Decoding Economics through Development

Professor Nissar A. Barua, Department of Economics, Gauhati University in his session discussed on the issues of Governance and Economy. Prof. Barua started with the concept of Governance which came to the forefront in the 1990’s when re-minted by economists, political scientists and disseminated by institutions like UN, IMF and World Bank. Since then, the term has gained increasing usage. Initially, the term governance was basically about authority and control; however, over the years, the importance of some attributes like participation in the decision making process, equity and justice, transparency and accountability was being realized. Recently, the definition of governance has been extended to bring predictability through corporate governance. With this background, Prof. Barua narrates governance as “A process whereby public institutions conduct public affairs, manage public resources and endeavor to attain the exalted objective of maximizing social welfare.” He states that governance can take place at individual, national, local and as well as at institutional level. Moreover, he added that to understand a particular form of governance, one has to look into the participating entities, the intentions associated with it and the relative sphere of their influence. While discussing about the democratic and non-democratic structure of the inter relationship among the entities in terms of power or control, Prof. Barua has rightfully justified that in a democratic structure, the role of government and the private sector including media have much more important role than the civil society, unlike the non-democratic structure. He has also added that the whole structure changes and power comes to the hands of military forces when some distortions occur under particular governance. The professor also explained the rural and urban setting of power relations of the entities. In addition to this, from the UNDP report, 1997, he has also discussed about the principles of good governance. The principles which have been discussed extensively are-a) participation and consensus of the stakeholders, b) vision and direction of the government leaders, c) flexibility to respond in a dynamic environment, d) efficiency in terms of allocation of resources and proper utilization as well as equal distribution and effectiveness in terms of attainment of goals, e) accountability and transparency in utilization of resources or government funds, f) equity and rule of law. Prof. Barua, concluded by explaining the three issues that come into play while studying the role of governance in terms of economic development. These issues are –

§  Issues in allocation of resources- the scarce public resources should be used in terms of public interest in an optimal and sustainable manner while giving priority to the poor section

§  Utilization issue- the transparency and accountability should be maintained and there should be timely formulations of proposals and prompt execution.    

§  Equity issue- the issues of equity like minorities, SCs/STs, gender equity etc. have to be given equal importance.  

Report prepared by Reema Rabha on the first session, October 30, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Development does not mean uprooting the originality of people

The class mainly focused on three concepts and their interrelation with each other. The three concepts were media, communication and development communication. Starting with the origin of the term media i.e. from the word Medium or Mediation, various angles were elaborated. The features and functions of media   such as the mediatory role between the people and public, media’s influence, functions such as to educate, to inform, to entertain, persuade, debate and discus. Media’s role in cultural promotion, edutainment, an agent for social change, knowledge circulator and multiplier were all elaborately discussed. Media’s positive campaign on various issues such as health (polio), school enrollment among others were also discussed. The historic events such as the emergency period from 1975- 1977, and the evolution of the Indian cinema of the 60s and  70s such as Sholay, Mother India to cartoons and animation which had famous character such as Mina were linked with the entire concept of development communication. Stories with a moral conclusion along with direct social messages were part of the discourse. Opinions where media is considered to be an integral part of human life and man’s incapability to escape media’s existence and influence were justified in the discussion.  

Secondly, Communication, which is the root of all human activities right from sharing knowledge, information dissemination and experience establishing the co- relation between media and communication was established. “Media is one of the most powerful and influential part of communication. In order to prove the influence of media in the society an understanding of the development stories is extremely important,” stated Kashyap.So to elaborate this he cited examples of stories that he himself has covered. The successful radio programme named “Krishi Jagat” (where the listeners who were mostly non- literate were the real heroes making the green revolution a great success with the help of agricultural information provided via the program)

Coming to the third concept, Development communication or Journalism, he analusd few definitions such as:

Nora Quebral, 1975: It is an art and sciences of human communication applied and achieve speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes promotes greater social equality and larger fulfillment of the human potential.

Rosario Braid, 1979: It is an element of the management procession in the overall planning and implementation of development programmes. In a broad sense, it is the identification and utilization of appropriate in the development process that will assist in increasing participation of intended beneficiaries at the grass root levels.

The resource person made an attempt to define development communication as a special area of interest along with how the media can be used in a positive manner to bring about sustainable development in the society. He said, “Development should not only be measured in economic terms but in social, political, cultural, educational aspects also”.

