 |
|
||
 |
|||
| Improve Your World | Home | About Us | Sitemap | Search | Contact Us | ||
|
|
||||||||
| Also see : Rural Development, Social / Rural Innovations |
| Please help us in making this a comprehensive resource section for those directly connected or affected by this issue e.g. citizens, NGOs, government officers, students, teachers, researchers. Please directly upload or email us relevant content. This can include lists, articles, photographs, research papers, links to websites, etc. Please volunteer as an expert panelist to whom we can direct queries from our website visitors. |
| Home >> Rural Development : News Articles >> Rural Development : News Articles |   Email this Page |
|
|||
|
On Air Voices from rural India run BBC show Village Women Turn Reporters To Air Grievances Of 3 States Amit Bhattacharya | TNN New Delhi: When Rekha Devi first came across a mini-disc recorder some six months ago, she was clearly intimidated by the gizmo. "While making my first recording, I realised I had locked all the mini-disc cassettes. I had to call up Delhi for help,'' says the middle-aged woman from Bihar's Madhepura district. But things have changed since. Today, the sight of Rekha Devi-headphones strapped across her ears-is intimidating enough for district officials to be on their toes. Rekha Devi is a reporter for Aangan Ke Paar, a BBC World Service Trust-produced weekly radio programme broadcast from 22 AIR stations and BBC Hindi dealing with issues concerning women, especially HIV/AIDS. But unlike other such shows which rely on interviews with experts, this programme has its ears to the ground. Literally. The show, which went on air in October 2006, depends on its 12 reporters from the hinterlands of UP, Bihar and Jharkhand to bring voices and stories from their regions that lend life and punch to the show's themes. It makes for powerful radio. For instance, in an episode on domestic violence, you hear unrepentant voices of wife-beaters. "Burayee karegi to haath uthana hi parega (If the wife makes mistakes, we have to beat her),'' says one man. Another one adds, "Purush kyu galti karenge, bhai (How can men make mistakes).'' Says Andrew Whitehead, India director of BBC World Service Trust, which produces the programme, "Most of our reporters had never done radio before. But the raw voices they bring to the show makes for compelling radio. And, it's not like New Delhi talking to Bihar. It's a two-way street where our field reporters give ideas on what we could do.'' For these reporters, most of whom were chosen because they were field social workers at remote places in the three states, doing radio for BBC has been a transformative experience. Usha Devi, who lives in UP's Maharajganj district, was gripped with panic after she got a call from Delhi, around July last year, for undergoing training as a radio reporter. "I'm just a matric pass. Everybody else in the group was more educated,'' says the former balwadi teacher, holding back tears. But as she grew in confidence, Usha Devi interviewed a woman pradhan of a village who admitted on record that her husband carries the pradhan's seal and signs papers on her behalf. "Her husband was trying to suppress facts, but I managed to coax the pradhan into telling the real story,'' she said. Shahina Parveen from Jharkhand's Dumka got a 'madam' to admit she was into trafficking of women. Most of them have used their status as 'BBC reporters' to get things moving in their districts. Like Nishi Pandey from Lucknow, who once barged into a thana in Hardoi to get a land grab case sorted out. URL : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA3LzAxLzE2I0FyMDE3MDE=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom |
| Also see : Rural Development, Social / Rural Innovations |
