BHUBANESWAR: In it’s fight against coronavirus outbreak, rural Odisha is waking up to ‘narrowcasting’ by community radios which are playing a crucial role in advocating social distancing, hygiene protocol as well as lockdown. Be it by roping in traditional Pala singers or ‘narrowing’ the process of ‘casting’ information to a particular group like farmers’ clubs, the community RJs are spreading the word. Finance and other resource challenges have not deterred them from connecting with the rural populace. Significantly, the migrant labourers form a sizeable chunk of their audience.
All the six volunteers of community radio, Swayamshakti, are disseminating information in four blocks of Nuapada, two in Balangir and another in Kalahandi. Led by Biswajit Padhi, this radio operates from Khariar town in Nuapada district. “We educate villagers about the Government schemes, rules and regulations which are effective now. Gathering information from the district administration, we ‘narrowcast’ several programmes in local languages to reach farmers, migrant labourers and nomads in villages,” claimed Biswajit. In the next few days, Biswajit and his team’s focus will shift to encouraging people not to crowd the customer service points for availing direct cash benefits from April 2.
Apparently, the community radio had been instrumental in obtaining permission from the district administration to open an agricultural shop in Nuapada that caters to the farming needs of hundreds. Radio Smile - catering to more than a lakh listeners in parts of Bhadrak, Balasore (up to Soro) and Jajpur districts (up to Panikoili) - is spreading awareness with the help of Pala singers and Odia nataka. “Besides radio, we are using social media and YouTube to keep villagers informed about all Government updates.
We are circulating videos of the jingles sung by six Pala singers and Odia nataka among our listeners,” said Sagar Pattanayak, the founder. Similarly, Radio Bulbul of Bhadrak is taking out bulletins and a special programme of five minutes, dedicated to corona-related awareness, with the help of two of its volunteers - Niyaz (director of Radio Bulbul) and community reporter Riyaz. Apparently, it’s the only community radio of Odisha that’s available on Google Play Store.
To prevent widespread transmission of the virus, community radio could be utilised as an effective tool of communication, claimed N A Shah Ansari of Radio Namaskar. “We don’t receive any financial assistance from the Government. Neither, do we get the Government advertisements. In this hour of crisis, we are struggling to continue our services,” he claimed. On March 26, the Community Radio Association wrote to Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javedekar urging aid for 276 community radio stations across the country which cater to a population of 90 million.