum' Tamil as well, would be a bit too much for the college management to invite into their Rs.25 lakh studio in their aesthetically designed building in the heart of the city, but heck no, ''at times, the broadcasters also rope in real slum residents ... to share their homespun expertise," Good golly. 

 

The reporter, who seems to have researched her story on the telephone, is amazed that the young women of MOP actually venture out "in the scorching heat of Chennai" to talk to NGOs and "Incredible as it may seem,' she gushes, "most students, at some point of time, do go on air." What would be truly incredible, one suspects, is the community, at some point of time, getting to decide what goes on air. 

 

The story is peppered with inaccuracies and prejudices, and serves no other purpose than to convince us - if we need convincing - that 'community radio' in India has become little more than an expensive toy for the children of our urban elite to play at engaging with the 'real India', sometimes by venturing out among a city's poor with a tape recorder, but more often by faking 'real' slum accents in comfort of an airconditioned studio.

 

Sajan

 

 

Sparking change through radio 
Deccan Herald,  April 26, 2008 [Women's Feature Service]

Lady, you should know, insist a group of creative college girls who have caught the attention of women slum dwellers in Chennai with their innovative programming on a FM community radio. Hema Vijay tunes in
 
When Meenakshi, 28, tuned in to the radio, it was only to lighten her daily drudgery of washing dishes and clothes. However, just by accident, the young housewife heard the strains of 107.8 MHz. "It was the dialect that caught my attention. The voice on air sounded different. The woman on the radio was speaking 'slum' Tamil, unlike the anglicised Tamil common on the FM channel," she recounts. Meenakshi lives with her husband and three children in a one-room shanty in Chennai's Teynampet slum. 

The female voice on the radio reminded listeners about the polio vaccination drive being conducted in the city that day and of the deformities that a polio attack can lead to. "I wound up the washing and dragged my children to locate a polio camp," admits Meenakshi, now a loyal listener of 'Penne Nee Arivaai' (Lady, You Should Know). 'Penne Nee Arivaai' is a community radio programme broadcast thrice a day by M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai. 

Launched in March 2005, the M.O.P. Vaishnav's community FM is the country's second community radio station, after Anna FM at Chennai's Anna University. The service spans out to several schools and colleges, in addition to a few slums and health centres falling within a radius of four to five kilometres of the M.O.P. campus. "Community radio works because it addresses specific communities," observes senior journalist Anjali Sircar. 

And the team of college girls at M.O.P. FM perfectly understands its audience, as proven by the stock of characters the students mimic on air for 'Penne Nee Arivaai' and other programmes. Keeping in mind the target community - women in the slums around the M.O.P. campus that spans just a little less than three acres - S Niveetha, a third-year student of BCom (Bachelors of Commerce) speaks up as 'Mallika' the flower vendor. She is joined by A Vaidehi who, off air, pursues an electronic media course, but is known as 'Idly kadai' Muniamma (literally 'Idli Shop Muniamma'!) on the airwaves. Then there Kuppamma, the vegetable vendor, who outside the recording studio is first-year economics student, S  Uma.

Interestingly, through their programme, the students - who are in the age group of 16 to 22 years and include both under-graduates and post-graduates - bring alive characters who could be residents of the neighbouring slums and with whom real women like Meenakshi can identify. But first they thoroughly research for their shows by speaking to doctors, welfare organisations and NGOs. 

Empowerment

And, at times, the broadcasters also rope in real slum residents such as Saroja(30), D Ramani (42) and Kavitha (36) to share their homespun expertise on topics such as child rearing and health on air. "Our primary focus has been to facilitate women's empowerment," says Vijaya Thiruvengadam, former director, All India Radio, Chennai, who was roped in by the college to shape its community radio service. 

Each M.O.P. broadcast lasts for three hours and there are three broadcasts every day - between 6:30 am and 9:30 am, 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm, and 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Each programme lasts for 15 minutes.


But it is not just the slum dwellers that these talented girls have been involving in their daily shows. They have been speaking to NGO representatives, and even have taken to the streets to monitor and spread the word on traffic rules despite the scorching heat of Chennai. They regularly talk about the need to wear helmets and also outline traffic rules to be followed to ensure safety. 

When this writer went visiting M.O.P.'s radio station, P Chandrasekharan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Foundation, was in the studio recounting an incident where the NGO had intervened when a young girl in a rural school failed to appear for her school final exams. "She had been a good student and so we went to her house to inquire and we found the girl all dressed up to be betrothed. Only when the teachers took up the cause and threatened police action did the family send the girl to write her exams," he said. For the M.O.P. Vaishnav girls, such interviews are eye-openers and a reminder of the restrictive environment in which the girls in rural India live. "And when we talk to the NGOs, we make sure to get the beneficiaries to speak out on air too," says Thiruvengadam.  

Health concerns

Concerns like HIV/AIDS are dealt with, too. "Classroom instructions can be embarrassing. But anonymous radio discussions are effective, especially when it is a case of the youth talking to the youth," observes Srinidhi Sampath, a counsellor.

Another popular programme is the educational broadcast for visually-challenged students, produced by the Dehradun-based National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH) and recorded at Chennai's Rotary Helen Keller 'Talking Book' Library. "The programme has made a definite difference to our exam preparations," says K Muniappan, President, Blind Students' Association in Chennai.

In addition to community interaction, the M.O.P. radio service is also used as a tool to communicate on campus. Incredible as it may seem, most students, at some point of time, do go on air. Some like Saranya Easwaran are regular Radio Jockeys (RJs) and also double up as programme producers. "I plan to continue after graduation," she smiles. "We have good fun," adds R Padmapriya, a first-year electronic media student. 
The college has invested in a sound-proof recording room, a high-tech 54-channel amplifier, and even expensive Nuendo software used for recording. The recurring costs amount to about Rs 1,00,000 a year, estimates Thiruvengadam. 

"The college management has been generous with funds. The Department of Science and Technology has given us a monetary grant of Rs 11,00,000 this year, towards the use of community radio to promote scientific temper among women," says Dr K Nirmala Prasad, Principal, M.O.P. Vaishnav. "The community radio service is actually just an extension of our college's social initiative policy. Our girls had been going to the slums earlier as well. Students studying nutrition teach the women of Badrikarai slum to prepare nutritious low cost meals, while our entrepreneurship cell has helped women find better employment. For instance, our girls have taught bouquet flower arrangements to flower vendors there, which has helped them earn better," he elaborates.

Touching lives

Voices on M.O.P. FM have been touching lives. According to a survey conducted in July last year by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), 53 per cent of the 1,000 women surveyed in the slums within the five kilometre radius of the campus, tuned in to M.O.P. FM, particularly the 'Penne Nee Arivaai' programme. 

As Chandrasekharan puts it, "They are creating small ripples and, at the very least, the college students are getting to know the real world, discuss serious issues, and seek answers." They will eventually find solutions, too.

 

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr262008/she2008042564634.asp