Rural Research Project

Neelbad, Bhopal, MP
This report contains a detailed report on Neelbad, a village to the West of Bhopal, MP. Ethnographic Observation was conducted and along with this a Communication Needs Assessment has been done and a Communication Strategy advised. Panna Ratra (200792B) & Siddharth Jain (2007110B) 11/23/2008

ETHNOGRAHPY

For our Rural Research Project we headed towards Madhya Pradesh. Approximately twenty kilometers from Bhopal is a small village by the name of Neelbad. Some details of the rural area we targeted are shown in the table below. Parameter Closest Towns Details

1. Bhopal (18km) 2. Sehore (33km) Area 280 Hectare or 692 Acres Population 1392 (2001 Census). Present Figure: 2800 Number of Women 610 (2001 Census). Present Figure: 1300 Number of Men 718 (2001 Census). Present Figure: 1500 Literate Population 450 (2001 Census). Present Figure: 800 Illiterate Population 900 (2001 Census). Present Figure: 2000 Main Caste Meena (Maran) Caste NGOs Currently Working in the Ruchi Mahila Mandal. Village This is based out of Rajnandan village in Chattisgarh. It works on women and child development. Some of its various tasks are: 1. Runs a school that teaches stitching to young women so that they can make a living out of it. 2. Women awareness program. 3. It works against social injustice. 4. Child education. 5. Employment to youth.

Source: Sarpanch Office, Neelbad

To add to our knowledge of the ethnography of the village, we conducted interviews with the Sarpanch, two teachers from the village and six common men. The data collected from these interviews is indicated below.

Land and Soil

The land of this region is very productive. About 70% of the land is owned by the farmers and the rest is owned by the government. Out of the total land area only 65% is arable. Black soil is most commonly found. About 60% of the soil in this region is black soil. Red and Brown soil are also found in some areas.

Number of households
Neelbad has close to 950 households.

Transportation facilities
There is no train connection to Neelbad. If one is to reach by train, then the nearest stations are Bhopal or Sehore. There is connectivity by bus. The frequency is not good. Villagers complain that the bus makes only two trips from Neelbad to the closest two towns. They feel the number of trips in one day should be increased to four. They also complain about the fare. They feel it is too much considering the distance covered.

Crops
Wheat, Chana and Soybean are the major crops grown in this area.

Occupation of the people

Majority of the people are farmers. Other occupations include: Laborers Furniture Repair Electricians Hotels Tea Stalls Grocery Shops

Fertilizer Shops Dairy Kirana Shops Hardware Photo Studio

Agriculture and other basic facilities

Healthcare: The nearest healthcare center is three kilometers away in Ratibad. Its government owned. Animal Husbandry Center: NONE School: A government high school is present in Neelbad. Post Office & PCO: The closest post office is in a place called Surajnagar which is three kilometers away. About four privately owned PCOs are available in Neelbad. Bank: One branch of State Bank of India is available in Neelbad. Other than that no other bank has a branch here. Power Supply: 90% of the households have power supply. In a day power-cuts occur for about five hours. Irrigation Facilities Wells and Tube wells are used for water supply. Apart from this there are two damns located nearby that help in irrigation. These are a) Bhadbhada Damn and b) Kerwa Damn.

To better understand methods of agriculture, we interviewed two educated young people. First of these young men, Sudansingh Kushwaha, mentioned that he believes in the latest technology when it comes to farming. He says that it doesnt matter what the crop is; the methods used should be the latest. Although the cost would be high but the returns will be in equal proportion. He believes in high quality products as they give high returns and also help build goodwill with his customers. Mr. Kushwaha has training in Horticulture from Pune and currently cultivates various types of crops in his greenhouse using a system called Climate Control System. Mr. Vijay Jajoria, a post-graduate, had built a small greenhouse in the past in which he cultivated Capsicum. On the huge success of this, he built himself a bigger greenhouse in which he cultivated crops using drip irrigation. This helped in reducing water wastage. He is currently working on a project on the farming of watermelons. From this we see that young educated farmers are shifting from old traditional techniques of farming to new modern methods which help in greater returns.

