Harvesting of vegetables at an organic farm at Prakkadavu in Ernakulam district.
There are now 48 organic cultivation groups at Prakkadavu
The people of Prakkadavu in Ernakulam have taken it upon themselves to create a culture of cultivating their own food, including rice, vegetables and fish as part of a major campaign to eat ‘poison-free’ food using the land available to them.
The agriculture and food production initiative has been taken under the aegis of the Prakkadavu Service Cooperative Bank. Because of the initiative, a land that had been lying fallow for about 25 years has now come under cultivation.
The bank’s major step was to help people produce their own food.
It included production of rice, vegetables, dairy items as well as poultry meat and eggs, said a press release from the Public Relations Department. Parakkadavu has been blessed with an abundant water resource as it lies close to the Chalakkudy river and people have used this resource fully to realise their dream of cultivating and producing their own food.
The initiative started about four years ago with the cultivation of vegetables in growbags.
It has now spread far and wide. With the cultivation of vegetables in growbags on terraces and small areas, the bank decided to form farmers’ groups to spread cultivation into wider areas gradually.
There are now a total of 48 organic cultivation groups comprising 800 homesteads. There are 10 to 15 members in each of the groups engaged in cultivation of various items. Diary and poultry activities too have been taken up along with vegetable and rice cultivation.
The Kurumassery Karukappadam, which had been lying idle for the past 25 years, has been brought under cultivation. A total of 12 acres was brought under vegetable cultivation.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – April 18th, 2018
Nostalgia. That sentimental longing for his homeland made Sijesh Poyil pack his bags and come back to Kannur. From Dubai. Five years ago. Nostalgia again played its part in turning him into a successful entrepreneur fortunate enough to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On April 11, Sijesh became an overnight hero as a tweet from the PMO named him and mentioned his achievement as an entrepreneur.
The PMO’s tweet said, “Mr P Sijesh from Kannur in Kerala is running a successful unit where herbal tooth powder is made. He presented his product to the Prime Minister during the interaction with various Mudra beneficiaries.”
An excited Sijesh said over phone from New Delhi: “I just cannot believe my luck. How can an ordinary man like me from a village in Kannur think about meeting the Prime Minister and spending around two-and-a-half hours with him?”
The meeting held at the PM’s residence was arranged to felicitate around 100 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana who have shown extraordinary commitment in scripting successful stories of entrepreneurship. Of the 110 people selected for the meeting, only four were from Kerala. The other three were Sreelal from Koyilandy, Vinod of Kozhikode and Venu of Wayanad. Sijesh had expanded his tooth powder after receiving a Mudra loan of Rs 8.5 lakh.
The financial situation at home having forced him to try his luck in Dubai, where he worked for three years as a security officer with Emirates Airlines, Sijesh flew back home in 2013.“The modern world and its added facilities have never been my priority in life,” said the 32-year-old.“My heart ached for the things I had left at home. The rain, rivers, temple festivals… I realised I’m not made for a life outside my place.”
Like every Gulf returnee, Sijesh too wanted to start a of his own. Though he had continued with his pharmacy job, which he had left before going to Dubai, he was looking for something new.
“I used to clean my teeth with rice husk ash (Umikkari). But what was available in the market was not up to standards. So I decided to make a product of my own. After researching on it for sometime, I developed it and distributed it among my family members and friends. As they all appreciated the quality of the product, I decided to move ahead,” he said.
As the stuff he made with husk ash, clove, pepper and salt received appreciation, he had decided to produce it on a large scale. At this stage, the Positive Commune Entrepreneurship Club (PC) — a WhatsApp group for young entrepreneurs — stepped in. The association with PC changed Sijesh’s fortunes, for the people at PC helped him redesign the brand logo.
Armed with the group’s valuable inputs and the experience received by participating in the ‘Vijayi Bhava’ training camp conducted by Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Sijesh was out to reap more from his . By that time, he had given a name to his product — Shanthiz husk ash — which he had earlier sold without a name in a plain bottle.“Shanthi is the name of my mother-in-law,” he chuckled.
With a designer look and a brand name, Shanthiz husk ash has become a much sought after product. From a nameless, label-less product, Shanthiz now sells around 5,000-6,000 bottles in Kannur district alone. The price per 25 gm bottle is Rs 30 and Sijesh is keen on expanding to other districts as well.
Along with his family members, especially brother Dhanesh, sister Dhanya and wife Sajina, there are five women helping Sijesh make Shanthiz. He has a three-year old son, Sreehari.
