Dangs raises an antenna

Aaykar, launched in November last year, caters exclusively to Dangs, aired in the local Dangi dialect which is a mix of Gujarati and Marathi. The 30-minute programme is run and managed entirely by local youths, who gather information and script their own episodes. The programme has been launched with the support of Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), an NGO running paralegal centres in the tribal areas of Gujarat. CSJ provides the technical support while Dristi Media and Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, which has been running a community radio in Kutch for the past seven years, provided training to the reporters and staff.

By all measures, the training seems to have paid off. One of the three segments of the half-hour programme is called “Dharai Gyas” which means to expose. Six reporters, who work for the radio, use the Right to Information Act (RTI) for updates on the implementation of various government schemes and then interview the government officials and beneficiaries concerned.

In the first week of December, for instance, reporters sought information on the fee charged for obtaining land certificates (locally called 7/12 certificate) from the talati (panchayat secretary). They found several cases where talatis had charged villagers excessive fees. “Under RTI, we had asked how much fee is charged for 7/12 certificate and birth and death registration certificate. We were told that the 7/12 certificate cost Rs 5 while birth and death registration is done free of cost,” said Jaganbhai, one of the reporters. “Then we interviewed a number of people in Pimpari village who were charged upto Rs 100 by the talati.”

“This is how we exposed several talatis,” says an upbeat Gopalbhai, also a reporter. “This way, we have been able to expose irregularities in fair price shops, rural employment guarantee schemes, in the forest department and panchayats,” his team members join in, breaking off from preparing the next episode.

“This segment is central to the entire programme because it is a very effective medium. People here don’t read papers or watch television. There is no local paper in the entire district,” says Laxman Bagul, a local journalist in Ahwa, Dangs.

The programme is not all about investigation though. The second segment of the programme takes up success stories in the district. “We pick up one person who has achieved something or has done something successfully and has a story to tell. We talk about his struggle and his achievement. It is meant to inspire the people of our district,” says Aaykar reporter Sunitaben Bagul.

The third segment is all entertainment, largely dealing with tribal art and music. This part, say the reporters, is very popular with the women because language is not a barrier.

Says Nupur of CSJ: “We spend very little and yet effectively raise awareness while the government’s information department spends lakhs of rupees every year but hardly reaches where it should.”