Castes & Religion

Major religion is Hindu. There are only about 14 to 15 Muslim households. There are exactly three Christian households and no Sikhs reside in Neelbad. Castes, in order of their population (most to least), are: Meena (Maran) Harijans Vishwakarmi Brahmins

Other observations: Harijans are the Dominant caste. The Meena caste people are rich and are also in important government posts. All castes consume similar kind of food. The food preferred here is oily and chatpata. 6

All men dress in either dhoti-kurta or pajama-kurta and the women dress in sari or salwar-kameez. The Sarpanch office and others stressed on the unity of the village. They said that all castes live in harmony and the level of unity is very high among the inhabitants of Neelbad.

To better understand the situation of Caste in the village, we interviewed two important members of the society. Shri Gajraj Singh of the Meena Caste says that about ten to fifteen years back there were inequalities on the basis of caste. For example, the Harijan caste was avoided at all levels. People avoided eating with them, talking to them, etc. But present situation has improved. People now mix well among castes. They sit and talk among themselves in market areas, chaupal etc. In addition to this he goes on to say that although things have improved, people still avoid going to the houses of Harijans. But if there is a problem that concerns all, people get together and stand united. Mr. Mastaan Singh Maran echoed the views of Shri Gajraj Singh.

Miscellaneous Observations:
The most important family in the village is the family of Mr. Suraj Singh Maran. He is a member of the Backward Class Commission and he is also a State Minister. Weddings are extravagant. In earlier times, weddings would be very small subtle events but now people are more extroverted when it comes to wedding celebrations Inhabitants of Neelbad do not discriminate between girl child and boy child. They accept whatever they get as Gods gift.

Media Consumption: Television:

TV is the main media used in this village. People prefer TV to other sources of media such Radio and Newspaper. About 800 out of 950 households have a television. In this the number of black and white TV sets is more. There are about 500 BW TV sets and 300 color TV sets. Most of the color TV sets are in the houses of the people of the Maran Caste. In the house the TV set is placed in the room that the entrance of the house opens to. About 30 households have more than one TV set. Some of the most popular channels are: 7

Channel Star Plus Colors NDTV Imagine Zee Cinema Sahara One AAJ TAK RAJ BHAKTI

Popular Programs K Serials and Prithviraj Chauhan Balika Vadhu and Shri Krishna Ramayan Films Solah Shringar, Mata ki Chowki and Ghar ek Sapna News Religious Programs

In all the above mentioned channels, Star Plus and NDTV Imagine are the most popular among the people of Neelbad. The males of the village watch TV in the night from 8pm to 11pm. They prefer watching Ramayan and Shri Krishna the most. NDTV Imagine is the preferred channel. The females of the village watch TV throughout the day. They prefer the K serials and other new programs such as Balika Vadhu. They also prefer religious programs on channels like RAJ BHAKTI. Children do not show interest in TV viewing. The few that did show interest said that they like Prithviraj Chauhan.

Radio:
Presently only about twenty households have radio sets. People of Neelbad are not habituated to listening to the radio. After the advent of the television, radios have almost disappeared. It is not even played in common places such as tea stalls.

Newspaper:
About 350 households receive newspapers. Dainik Bhaskar and Raj Express are the two prominent newspapers. Papers are delivered between 8am and 9am by hawkers of the Suruchi Newspaper Agency. The first ones to read the newspapers in the house are the youth between 25 and 35 years of age. Females do not read the newspapers so much. If there is some major news only then do women of the age of 25 years and above read the newspapers. Younger 8

women between 17 and 24 years of age prefer reading the Sunday Special only. This is so because that supplement contains Bollywood News. The neighbors never ask for the newspaper. Therefore, newspaper is not shared.