Two years after the first bottle was produced, Shanthiz has now reached the hands of the Prime Minister too. Because Sijesh presented 10 bottles of Shanthiz to him during the interaction.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by M.A. Rajeev Kumar / Express News Service / April 13th, 2018
The Thottara organic rice brand harvested from Thottara Puncha, a vast expanse of paddy field spread over Amballoor and Edakkattuvayal in Ernakulam district, will hit the market by the end of this month.
Come April 10, and the inauguration of this year’s harvest of paddy cultivated in nearly 550 acres will take place amid a gathering of hundreds of farmers, elected representatives, and officials.
“We plan to brand nearly 40 tonnes of organic rice as Thottara Rice and market it through the existing network of the Agriculture Department. In the next phase, larger quantities of the produce will be taken up for branding,” said Sujith Karun, Ernakulam district co-ordinator of the Haritha Keralam Mission. The organisers are hoping to harvest around 1,500 metric tonnes of paddy from Thottara Puncha, which extends to around 1,200 acres at Amballur and Edakkattuvayal in Ernakulam district and Vellur panchayat in Kottayam district.
Farmers affiliated to nine Padashekhara Samitis are engaged in paddy cultivation. It is expected that around 300 tonnes of rice can be produced from 1,500 metric tonnes of paddy cultivated in the 550-acre area. The Agriculture Department has the capacity to market nearly 40 tonnes of Thottara brand rice in the first phase. And, farmers can sell the remaining rice to private mills.
Mill at Amballoor
Mr. Sujith said that the Kudumbasree Mission had agreed to set up a mill at Amballoor. It will also provide ₹40 lakh for the realisation of the project.
Interestingly, District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla had taken the lead in bringing the maximum available cultivable land under Thottara Puncha for paddy cultivation. Farming in the barren land began in 2015.
Major preparatory works like the cleaning up of 11 km of main canals by the Minor Irrigation Department to de-water the paddy fields, land preparatory work in padashekharams, field survey for installation of 12 submersible pumps, consultations with stakeholders, and field visits to padashekharams were completed as part of the initiative.
The district administration had increased the acreage of Thottara Puncha over the last couple of years starting with 150 acres in 2015-16 followed by 350 acres in 2016-17.
The district administration’s efforts to revive the rice bowl of Ernakulam were ably assisted by the agriculture and irrigation departments, KLDC, KSEB, local bodies, land owners, Padashekhara Samitis, and the local community at large. The Agriculture Technology Management Agency had offered training to farmers.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – April 09th, 2018
Grass-like plant, discovered in Ponmudi, has been named Fimbristylis agasthyamalaensis
Researchers from the University College here have reported the discovery of a new plant species from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Classified as a sedge, the grass-like plant has been named Fimbristylis agasthyamalaensis, after the locality from which it was found.
The researchers, including post doctoral fellow A.R.Viji and Assistant Professor T.S.Preetha, came across the species during an expedition to the marshy grasslands in the Ponmudi hills within the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve. The survey was part of a project funded by the Women Scientists Division of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE). The finding has been published in Phytotaxa, an international journal of botanical systematics and biodiversity.
The authors have recommended a preliminary conservation assessment of the plant as ‘critically endangered,’ according to IUCN criteria. The report says the species is highly prone to wild grazing.
As the habitat falls within a tourism spot and the perimeter of a place of worship, the plant is also subject to anthropogenic pressures that could lead to its extinction in the absence of scientific conservation.
The new species belongs to the Cyperaceae family. In India, the genus is represented by 122 species, of which 87 are reported from the Western Ghats. Many of the known Cyperaceae species are medicinal plants or used as fodder.
During a critical analysis of the specimens, F.agasthyamalaensis was found to be similar to F.onchnidiocarpa in several characters including the nature of infloresence. But detailed studies revealed distinct features which led to the conclusion that it is a new species.
Flowering and fruiting were observed from October to March.
The authors have stressed the need for more scientific studies to determine the potential uses of the new species.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by T. Nandakumar / Thiruvananthapuram – April 03rd, 2018
Students of the Buds Rehabilitation Centre (BRC), Aryad, displaying handicrafts made of water hyacinth.
Here is a solution to the water hyacinth menace
They are students with special needs. But at the Buds Rehabilitation Centre (BRC) in Aryad, they are doing extraordinary things.
Any one visiting the centre can see the students busy chopping water hyacinths collected from a nearby waterbody.
The chopped parts, except roots, are then boiled and transferred to a mixer for extracting pulp.
