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.

The Erstwhile Goalpara District and Journalism

Poulami Kundu

The erstwhile Goalpara district comprised the present districts of Goalpara, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Chirang. The headquarters of the undivided Goalpara district was in Dhubri town. Situated in the west of Assam on the bank of the mighty Brahmaputra, this district possessed a unique character of ‘unity amongst the diversity’. People from different religions, cultures and ethnicities lived together in peace and harmony. The history of journalism in this district traces back to the time of the Second World War.

In the year 1941 a Bengali weekly magazine ‘Gana Sevak’ was published by Late Shivendra Narayan Mondal, who was then serving as a circle officer and inspector under the Gauripur Raj Estate. But the circulation of this magazine did not continue for long. However the era of bold, independent and unbiased journalism in the undivided Goalpara district started off with a Bengali weekly newspaper called ‘Chabuk’. The weekly was being circulated from Dhubri, under the editorship of Late Bipin Chakraborty who was not only an eminent Journalist, but also a freedom fighter and a trade union leader. In spite of immense financial hardships and pressure from the ruling political parties, he would never compromise the reports. In the year 1966 the then Additional Magistrate directed the police force to fire at a peaceful gathering for no reason. In this incident a Congress leader, Jagadananda Chakraborty lost his life. After the incident, the editor of Chabuk sternly condemned the decision of the judge which created a huge uprising. On this, the district administration directed to stop the circulation of Chabuk.

In 1968 Bipin Chakraborty started publishing a bilingual weekly newspaper ‘Gana Chabuk’ from Dhubri. From 1984, he also published an English weekly, ‘Northeast Echo’. Owing to old age ailments, he had to hand over the editorship of both the newspapers to his journalist son, Dilip Kumar Chakraborty, who was publishing the newspapers till April 2017, after which he breathed his last.

 In the 1960s several other small newspapers like ‘Goalpara Batori’ in Assamese, ‘Dimasa’ in Bodo, ‘Majdur’ in Bengali, ‘Janamat Batayan’, etc were published from the various places of the erstwhile Goalpara district. But due to heterogeneous hardships these newspapers had to face premature deaths. In the year 1980, Late Nirmal Kumar Bandopadhyay published ‘Shaptabarta’, a bilingual newspaper from Shapatgram which comparatively lasted for a long time. In the 1980s different newspapers like Abhimat, Simanta Barta, Nabadiganta, Ganadut, Dhubri Samachar, Pohor, Kamota Rani, etc were published but they were very short lived. Apart from these newspapers many little magazines were also published from Dhubri, Gauripur, Shapatgram, etc to uphold the cultural heritage of the district. Among which a distinguished magazine ‘Samakal’, was published by a group of youngsters like Ashutosh Kundu, Tapas Saha and others from Dhubri.  Due to poor communication and lack of financial assistance the little magazines were not published for long.

During this evolutionary period of journalism in Assam, different eminent personalities from the erstwhile Goalpara district decided to work as correspondents in various national and regional dailies to ensure proper reporting from this area. Some of them were Jayanta Chakraborty (Ananda Bazar Patrika), Bhuwan Saikia (The Assam Tribune), Uddhav Chandra Kalita (The Assam Tribune) Girindra Nath Goswami (The Sentinel), Amarendra Nath Roy (Uttar Banga Sangbad), and Om Prakash Tody (Purbanchal Prahari). In this context, it would be unjust if the name of the eminent photojournalist, Tapan Kumar Roy is not mentioned. His contribution towards photojournalism can never be disregarded.

Journalists from the undivided Goalpara district have been struggling to uphold the right to express, the fundamental right guaranteed under in the article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution through various forms of media. Though late, but recently on the national press day (16^th November, 2016), the Government of Assam recognised and felicitated Sri Dilip Kumar Chakraborty, a senior journalist from Dhubri town (earlier a part of Goalpara district) for his lifelong contribution in the field journalism.

Sources:

1. Souvenir of Dhubri district Journalist Association in its first Annual conference on 23^rd and 24^th March 1991.

2. Souvenir of Dhubri district Journalist Association in its 4^th session 2005.