WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
By Anjali
Singh
Lalitpur, Uttar
Pradesh (Women's Feature Service) - The moment Rachna, 19, steps behind the
microphone she is a changed person. A radio broadcaster, she loves to
communicate with her listeners on the community radio station in Lalitpur, a
district in the impoverished, drought-affected Bundelkhand region of Uttar
Pradesh (UP),
Says the radio
broadcaster sitting comfortably at the radio station located in Alapur, a
small hamlet in Birdha block of Lalitpur, "I can't believe I am now a RJ
broadcasting and anchoring radio programmes. What makes it even more meaningful
is that I get to talk about actual issues like mother and child mortality that
affect my community."
Similar sentiments
are echoed by Uma Yadav, 33, a housewife, mother-of-five and one of the 12 community
reporters at the station, "Until now no daughter-in-law in the village had
ever taken to reporting, recording programmes and getting involved in solving
issues related to women. Initially, my family members refused to give me
permission but once they realised how productive the work was, they relented. I
still have to face the snide remarks of my sisters-in-law when I leave for the
station every day and return in the evening, but I feel it's a small price to
pay for what I want to do."
So committed is Yadav
that after completing her daily chores she is motivated enough to walk three
kilometres to reach the Lalit Lokvani office in Alapur to anchor shows and hold
discussions on issues like breastfeeding and mother and child nutrition, which
are two concerns that need immediate attention in Lalitpur.
Both Rachna and Yadav
are part of a new communication revolution that has swept rural UP in the form
of the much-needed Lalit Lokvani, the first community radio station in the
state. In September, with the click of a button on the console, Ranvir Prasad,
District Magistrate of Lalitpur, and Jugal Kishore, Joint Director of
Bharatendu Natak Akademi and well-known theatre personality, made history by
launching the radio service to reach over 80 villages.
What makes this radio
station unique is the fact that it has encouraged women from within the
community to take to reporting and anchoring programmes on issues that concern
them. These focused scripts - that are usually written with women in mind -
draw tremendous responses, especially because it uses the typical Bundelkhandi
dialect.
Explains Shilpi
Yadav, 25, a graduate who is a field co-ordinator of Lalit Lokvani, "At
first it was a challenge to get the village women to listen to the broadcast.
Since we began operations by narrow casting [disseminating information to a
narrow audience, not to the general public] we had to travel to villages and
ask people to come together at the 'chapal' (meeting place) or the panchayat
building to hear the programmes. Often on these occasions, men would gather
around us and poke fun at the issues we had discussed on the radio. Gradually,
however, they understood that we had their welfare in mind. Today, even the men
listen to us - not only on their radio sets but on the FM radio stations
available through their mobile phones."
The community radio
station had begun in 2007 by narrow casting programmes to a few villages. The
station received its wireless operating licence (WOL) in August 2010, which
allowed it to officially broadcast on a frequency of 90.4 megahertz to villages
within a span of 15 kilometres around Lalitpur.
Says Ram Krishna of
Ideosync Media Combine, who has trained the 15-member Lalit Lokvani team,
"The community radio is a powerful medium that gives people a chance to
speak to the government directly. Even when we were narrow casting, the reach
was tremendous but now the service will give a boost to the process of skill
building among the people of Lalitpur. And when women motivate women by using
the power of technology, the impact is phenomenal. Another advantage is that
thanks to mobile telephony people can listen to programmes in privacy and call
in and express themselves as individuals on any subject they wish to discuss.
And for the adolescents - a potentially large listener base - there is huge
scope to communicate through this medium."
An initiative of
UNICEF Lucknow, Sai Jyoti, the NGO that runs the station, and Ideosync Media
Combine, community radio is being pegged as an important means of community
outreach in UP, a state where the people have been facing multiple problems for
decades.
But can these young
women radio jockeys make community radio the powerful tool of information
dissemination it is made out to be? Explains Rachna Sharma, Behaviour Change
Communication Specialist, UNICEF Lucknow, "In the three years that Lalit
Lokvani had been narrow casting to the villages it demonstrated what a powerful
tool community radio is. The women anchoring these shows focus not only
individuals shaping lives of people but also facilitate a more horizontal
spread of information. This is ushering in a remarkable change in behaviour and
attitudes, something that is very relevant in Lalitpur since a number of
integrated government development programmes are located here. It thus provides
the best convergence base for community development efforts."
Adds Mridul
Srivastava, Station Director, Lalit Lokvani, "CR reflects the real voice
of the people. It is a service that caters to the interests and needs of a
certain area, its culture, craft, cuisine and above all social and development
issues. It has also helped mobilise women, who have become an integral part of
this initiative. Most of our programmes have participants from within the
community, including women who present shows keeping in mind the Bundelkhandi
language and tradition. Issues like breastfeeding, the care of newborns,
general health, hygiene and sanitation, nutrition, child marriage, child rights
and education are covered."
But running a radio
station is not cheap and Lalit Lokvani has to generate Rs 70,000 (US$1=Rs 44.3)
every month to keep going. While UNICEF Lucknow plans to support the station
until 2012, the team at Lalitpur has already started working out ways to
generate money with on-air advertisements.
Says Ram Krishna,
"Programmes are broadcast for an hour every morning from 7 to 8 am, with
two repeat broadcasts - 1 to 2 pm and then 5 to 6pm. Now we have managed to
keep aside five minutes for airing ads, which can double up as the station's
remuneration. Talks are already on with the district administration, which is
keen to disseminate information about government schemes being run for people.
They feel community radio is a good medium for this. And since women figure as
a major chunk of the team, government agencies find it doubly relevant to use
this as a platform to educate and create awareness among the community on
issues of women and child welfare."
Vidya Galav, 20,
another talented RJ on Lalitpur Lokvani, couldn't agree more. As she put it,
"I believe community radio is the ultimate agent of social change that
will liberate our mothers, daughters and sisters from their mental and physical
shackles. Through the radio they can listen and learn that women can go beyond
the role that society has laid down for them and transform themselves."