Under the watchful eyes of their instructor (rehabilitation worker), the students mix the pulp generated with paper pulp, and in no time, they are moulded into beautiful handicrafts.
These students, most of them suffering from cognitive disorders, are offering a unique solution to the vexing problem of water hyacinth, one of the most invasive aquatic weeds which is choking the life out of several freshwater ecosystems in the State.
“Articles made of water hyacinth are the latest addition to an array of products we prepare at the BRC,” says BRC rehabilitation worker Vineetha Rajesh.
“Of the students undergoing vocational training in the BRC, some are experts in making soap powder, others in producing lotion, among other things. Recently, we trained students to make toys and decorative items from water hyacinth. Some of the students are very good at it and the products they made were displayed at an expo organised by the Kudumbasree. We are now planning to create more items,” she said.
Eco-friendly
Last year, Vineetha was among the Buds school teachers, Kudumbasree members, and students who had undergone a one-day training on the value-addition of aquatic weeds offered by the community training centre under the Centre for Research on Aquatic Resources (CRAR) at SD College, Alappuzha.
The activities of the CRAR are funded under the Biotechnology Innovations for Rural Development (BIRD) programme of the KeralaBiotechnology Commission.
The CRAR led by its principal investigator G. Nagendra Prabhu is on a mission to put aquatic weeds to good use. From various aquatic weeds, the centre has developed material for mushroom cultivation, biomass briquettes, and modified hydroponics.
In the process, the researchers also found that pulp generated from water hyacinth could be used for creating handicrafts; utensils; utility articles like multi-purpose boards; egg and fruit trays; disposable plates; painting canvases; and so on.
“Over the years, crores of rupees have been spent to keep invasive species like water hyacinth under control, but with no effect. The CRAR has developed a number of solutions for the control and value addition of aquatic weeds modelled on concepts like eradication through utilisation and use to reduce. We are happy to see that the technologies, we developed are being commercialised. These eco-friendly technologies can be developed into an alternative livelihood programme in the future,” Mr. Prabhu said.
Kudumbasree Assistant District Mission Coordinator N. Venugopal said that the project would be extended to all nine BRCs in the district soon.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Sam Paul A / Aryad(Alappuzha) – March 27th, 2018
As rice biodiversity continues to shrink in the state, the result of the first grassroot-level survey conducted in Wayanad comes as a silver lining.
The survey, covering 23 panchayats and three municipalities in the district, was conducted to ascertain the traditional rice varieties preserved by farmers. It has found that farmers, including tribal cultivators, have managed to cultivate and preserve 62 traditional rice varieties, including rare and endangered varieties.
The survey was conducted from February 20- 26 by the state agriculture department and Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) with participation of 43 students from the College of Agriculture, Padannakkad.
The survey has also been able to collect some important facts about the native rice varieties like duration of crop, unique features, geographic location, yield, nutritional value, size and colour of the varieties and seed, and climate-change and pest resistance qualities of the varieties. The information along with the contact details of the farmers have also been compiled into a directory.
P Rajendran, associate director of research at the regional agriculture research station (RARS) of KAU at Ambalavayal said that detailed information about the 62 rice varieties were collected by meeting the farmers directly.
“The fact that the farmers of the district have managed to preserve such a significant number of indigenous rice landraces despite facing several odds is commendable. The value of silent food biodiversity conservation undertaken by them is invaluable and they should be honoured for their service apart from providing financial and technical incentives,” he added.
Among the indigenous Wayanadan varieties, many of which are rare and confined to small pockets in the district, are ayiram kana, edavaka, onamottan, karimbalan, kumkumashali, kurumbali, peruvazha, vethandam, karutha njavara etc,.
Many traditional rice varieties of Wayanad are highly resilient against climatechange and are stress-tolerant apart from having aromatic and medicinal properties.
The district used to have highly-diverse rice varieties numbering around 105.
Deputy director of agriculture, Rani S K said that a detailed genetic-level study on the rice varieties of Wayanad should be conducted for a varietal evaluation.
The government has already announced a special agriculture zone for floriculture and speciality rice in Wayanad and various schemes are under implementation for helping farmers preserve the native rice varieties.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kozhikode News / by K.R. Rajeev / TNN / March 19th, 2018
The Fish Cemetery, an art installation set up by the CMFRI in Fort Kochi to create public awareness on plastic litter.
Art installation by CMFRI to create awareness on coastal pollution
The Fish Cemetery, an art installation set up by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) last year to create awareness on coastal pollution, has won national recognition with the CMFRI bagging the Swachh Bharat Award.
