Radio Supporting Poor Indian Rural Women

(This entry was originally uploaded on May 2009.)

Supriya Menon has written an interesting report in BBC: Radio boost for marginalised women. Many people in South Asia think that media is mainly for urban educated people. Well, this is not a right concept. Media should be for everyone. In fact, poor and rural people can become more benefited from TV and radios. Illiterate people cannot read newspapers but they can surely watch and listen to television and radio programs. Supriya Menon has depicted how the lives of some rural women in Andhra Pradesh are getting benefited through a local community radio. I am quoting a small part from her report:

Its daily two-hour broadcasts are peppered with small titbits on farming, medicine, health and music.

“It’s a great way for us to document all the local knowledge that otherwise would have just remained within families,” she explains.

“Many people have benefited because of this and everyday I am learning something new as well.”

In fact the community radio concept has caught on so well that many women from the village have become regular contributors.

It is a good initiative from a local NGO. This initiative should be spread to other parts of India. Most people still live in rural areas in the country. Radio is available in most households.