In Orissa, FM Radio changes life of tribals in Maoist-hit pocket

Basanti Kirsani, a 14-year-old girl hailing from Pondi village under Lankaput village in Odisha’s Koraput district, is quite happy now. She has resumed her studies in Class 7 after dropping out of school nearly a couple years ago.

All thanks to a radio programme that changed Basanti’s mind and inspired her to resume her studies.

“Like a few other girls of my village, I dropped out of school because of my parents’ inability to afford my studies and instead helped my parents in different works to support the family income. However, a radio programme on Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya aired by Dhimsa FM Radio Station, Koraput, changed my mind. I decided to restart my life by educating myself. I returned to school this year,” says Basanti. “Dhimsa FM,” adds Basanti, “explained in its programme how girls can avail free education and shape their lives themselves.”

36-year-old Tonko Chendia’s life also changed for the better when he listened to a programme on Mo Kudia Yojana, a housing scheme for poor people, on Dhimsa FM. He applied for the benefit and got a house.

“Now I’m living in a concrete house which is quite safe in comparison to our thatched house. We no longer feel threatened by wild animals or natural calamities like storm and flash floods which are regular phenomenon in these areas,” says Tonko, a resident of Machhara village under Umuri gram panchayat.

Basanti and Tonko are among those hundreds of people — most of them tribals — who have immensely benefitted from various socio-economic awareness programmes aired by Dhimsa FM, a unique community radio station located at Chhapar village under Umri gram panchayat in the Maoist-hit Koraput district.

Established in 2008 by South Orissa Voluntary Action (SOVA) in association with Unicef, the FM radio station has been serving as a tool of social change for villagers as well as a platform to air their concerns and get them redressed by appropriate authorities.

Aired at 90.4 MHz frequency, the community raid boasts of reaching 62 villages on air covering a population of 1.16 lakh in Umuri, Lankaput, Deoghati, Kerenga, Kumargandhana and Manbar gram panchayats and Koraput town in a radius of 15 km.

The studio is also being used as production unit for developing jingles, announcements and awareness programme on request by concerned government line departments. According to Sanjit Patnaik, the secretary of SOVA, Dhimsa FM covers a wide range of issues relating to health and hygiene, education, forest rights and livelihoods. The health programmes focus on usefulness of breast feeding, promotion of individual household toilets and sanitation, removal of malnutrition, proper implementation of Janani Surakshya Yojana programme, institutional delivery benefits, combating diarrhoea and eradication of malaria.

The educational programmes, among others, include classes on English language, Mathematics and Science for cut-off village schools, classes for slow learners and classes on right to education and children’s entitlement.

The livelihood programmes include interviews of experts on different vegetable cultivation and grafting, mushroom cultivation and sharing of tips on standard self-help groups.

Specialised programmes are also aired on job entitlement and other rights of the local people under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act, wage payment.

“Prior to the inauguration of the station, over 700 programmes on various subjects were prepared,” says Sachida Mohanty, a radio station programmer who works full-time for Dhimsa Radio. “The programmes are prepared by the community reporters in local dialects. The local artistes find the radio a good platform to showcase their talents,” he adds.

At least 12 reporters have been appointed by the station. These reporters travel extensively in rural areas, conduct interviews and present the problems of villagers. Also, listener clubs have been formed in 62 villages. All the listener clubs have been supplied with radio sets.

“Dhimsa Radio provides community members a medium to share their views, raise their voices as well as present performances in the form of dramas, songs and interviews. For the first time, the local tribal community is having a great experience in taking the flavor of FM band radio programs in their local dialects, especially in the voices of their known community members,” says Mr Patnaik.