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

[sajan venniyoor]

If it is only a matter of doing socially relevant programmes on traffic
safety, HIV/AIDS and the like, why not, as Satheesh asks, " go back to the
golden age of AIR?"

Like Vickram, I am somewhat baffled by the reactions we are getting to our
suggestion that, regardless of how sincere and hardworking the students of
the Chennai college are, that still doesn't make MOP 107.8 a community radio
station, any more than it does Anna FM or Loyola College radio.

"Perfection comes slowly....on the trail of imperfections", we are
encouraged by those who now enjoy the rewards of the long struggle for
community radio in India. "Its evolutionary and incremental," we are
informed blithely, no doubt implying that if only the slum women
of Chennai are reasonable, and have the humility to lend their voices
to those who have exclusive privileges at present, they may get to speak
their own voice some day.

This is a most perverse understanding of the situation. In a perfectly
evolutionary and incremental manner, seven licenses and LoI's have been
given away to campus stations in New Delhi, and when genuine community
groups - some representing 'real' slum people - apply for a CR license in
Delhi or Banglaore, they are told that all frequencies in these cities have
been incrementally given away to educational institutions, and the
cupboard's now quite bare. Three campus stations have incrementally come up
in Chennai as well, and Tamil Nadu has the unique distinction of having 22
campus radio stations - nine operational - and not a single community radio.


Gradualism and patience obviously pays off for some.

Like Satheesh, Vickram and many others who have fought for years for the
right of people to voice, I am increasingly convinced that our great
stumbling block is the moderate who "paternalistically believes he can set
the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of
time, and who constantly advises [us] to wait for a "more convenient
season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating
than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."

Sajan


 On 4/28/08, Vickram Crishna <v1clist at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>  I assume Ms Bhatnagar's post is in response to Sajan's, and the exchange
> that followed.
>
>
> What is the point this correspondent wants to make? That the students are
> doing their best under difficult circumstances? But has anyone criticised
> the students?
>
> It seems to me that the criticisms have been strongly against a demeaning
> CR policy that encourages such activities, including the moneys wasted by
> the University(ies) in buying unnecessarily heavy-duty equipment (while not
> budgeting a decent amount for the station operators, as she has pointed out,
> see below).
>
> As for the 'slum' dwellers, please read the posts carefully instead of
> making wild accusations. No-one is asking for them to be interviewed in
> airconditioned offices. What has been asked again and again is for a policy,
> an open policy, one that recognises the right of anyone, anywhere, to speak
> her voice. To 'own' her voice, not to lend it to others who have exclusive
> privileges granted by a sarkari government that knows best what people need,
> as evidenced by 60 years of 'incredible' development.
>
> Vickram
> http://communicall.wordpress.com
> http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com
>
>
On 4/28/08, periyapatna satheesh <satheeshperiyapatna at yahoo.com> wrote:


>   Dear Sajan
>
> I am completely with you and every bit with the biting wit that
> accompanies your analysis. The point is not to see how valiantly the
> students of the College try to imitate the slum women. What is a biting
> indictment on the farcical democracy of this country is in the name of
> Community Radio, we have once again reduced Meenakshi to identify herself
> with a cardboard character played out by a, probably well intentioned, but
> certainly a well-heeled student of the Vaishnav College.
>
> that we endorse this identification as a success of the effort is a
> bankruptcy of our understanding of communication by the people. Then why
> cant we go back to the golden days of AIR, where many characters have been
> received great endorsements by the rural people? Why play this charade of
> Community Radio? just make big academics and fat NGOs share the pie which
> was AIR's once upon a time?
>
> This truly is the nadir of People's Radio as the Community Radio should
> be. People who are in our slums, our villages and our forests. That this has
> been snatched away twice over through the Campus Radio is a genocide of
> democratic communication.
>
> And finally the word Arivai, is by no stretch of imagination is
> empowerment. It is simply "KNOW" an order from the priviliged classes of the
> country.
>
> satheesh
>
> --- On *Sat, 26/4/08, sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> From: sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com>
> Subject: [cr-india] Ladies, you should know better...
> To: cr-india at sarai.net
> Date: Saturday, 26 April, 2008, 6:38 AM
>
>  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
>
> YOU CAN SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY RADIO FORUM (India) BY JOINING AND TAKING AN
> ACTIVE PART IN ONE OF THESE NETWORKS
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-awareness  (Awareness building)
>
>
>
>
> http://groups.yahoo..com/group/crforum-helpdesk (Offering help)
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-policy-advocacy (Policy advocacy)
>
>
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-techoptions (Technical options)
>
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