Few parameters that surrounded the concept of development communication such as a perceptible change in people lives, per capital income of the majority of the people for a given period of time, access to clean drinking water, sanitation, heath care, primary education, immunization, employment, road connectivity and its relation to market expansion to employment, proper education, better facilities to health care etc. was a part of elaboration.

Kashyap also said that, “Development does not mean uprooting the originality of the people and civilization in the name of development, industrialization and expansion, it also does not mean the destruction of the beautiful mother nature, but it means sustainable development, bringing desirable changes, thinking and working for the people of the society.

At the end of the session Kashyap discussed about his experience in the Indian Express and explained the ground reality of the journalism world along with the development stories of the state of Assam citing examples of the development of higher education and multipurpose school including Goalpara Rabha community, the koyal lady named “rangoli” who self-educated herself at the age of 45 along with many more fascinating stories.

Report prepared by Shashi Subba on the second session, October 24, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by DEpartment of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Social and Behaviour Change Communication

Ms. Veena Kumari, C4D officer for UNICEF discussed at length about the  concept of ‘Social and Behaviour Change Communication’ (SBCC), which is commonly known to the layman as ‘Communication for Development’.  She said that this particular area is relatively new in the sphere of health communication where the onus of importance is given on how communication tools can be used effectively to disseminate information specially on pressing health problems of the masses at the grassroots level. She even mentioned that providing access to information is a core function of development communication besides encouraging people’s participation in decision making processes. In her opinion, if the vulnerable segments of the population are better informed, they can claim their rights and hopefully make use of state resources/services more purposefully to pull themselves out of poverty and lead a healthy life. Ms. Kumari then moved on to discuss the percentage share of different communication activities that an individual on an average spends. A typical study in this regard pointed out the fact that people spent about 45% of the waking hours on listening, 30% of the time on speaking, 16% on reading and the remaining 9 % on writing. As far as the art of speaking is concerned, it has been mentioned that words only convey about 7% of what one is trying to say , 38%  on the tone of the voice and the remaining 55% on facial expressions.

She categorically stated that the ‘ Social and Behaviour Change Communication’ makes use of the most powerful  and fundamental human interaction – communication- to exert a positive influence on the social dimensions (knowledge, attitudes, norms and cultural practices) of health and well-being. Thus, according to her, SBCC uses creative ideas to focus on-

Ø  Changing or positively influencing social norms in support of long time sustainable behavior change at the population level

Ø  Strengthening community responses to the core issues ; and

Ø  Influencing decision makers, family and peer network.

Emphasizing on the need and importance in bringing about changes in the very fabric of the society along with the behavior of the people, Singh said that social and behavior change are complementary to each other. In fact, social change will have an impact on the mindset of the individuals ensuring that change is sustainable. Thus, according to her, certain program needs to be implemented by the different media platforms that would initiate the development process in the society. Citing the example of film as a medium for disseminating socially relevant messages, she said that films like ‘Toilet :Ek Prem Katha’ have managed to create  a positive impact on the minds of people. The director held a mirror to the society by focusing on how superstitious villagers, lazy administration and corrupt politicians have actually converted India into the world’s largest shit-pond. 

She also delved on the evolution of the concept of SBCC over a period of time stating that the implementation of IEC (Information Education Communication) actually gave a solid foundation for BCC (Behaviour Change Communication) and later on SBCC to take a shape. The common line of thread which crisscross the three approaches is an attempt to change or reinforce a set of behavior in a target audience regarding a specific problem in a predefined period. She cited some of the earlier Government initiatives (like immunization programmes including pulse polio campaigns) for enhancing the health education in the country. Closer home, the National Health Mission in Assam has also been working relentlessly to sensitize the people and create awareness regarding various health issues.

Singh also highlighted some of the key issues concerning human behavior as given below-

Ø  People interpret and give meaning to information based on the context in which they live

Ø  Culture, norms and network influence people’s behavior.

Ø  People always cannot control the issues that determine their behavior

Ø  People’s decisions about health and well being compete with other priorities ; and

Ø  People often make decisions that are based on emotional factors and logic.

 According to her, Social and Behavior Change Communication is the systematic application of interactive, theory based and research –driven communication processes and strategies  to address ‘tipping points’ for change at the individual, community and social levels. In this context, ‘tipping point’ refers to the dynamics of social change where trends rapidly evolve into permanent changes.