The director of CMFRI, A. Gopalakrishnan, received the award from Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture, said a press release here.
The institute received second prize at the national level among the institutes functioning under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (ISSWC) in Dehradun got the first prize in the category, the press release added.
The award is in recognition of the CMFRI’s attempt to create awareness among the public about the dangers of plastic litter in marine ecosystem by setting up the art installation of fish cemetery on Fort Kochi beach last year.
Set up in an area of more than 2,500 sq.ft. with a height of 13 feet, the installation consisted of giant fish like structures that reminded the dangers of plastic pollution on marine and coastal waterbodies.
The ‘Fish Cemetery’ was used to warn the public of the dangers of dumping plastic in the sea and other waterbodies.
The CMFRI has also launched cleanliness drive on the premises of major fishing harbours and beaches across the country by ensuring public participation.
Besides the Kochi centre, the cleanliness drive was carried out by all regional research centres of the CMFRI located in various parts of the country such as Veraval, Mumbai, Karwar, Visakhapatnam, Mandapam, Tuticorin, Chennai, Mangaluru, Kozhikode and Vizhinjam.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – March 13th, 2018
The first Indian woman botanist, E K Janaki Ammal, ought to be more widely known for her huge contributions to science. But she remains unknown within the country and outside academic circles and even our textbooks have failed to teach our children about her glorious scientific history
: Just a fortnight before the International Women’s Day, the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, UK, announced a new scholarship for post-graduate students from developing countries in honour of an Indian woman botanist. Under the scheme, 88 applicants who wish to study plant and microbial sciences can apply in commemoration of the distinguished work and contributions of Dr.E.K.Janaki Ammal who was an international alumni of the leading research and training centre between 1940 and 1945.
A heart warming gesture from an institution abroad, but may be India should have done something similar for the country’s first home grown woman scientist, who went overseas and returned accomplished breaking every caste and gender barrier through her work.
Just take a moment to think where we would be without the inventions of this brilliant mind.
Janaki Ammal in younger days | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
After laborious crossbreedings in the laboratory of Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore in the 1930s, she created the indigenous variety of sweetened sugarcane that we consume today. Till then India was producing sugarcane in abundance and yet importing as they were not as sweet as the ones grown in the Far East.
During the World War II bombings in the 1940s, she continued her phenomenal research into chromosomes of thousands of species of flowering plants at the John Innes Horticultural Institute, Norfolk, where she worked with some of the best names in cytology, genetics and botany . While working on the gorgeous Magnolia, she co-authored The Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants with renowned biologist CD Darlington.
The magnolia saplings she planted on the Battleston Hill in Wisley continue to bloom every Spring and one of the pure white blooms is named after her, the Magnolia kobus Janaki Ammal and apparently only few nurseries in Europe have the variety today.
At a time when most Indian women did not even attend school, she received scholarship and obtained her MS from University of Michigan in 1925 and later returned as the first Indian Oriental Barbour Fellow. She remains one of the few Asian women to be conferred honorary doctorate (DSc. honoris causa) by her alma mater in 1931. There she discovered a new variety of brinjal that exhibited triploidy instead of the normal diploid, where there are two sets of chromosomes in the cells.
The flower Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
At the insistence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, she returned to India in the 1950s and restructured the Botanical Society of India travelling to several remote areas of the country in search of the plant lore of the indigenous people and scouting for medicinal plants in her home State, Kerala.
A fascinating figure of the early 20th Century she was. E.K.Janaki Ammal lived a life which perhaps very few women of her time could dream of. The distinguished geneticist, cytologist, global plant geographer studied about ecology and biodiversity too and did not fear to take on the Government as an ardent environmental activist. She played an important role in the protests against the building of a hydro-power dam in Kerala’s Silent Valley in the 1970s. She made a mark with her paper on “Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth” at an international symposium in Princeton in 1955 and two decades later, she was awarded the Padmashri in 1977.
With a profile like hers, Janaki Ammal never got into spotlight. If anything she fought her status as a single woman from a caste considered backward and problems with male mentorship in her field. But she proved through her work that Science knows no caste, gender or social boundaries.
Yet for her extraordinary journey from small town Thalassery to the finest institutions across the world, there is no archive related to her in India. Her papers are available only in hard copy at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, according to Vinita Damodaran, who teaches South Asian History at University of Sussex and has also published a well researched paper on “Gender, race and science in twentieth century India: E.K.Janaki Ammal and the history of science.”
