Riding high on radio waves

AIR programme touches off a small revolution in rural pockets

ARTI SAHULIYAR
Ranchi, July 1: Laxmi Oraon was tired of the daily struggle for water. Atthe crack of dawn, she and a bunch of women from her village would hit adusty 13-km trail that ended at a well in a place called Getalsud. The lonewell and the four handpumps in her block failed to quench the thirst of the15 villages that made up the Angada block.She recalled the numerous failed trips made by the village men to thedistrict's corridors of power in an attempt to get a new handpump forAngada. Then, someone suggested the Community Radio Programme (CRP), ahalf-an-hour programme on the AIR, aired every Sunday evening.As the request for help from the Angada residents crackled through the radiotwo weeks later on the community programme, an assistant engineer of thePHED department volunteered to support the pump project. Earlier this month,the pump was inaugurated amid much cheer from Laxmi and her villagefolk.Similar such requests on the radio programme have managed to get for theresidents of far-flung areas of the state what the administration could notgive.Coordinator of the programme at Angada block, Malya Bedia, says the radiohas made the villagers aware of the different developmental schemes meantfor the block. She also recalled how the radio was used to connect to themasses about the need to get children and, especially girls, educated."A play was staged themed on the importance of education and it was aired onthe AIR. The next thing we found was that many organisations were comingforward to build the schools," added Bedia.Explaining how the CRP was started with the aim of providing the villagersan opportunity to air their grievances, programme executive Devi Roy said:"The residents did not know who to talk about the problems. We just providedthem with a platform." The programme was a joint effort by the AIR, a localNGO called Manthan Yuva Sansthan and a Delhi-based NGO, Charka.Meena, a 12-year-old, is perhaps one of the best examples of the smallrevolution that has touched these rural backwaters. Six months ago, thebubbly child would spend the day finishing up household chores and learningto cook. "I go to school now. I like maths. My mother says it is important,"she says, enthusiasm written all over her small happy face.
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