Thus, the afore mentioned definition of SBCC lead to the following three characteristics –

v  It is an interactive , researched and planned process

v  It requires a socio-ecological model for analysis at finding the tipping point for change

v  It operates through three main strategies-advocacy, social mobilization and behavioral change communication.

As far as the SBCC being a planned process is concerned, she said that five steps are involved in this process like (i)  Understanding the situation (ii) Focusing and designing of messages (iii) Creating of messages (iv) Implementing and monitoring of different campaigns and initiatives ; and finally (v) Evaluating and Re-planning of the different messages and campaigns

The Social Ecological Model (SEM) as pointed out by Veena is a theory-based framework for understanding the multifaceted and interactive effects of personal and environmental factors that determine behaviors, and for identifying behavioral and organizational leverage points and intermediaries for health promotion within organizations. Accordingly, there are five nested, hierarchical levels of the SEM:  individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, and policy/enabling environment. The different levels are in the form of a concentric circle and are interrelated to each other. The opinions of the community leaders and service providers also influence the decision making ability of the common masses to a great extent. Thereafter comes the influence of the family and peer groups whose opinions matter the most when it comes to some of the core family oriented issues. Overall the concerned individual himself/herself has to have the motivation, willingness and the ability to work for the betterment of the society.

Summing up, Ms. Kumari gave an overall view of the entire concept of ‘Social and Behavior Change Communication’ and the various factors that contributes in shaping the behavior of the people along with bringing a societal change. She also rightly pointed out the fact that every bit of information that percolates to the grassroots level must reflect the actual scenario that prevails and not just something that is intended to glorify the image of the concerned society at large.

Report prepared by Dr. Trisha D Baruah on the fourth session, October 27, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Cultural Variables are imperative to assess Development

In continuation with the lectures on development communication delivered by Prof. K. V. Nagaraj, the third lecture by him began with the discussion on dominant paradigm. He said dominant paradigm is criticized, as it does not take into consideration many of the cultural variables, while gauging development. The western perspectives do not take into account the realities/ specificities of other cultures. This hegemonic attitude of the western paradigms makes them inappropriate for developing countries. The instance of Andre Gunder Frank questioning the hegemonic attitude and being chased away to Chile was cited by Prof. Nagaraj. Sameer Ameen and many others, who contested the hegemonic stance of the Western concepts of development.

As far as the economic development is concerned, there is a huge gap between the developing and developed countries. But media does not portray this economic divide. They highlight only the fascinating facts and do not concentrate on development.

The western model of development is a Mechanistic model of development, where everything is injected on to the people and people are generally passive in the process of development.  Hence, to actualize real development, an organic model of development is required. Socio-economic factors are no doubt, an essential component of development. However, the quality of life is not an easily quantifiable phenomenon. Happiness and material comforts cannot be equated with each other. Despite the fact that western scholars have identified certain variables like education, health, nutrition, employment and others to describe the quality of life, the eastern civilization and cultures cannot be studied on those scales. In continuation with this, various instances of development in the rural areas of India without the support of the government were discussed.

Then the discussion gradually moved to corruption, and he stated that corruption has become institutionalized now-a-days. The developmental process is designed by the corporate. He spoke about the partial success of endeavors like ‘Radio Rice’ and others and stated how development strategies are prepared which are not successful. Bureaucrats, Politicians, Panchayat Leaders and others share the money allotted for developmental projects. Many development projects remain on paper.  Gandhiji’s model of development ‘Swaraj’, is one of the finest models of development and he claimed that villages should produce for themselves and be self sufficient. Today villages are produce to gratify the needs of urban India. Villages are being exploited. Gandhi was not against machines. He wanted machines that do not affect the employment of man. Perhaps, Gandhian philosophy was suitable for his time. It did not foresee the technological developments of the future.

Communitarian thinkers like Majid Tehranian and others say that development does not mean economic development alone. They have opposed the imposition of Western value system in the name of modernization. It is against the preservation of native cultures of the developing countries. Development is cultural, social and political development. Development is not simply producing and consuming. If social and cultural aspects are not taken into consideration, development is meaningless and cannot be assessed. 

Report prepared by Dr. K.S. Krithika on the first session, October 25, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Visit to the University's Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library

The participants of the Refresher Course in Communication for Development were taken for a visit to the University's Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library on 25^th October 2017. All the participants gathered in the reading hall of the library and the Assistant Librarian briefed us about the significant facts of the prestigious library. The briefing session went on for 30 minutes which has been summarized below.