Mobile Phones:
Due to its close proximity with big towns like Bhopal, Neelbad has good connectivity of the mobile phone networks. Almost 90% of the population has a mobile phone. Most people prefer the brand Nokia in mobile phones. There is a lot of importance placed on the mobile phone. People with lower incomes also own a mobile phone, for example a tea stall owner. The Sarpanch, Smt. Lilabai says that a mobile phone is very useful and the people of Neelbad realize that.

Brand Consumption
We visited a Kirana Store. Here we saw that items were clearly displayed. In some of the most commonly eaten products, Parle-G and Haldiram were the most popular brands. A local brand called Ganesh Namkeen was also preferred by the local crowd.

COMMUNICATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT & EDUCATION

After talking to a few people in the village, we concluded that Women Empowerment and Education are the two major problems plaguing the society in 10

Neelbad. Hence, we have tried to understand more about these problems from the people there. Let us deal with these two issues one at a time.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
All women of this village live in the parda system. Their daily routine consists of working in the fields or working in the house. Due to this routine they are left with little time to pursue their hobbies or other career options. Old traditions prevent the overall development of married women. Despite this, the government is trying to improve things. The SGSY (the swarnjayanti grameen self-employment yojna) and some self-help groups have helped some women towards self development. Subsidies provided by the government also help. The Ruchi Mahila Mandal is also working towards improving things. In fact, their zeal for improvement is such that their aim is to make about 50% women in Neelbad interdependent in the next five years.

EDUCATION:
As compared to most villages, Neelbad has seen a big change in the education scenario. This is because the attitude of the farmers here is: So what if we didnt have the good fortune of receiving an education. Our children should not suffer. They should get education. Therefore, there is a race of sorts among the people of this village to get their children in the best possible school/college. Another reason for the change that one has seen in the education scenario is that big towns like Sehore and Bhopal are located nearby and they have good schools and colleges. Some of these schools are a) Delhi Public School, b) Sharda Vihar and c) Kopal High School. The good colleges around Neelbad are a) Radharaman College of Technology, b) R D Memorial Ayurvedic, c) Swami Vivekananda and d) IES College. The farmers and other people are encouraged to send their children to school because of all these fine institutions are present in such distances. One government school is also located nearby. The government did a lot of work towards improvement of education in this area. Propagating the benefits of a good education through various mediums, the government has been able to improve things a bit. Female and Adult Education is a bit of a problem area. Not everyone is ready to send their girl child to school. This is either due to financial restraints or old traditions and beliefs. Various programs are underway to improve this situation. Adults are illiterate. About 90% of them are not educated. Still they do not feel the need for education. The attitude is that, education is needed to make a better living and we anyway make a living out of farming. The right attitude needs to be instilled. Therefore, we see that there is a need for girl child and adult education and also women empowerment. About half the women in this village are in dire need of 11

communication that will educate them better of ways to improve their lives. The people are not very enthusiastic about bringing about a change. Hence there is a need to change attitudes.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

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Putting the Pieces Together: The Process

Translating the process of organization of women empowerment and education camp into a series of actions, the following model would emerge, which can thus be taken as a formwork to ensure smooth functioning and flow of information to enhance positive results.

Inform the Sarpanch

Get government permissions

Get support from the village volunteers Call for Public Meetings Ensure communication to masses Make arrangement for Rep Visits Ensure logistics and organization detail, ensure attendance during camp and maintain record

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How to organize a Camp? An illustration The following illustration describes a generic series of step and key responsibility areas of some major functionaries involved in development processes.

An organization wishing to arrange a women empowerment camp

Call the required authorities

Informs the concerned villages secretary

Get village volunteers

Arrange for communication material, venue and inform the villagers about details.

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Alternative Strategies:
If done properly, a camp is a good and efficient way of communication. But our village has shown a strong preference of TV as a medium. Therefore, we can also look at communicating our message through TV programs. A local channel will air our program. A small series will be shot in association with an NGO. This will show the ways and needs of women empowerment and education. It will be shot in the local language so that people can understand. It will be along the lines of the Polio Shot advertisements that featured Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. Inclusion of celebrities can be debated according to the budget available.

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