Luckily, the Nikari series of talks held under the banner of ‘Manarkeni’, a Tamil research journal, brings to light the works of lesser known women in different fields. In the previous years, the focus was on women in literature and history. This year it chose science and brought the story of Janaki Ammal to the fore.
The talk delivered by S Krishnaswamy, former professor at the School of Biotechnology, MaduraiKamaraj University, highlighted various stages of Janaki’s career both in India and overseas. “Her career shows that scientists must speak their mind with social consciousness even if it means going against the policies of the government. In today’s context, it becomes necessary to bring achievers like her to the forefront,” he asserts.
Janaki Ammal must have conquered her fears and broke the glass ceiling for a rewarding career in science. “She wanted to be known only through her work. Let her work be known to all successive generations, who have much better opportunities” says Krishnaswamy.
An inspiring role model, Janaki Ammal passed away in 1984 at the age of 87 at Maduravoyal near Chennai, while working in the field laboratory of the Centre for Advanced Study in Botany, Univerity of Madras. She perhaps did not receive the acclaim she deserved but devoted herself to research, opening up a universe of possibilities. Let our children not be bereft of that knowledge. It is worth knowing and remembering leaders in science like Janaki Ammal.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Soma Basu / Madurai – March 09th, 2018
The sarcophagus discovered from a rock-cut cave at Viyur village of Kollam.
A rich culture existed in the region
A rare sarcophagus (stone coffin), said to be 2,000-year old from the Iron Age–Megalithic era, was discovered from a rock-cut cave at Viyur village of Kollam, near Koyilandy, in Kozhikode district on Monday.
The coffin containing bone fragments was found during an excavation. “So far, such a rare finding has been discovered only from two sites in Kerala . Both these sarcophagi were recovered from Megalithic sites at Chevayur and Atholi, also in Kozhikode district,” K. Krishnaraj of the Archaeology Department, who is supervising the excavation, said.
The bone fragments could be of either a man or a woman. They will be sent for carbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry at the Beta Analytical Laboratory in California, he said. Excavation at the site commenced after a hemispherical rock-cut chamber was discovered in a compound while flattening land using an earthmover. The cave, with an inside pillar, measuring 1.9 metres in diameter, has a height of 90 centimetres.
The entrance of the cave was on the eastern side. “The square-shaped door has equal length of 50 centimetres on all sides. Different types of pottery, mostly four-legged jars and iron implements, were found in the cave, ” he said.
Sarcophagi was found in many archaeological sites in South India earlier. Some are adorned with a sculpture or inscription. But two types are usually found with bovine features or with legs.
“As of now, we have obtained preliminary details about the excavations. However, it can be confirmed that a rich Megalithic culture existed in the region following the discoveries of pre-Iron age civilisation earlier. The excavation will continue for another week,” Mr. Krishnaraj said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Biju Govind / Kozhikode – January 16th, 2018
Broadcasting programmes in different tribal dialects, this radio channel is disseminating important information to the marginalised groups of Wayanad.
Nammada Mattoli (our Mattoli) is what listeners across Kerala fondly call this radio station. Operating from a shopping complex space in the quaint municipality of Mananthavady, Radio ‘Mattoli’ (meaning echo/reverberation in local dialects) broadcasts socially-relevant programmes that are cheered by a wide range of audiences across the Wayanad hills.
Home to many farmers and indigenous tribal groups, Wayanad is among the most sparsely populated, backward districts of Kerala (according to the 2011 Census). Though it scores well in sex ratio, Wayanad still has the lowest literacy rate in entire Kerala.
Promoted by Wayanad Social Service Society (WSSS), a non-governmental development organisation, ‘Radio Mattoli 90.4 FM’ started its operation in 2009 to bridge the information gap that existed between agriculture-dependent communities and government authorities. Tracing back its origin and purpose, Father Sebastian Puthen Varghese, the current Station Director says,
A lot of people in the tribal communities were not getting relevant governmental information in an easily accessible manner. Radio Mattoli began with an aim to reach out to such marginalised communities.
Acquainting farmers
Brainchild of Bishop Mar Jose Porunnedom, Radio Mattoli today broadcasts 20 hours of various programmes and documentaries with its signals covering more than 85 percent of Wayanad district.
Wayanad’s District Police Superintendent Arul RB Krishna speaking to the listeners of Radio Mattoli.
With farmers and agriculturalists occupying the majority of the population in Wayanad, many of Radio Mattoli’s programmes are geared towards addressing their needs and concerns.