The University library started functioning in the year 1948 at Chandmari and it was shifted to the present building in the year 1962. The University Library was renamed as ‘Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library’ after the death of the first Vice-Chancellor of the University Krishna Kanta Handiqui. He himself has generously donated more than 7000 volumes of books to the library which is considered to be a treasure for the library.

The library, which is considered to be the biggest in Assam, at present has 2, 70,000 volumes of books, 3,700 thesis and 5,600 dissertations. One will be overwhelmed to see around 35,000 volumes of bound periodicals which is an asset to the library.

It also hosts about 5,000 priceless manuscripts, some dating to more than 300 years. The Library is a designated 'Manuscript Conservation Centre' (MCC) under the National Mission for Manuscripts established in 2003. The valuable manuscripts have been collected through different means - some were donated by benevolent citizens, some were acquired from past owners, and others were salvaged after search and rescue efforts undertaken by the library. The scripts were meticulously detailed, numbered and preserved using modern scientific techniques and processes.

Ratna Mala Biyakaran, ChitraBhagawat, Kumar Haran, Bhagawad Shlokas, MantarPuthi, JyotishPuthi and AuyrvedicPuthis are some of the rare manuscripts preserved, along with some texts on magical rituals from Mayong. 1, 50,000 pages of manuscripts have been digitized already.

The participants were taken to all the sections of the library including the manuscript section and were briefed. The library is no doubt the pride of the University. 

Report prepared by Dr. Ilam Parithi on the fourth session, October 25, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Community Radio –an Ideal platform to resolve Identity Crisis of each community

Resource person, Dr. Ankuran Dutta, Head of Communication and Journalism Department Gauhati University termed community radio as a very fruitful platform for resolving identity crisis existing among various communities in our country. This could be a potential tool for development in India especially the Northeastern Region of India

He gave a very good and brief presentation about community radio in South Asia and traced its growth and development giving an insight into the real development role in our human society. He said that community radio is the third tier of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. He said that community radio is by people, for the people and about the people and there must be active participation of community in the community radio system. Without community participation there is no meaning of community radio. He mentioned three important characteristics of community radio as-(i) community radio must be owned by community,(ii) participation of community is mandatory in community radio to run (iii) community radio should have a profit motive . He highlighted that the first policy on community radio was published in 2002 and its revised policy was published in 2006. At present there are 203 community radio stations in India. In India the first community radio station was established in Anna University in Chennai of Andhra Pradesh that began on the 1^st of February, 2004. At present there are around 24 states that have community radio systems and the government of India has fixed a target to establish around 4000 community radio stations in the country and this is very holistic approach for the development of the all communities in a inclusive manner. He mentioned that any reputed institution like educational institutes, Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras which is regarded as a very vibrant organization and has lots of ongoing activities like the farming community under the government of India or NGO’s involved in development work can apply community radio station.

A brief highlight of the community radio in other South Asia are-

• In Bhutan Sherubtse College has a campus radio which is plays a significant role in the development of the country.
• In Sri Lanka, Mahaweli Community Radio(MCR) is the first South Asian Country to start community broadcasting in 1981.
• In Maldives there is policy going on regarding the community radio type of broadcationg.
• In Bangladesh community radio stations are NGO operated and these community radio can publish news also.
• Regarding Bangladesh, they adopted the community radio policy in 2008 and there are about 14 operational community radio stations and another 18 have been newly licensed. They run the community radio for about 12 hrs daily and cover 13 districts and 67 sub-divisions where 1000 community radio broadcasters are associated
• In Afghanistan the first private radio station was started in the year 2003 and more than 85 percent of population is covered by these radio stations.
• In Pakistan there is no community radio but there is policy for the development of community radio stations.
• In Nepal, there are around 253 community radio stations but they do not have any policy regarding community radio.

Community Radio in Assam: In Assam there are around three community radio stations namely Radio Luit, Jnan Taranga and Brahmaputra Community Radio Station. The former two are owned by Gauhati University and K K Handique State Open University respectively and the last one is owned by an NGO located in Diburgarh. Jnan Taranga was the first community radio in entire north east started in 2009.

Dr Dutta at the end summarized and defined community radio in his own language as, “Community radio is primarily a low powered FM broadcasting service owned, controlled, managed and run by a particular community with a non-profit motive for providing and sharing information ,education, entertainment which may initiate digital divide, address identity crisis, remove socio-economic hindrance, promote local culture and resolve local issues resulting in the overall development of a community.”  He opined that social sustainability is more important than financial sustainability in order to have very sustainable community radio station .

Report prepared by Hemchandra Saikia on the second session, October 26, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by DEpartment of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Communication is a Pscho-chemical process

Professor KV Nagaraj, renowned media educator of India while delivering a lecture to the participants of the UNICEF supported Refresher Course at Gauhati University starting from 23 October to 12^th November termed communication as a Psycho-chemical process. He said that to have effective communication for development there must be use of very effective use of words which are easily understandable by all those involved in the entire communication process.

 He also emphasized the role of quality education to make communication, development oriented in real sense. He said that technology should not just be used to operate and used for a easier lifestyle rather e using technology as tool of effective communication for development is extremely essential. Professor Nagaraj advocated that in order to have a sustainable development communication scenario,  our social fabric must be changed in right direction with right value.

He also mentioned that development communication has a vested interest and where there is development there will also be corruption. But development should not be at the cost of people’s culture, environment, their agro-ecological situation, flora and fauna etc. Development communication should be holistic and sustainable which will ultimately lead to gross national peace to a large extent.

Report prepared by Hemchandra Saikia on the first session, October 26, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by DEpartment of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Media for development: Journalism of social responsibility

Prashanta Jyoti Baruah, Executive Editor, The Assam Tribune, delivered a lecture on ‘Media for Development’ for the participants of the Refresher Course, here in UGC-Human Resource Development Centre on Oct. 24^th, 2017. He said that development projects should not be at the cost of people’s lives, culture, property and security. Development Journalism demands responsible journalism. Media has responsibility towards the society. In this context, Baruah asserted that how the Assam Tribune has played great role in the development of Assam, since it was founded in 1939 in Dibrugarh.

“Development Journalism is significant in Assam”, PJ Baruah said and discussed on how under Ahom rule of Burma, Assam suffered atrocities and underdevelopment. “British colonialism expanded to Assam in 1926 and since then,it invested about 200 million rupees on tea gardens. Development of tea gardens and oil refinery changed the face of economy in Assam”, Baruah mentioned.

However, Baruah also pointed that Development Journalism began in India very late. Colonial rule did not encourage industries in India. Since development news was absent during colonial time, political news dominated India. Only after independence, development news started and newspapers covered developmental stories of five years plans. The planning commission then brought out Yojana.

Baruah, expressed that due to fear of China, Indian government refrained from investing in North East, but now, Indian government has taken a strong step to fight with China and invest in the development of North East. The face of Assam is changing. For instance, he said, due to investment, Naga insurgencies are being resolved and Naga people are realizing that problems should be resolved, without which, developmental process cannot progress. Without development, peace and security cannot be realized.

PJ Baruah explained hard and soft news and emphasized how hard news is reported immediately. The style of inverted pyramid is used for writing hard news. Summary lead is mostly used for writing hard news. Inverted pyramid style helps edit the story as per page setting. Soft news, he explained, is an analytical story. Background of the event is important in soft story writing. The style of inverted pyramid is not followed in soft story writing. He stressed how both types of story writings are used in Development Journalism. Development reporting is significant because it helps in making policy and implements it. He suggested how participants could write their subjects with developmental content for the publications in newspapers. Due to constrain of space, newspapers cannot give space for an article of more than 1100 words.

Report prepared by Dr. Nicholas Lakra on the second session, October 24, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by DEpartment of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

Western origin of Development Communication to develop in cultural roots

“The concept of development journalism has western origin.  It emphasizes on acquisition of wealth but other countries in the globe emphasize on socio-cultural values. We need to implement the western concept of development in our socio-cultural context. Taking western precept as it is will not bring changes here”, Prof. KV Nagaraj said while lecturing on Development Communication during the first session of the second day of Refreshers Course held in UGC- Human Resources Development Centre, Gauhati University. The Refresher Course on Development Communication was inaugurated here on October 23. Prof. Nagaraj explained at length about the historical development of the concept of development Communication and he said that it has different nomenclatures: community journalism, peace journalism, inclusive journalism.

Prof. Nagaraj said that development journalism should be contextualized in the changing world of 21 century. It should bring about change in the mindset of people for social change. It should emphasize on education for personality development. In India, he said, priority is given to literacy and not to education. In this context, he referred Daniel Lerner according to whom education aims at changing personality for better. Mentioning UNESCO report, he said that India lacks quality education. India has about 700 universities but they have not made great contribution in the world.

For the effective communication of developmental message, there should be credibility of source. Today people are suspicious about the message. People suffer from overload of information of same thing. Today people want government to do everything but at the same time they suspect government. This suspicious attitude of people on government has colonial root. People suspect on Government developmental message because of corrupt system. Prof. Nagaraj further explained that why there is resistance to accept message that are meant for social change. However, concept of development is a complex, and it often remainmere academic. Developmental journalism is not only about development but also about the absent of development.

As Prof. Nagaraj highlighted, Development Journalism is not happening in India because of obsession with politics and colonial past. Only 2 per cent of English speaking elite population control the policy making and decide for the rest of 98 per cent of Non-English speaking populace who do not participate in the decision making which impacts the development in India. Narrating the historical background, Prof. Nagaraj also said that till 19^th century, Europe was not developed. Europe has become rich today by exploiting Asian countries. India became poor because of colonial exploitation. western exploitation and dominance continues by manufacturing and misrepresentation of news and information.  Therefore, we should not see development through the prism of western concept.  In Indian context, mass media, through Development Communication, is to bring about changes in the minds of people, aspiring for better and valuing the cultural roots of India.

Report prepared by Dr. Nicholas Lakra on the first session, October 24, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by DEpartment of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam 

What we need is people centric media for Development : Prof. Nagaraj

Refresher Course on C4D: Session-I : 23 October, 2017
Professor K.V Nagaraj in his first session discussed at length about the concept of development in the present context.  He stated that though development as a concept is as ancient as human civilization , yet men over the years have made the development process continuous and constant. Having its roots in ‘Demography’ , popularly known as population studies, one cannot ignore the social, political and cultural dimensions of development . A Tunisian demographer and thinker, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) has been credited for having described development as part of economic endeavours the views of which according to Professor Nagaraj was later propagated by renowned economists like Adam Smith and Ricardo.  Most of the experts in the respective field talk about holistic and sustainable development instead of just concentrating on the economic aspects of it. Professor Nagaraj said that the process of development has not taken place on an equal footing the world over. In fact, he said that is a certain wave of development leading to a positive change may be good for a country like the US but may not be feasible for a developing country like India. The media often paints a rosy picture of the West in terms of its economic might, but the hard reality cannot be easily fathomed by the common masses. This brings to light the biggest ‘paradox of development’. Professor Nagaraj specifically cited the example of the People’s Republic of China wherein he said that the Chinese have acquired a penchant for imitating the goals and ideals of the industrialized nations even though a major portion of the inhabitants live in squalid conditions. Coming back to the issue of media acting as the fourth estate of democracy, he said that very often media does not focus on the important stories but rather on those stories which are most likely to grab eyeballs of the readers/viewers leading to a better TRP.  

Everett Roger’s concept of Diffusion of Innovation occupies an important place in the realm of development. Professor Nagaraj rightly pointed out the fact that innovative practices can go a long way in strengthening the economy of a country. He even said that there is also a certain degree of ambiguity involved as far as social change (which is increasingly being replaced nowadays by the word social inclusion or exclusion) is concerned. This is because, changes in the society can take place only if the people are willing to embrace the notion of development whilst keeping the indigenous resources intact. Nonetheless development too comes with its own fair share of anti-social elements, the biggest amongst them being corruption which is deeply ingrained in the society. Professor Nagaraj said that corruption is rampant even in the most industrialized nations of the world which in  the long run causes more harm than good.

Refresher Course on C4D: Session- II: 23 October, 2017

In continuation with the first session, Professor Nagaraj specifically highlighted some of the important definitions of development such as the one given by the father of Economics, Adam Smith when he says , ‘Development is the ability to mix with others without being ashamed to appear in public’ (Human Development Report, 1990). In this context Professor Nagaraj mentioned some of the key choices like political freedom, guaranteed human rights and self-respect to name a few that contributes towards human development. Another important point that he touched upon was the concept of ‘distributive justice’ and its relation with development which refers to that society in which incidental inequalities in outcome do not arise.

The Human Development Index as cited by UNDP focuses on education, health and employment as the three core areas of development. Professor Nagaraj said that along with the three facets of development as provided by UNDP , social movements too fall under the purview of development. As against this, the tiny Himalayan region of Bhutan has even developed the Gross National Happiness Index in which they have equated development with happiness. Professor Nagaraj mentioned the fact that for the purpose of development discourses, the world has been divided into first world (western democratic and industrialized nations), second world led by the erstwhile Soviet Union and the third world comprising the developing nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Accordingly societies have also been divided as industrialized north and agricultural south. As far as the dimensions of modernization is concerned, Professor Nagaraj said that the parameters are basically economic in nature such as the consumption power of various resources like power, food and paper besides education, health, employment and per capita income.

Replying to a question on the concept of modernity that is prominent among the Mizo people, Professor Nagaraj said that though a certain section of the population adapted to the westernized way of living, yet they have remained loyal to their roots. Lastly, he said that media can act as the complementary and supplementary support to the developmental agencies. This is because media alone cannot bring about a change and development in the society. Rather it can enhance the development process by portraying the society in a positive light.

Third Session : Ice-breaking

Time : 3.15 pm – 4.45 pm

The participants were given a tour of the Mass Communication department of Gauhati University where they interacted with the students of the first semester programme. This exercise was meant to instill a feeling of bonhomie cutting across all barriers.

Report prepared by Dr. Trisha D Baruah

Inaugural session of Refresher Course on Communication for Development

The inaugural session of the Refresher Course on ‘Communication for Development’ was held in the conference hall of the UGC-Human Resource Development Centre, Gauhati University in the august presence of the Director of UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University Professor Jogen Chandra Kalita, invited guest speaker for the occasion, Professor K.V. Nagaraj, Professor Emeritus, Department of Mass Communication, Mizoram Univesity, Registrar of Gauhati University, Dr. S.K Nath , programme co-ordinator and Head of the Department of Communication and Journalism, Gauhati University , Dr. Ankuran Dutta,  Deputy Director of UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University, Dr. Shyamanta Chakraborty, and 26 participants (academicians) selected from different parts of the country. The programme was inaugurated with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the dignitaries present on the occasion. Professor Kalita spoke at length about the importance of holding such a Refresher Programme which is one of a kind for the benefit of the teachers. He paid glowing tributes to Dr. Ankuran Dutta for providing the necessary financial assistance which has been channeled through UNICEF, Assam. He further said that  the Human Development Resource Centre of Gauhati University have always sought to bring out the best from the participants (research scholars and academicians) by engaging the best minds from the industry. In this context, he stated that Gauhati University has even signed Memorandum of Understanding with a number of top class reputed educational institutions from UK and Japan for the purpose of  engaging in research related activities thereby cementing its place as one of premier universities in the global arena.

Professor K.V. Nagaraj, Professor Emeritus, Department of Mass Communication, Mizoram University spoke about how development can be initiated with the help of communication. He also said that development is the process of economic and social transformation that is based on complex cultural and environmental factors and their interaction.

The Registrar of the University, Dr. S.K Nath spoke about the how the UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University has always attached importance in quality by organizing such need based courses which would go a long way in bringing about holistic development in the society. While eulogizing the effort of Dr. Ankuran Dutta for mooting the idea for holding such a refresher course with support from UNICEF, Assam, he said that in the coming weeks the participants would benefit from several brainstorming sessions .

The co-ordinator of the Refresher Course and the Head of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Gauhati University, Dr. Ankuran Dutta said that Gauhati University have always strove for excellence in every field of life and education is not an exception to this. This fact can well be documented by way of holding important academic discourses, international seminars/conventions, workshops etc. which Dr. Dutta has said led to an exchange of ideas and opinions among the University fraternity. He also thanked the authorities of UGC-HRDC for giving the necessary platform to enable the participants of the ongoing Refresher Course to engage in debate and discussion on the line of ‘Communication for Development’. While briefly elaborating the schedule of the said Course, Dr. Dutta also highlighted the fact the Department of Communication and Journalism, Gauhati University, being the oldest media department in the North-East, have been commemorating ‘50 years of Media and Communication Education in India’s North East’ by organizing a series of programmes like workshops, seminars, invited talks and an International Conference which is scheduled to be held in the later part of November, 2017.

Deputy Director of UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University, Dr. Shyamanta Chakraborty emphasized on the need to maintain discipline and punctuality while at the same time one must keep oneself updated on the developmental issues taking place in different parts of the world. He also added that coming from different educational backgrounds, each of the participants can contribute towards reaching a common consensus on different academic issues.