For example, programmes such as Njattuvela, Vayalnadu and Kambolanilavaram spread pertinent agricultural knowledge on market value of products, weather updates, bio-farming techniques, etc. shares Fr. Sebastian.
The channel also gets on board relevant experts from government authorities who acquaint farmers in the Wayanad hills with the methods to preserve of water bodies, dairy farming, organic farming, and precision farming.
Quoting an anecdote from his previous work experience as documentation and communication officer at Radio Mattoli, Krishnakumar CK recalls an incident when “there was a high incidence of foot-and-mouth disease among the cattle in the Wayanad region in 2013.” Despite repeated requests, veterinary doctors from the government were hesitant to reach out and help farmers in remote areas who had lost their cattle.
To address this negligence on part of authorities, Radio Mattoli toured these places, recorded the woes of 10 dairy farmers and their families who had lost their cattle, and escalated the issue by broadcasting a timely, special programme. Such an effort immediately promoted government authorities, who swung to immediate action and sent out an ambulance for help.
Empowering tribal communities
Wayanad, a well-known bio-diversity hotspot, is also home to 13 of Kerala’s 36 tribal communities. As Krishnakumar explains,
The social isolation levels in many of these tribal communities is very high and they often hesitate to integrate with the people in the mainstream.
However, thanks to Radio Mattoli’s programmes such as Thudichetham which broadcast the complexities of the issues faced by tribals and suggest remedies in their own dialects and slang, the tribal communities of Wayanad now possess a very strong and personal sense of ownership with regard to the channel.
The tribal producers of Radio Mattoli
Fr. Sebastian is both proud and emotional when he recollects how Radio Mattoli and its community-driven content has impacted many people. “We have heard from Joseph, an illiterate who quit habitual smoking after listening to one of our programmes that spoke about the ill-effects of the same. Now, he frequently visits our station office with sweets and poems written by him”.
In one of our radio club meetups, Bhasakaran, who belongs to the backward classes, also shared how he carried his radio set with him even when he climbed trees to pluck peppercorns. That’s the kind of affection people have shown for Radio Mattoli, he adds.
Radio Mattoli is the only electronic media channel in the whole of Kerala to broadcast programmes in tribal languages. The station has a team of active volunteers from tribal communities who first train and then produce creative content (in the form of scripting shows, lending their voice for radio dramas, etc.) on their own.
Many tribal dialects in Kerala do not even have a script. In this context, the effort of these young volunteers striving to help their communities is extremely crucial, opines Krishnakumar.
Bringing the issues of marginalised communities to mainstream
Apart from farmers and tribal communities, Radio Mattoli also produces content for women, children and people from marginalised communities such as the elderly, orphans, etc. While programmes such as Vanitha Mattoli and Karuthal throw light on a wide range of women and children related issues, more targeted broadcasts are also designed to benefit groups as specific as the auto rickshaw drivers in the region.
Talking about programmes such as Ponpulari, which feature the entrepreneurial efforts of women in Wayanad region, Fr. Sebastian says,
Radio Mattoli has identified and interviewed several women who are running small businesses (such as that of pickle and Namkeen) of value added products.
Airwaves of change
Licensed by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Radio Mattoli is also the only community radio channel functioning out of the Wayanad region. In span of eight years, the channel has expanded from broadcasting just four hours initially to 20 hours (12 hours of fresh content and eight of previous broadcasts) today, from 5:30am to 1:30am.
Though revenue generation was an initial hurdle, Radio Mattoli now gets financial assistance from various government departments, organisations, and also benefits from regularised advertisements.
Radio Mattoli, through its 60 exclusive programmes, has been able to reach out to a varied group of listeners in Wayanad such as farmers, tribes, dalits, women, and children.
“Over the years, a team of dedicated volunteers from grassroots communities have helped Radio Mattoli gain the kind popularity that it has. We are proud of this active citizenry since it marks the triumph of any community radio station”, says Fr. Sebastian.
When questioned about future plans for Radio Mattoli, he adds,
Our biggest dream in the coming years is to broadcast the voice of every citizen in Wayanad. And eventually, we want this radio station to be owned by people themselves.
“Radio Mattoli provides a lot of autonomy at work. Since, there’s no pressure to do news, we have the bandwidth to plan and proceed with our special programmes,” says 28-year-old Lithin who works with the station.
India has about 179 community radio stations, a number that’s too small compared to the proposed 4,000 by Government of India in 2007. However, among the ones disseminating information in the remotest areas and empowering the masses, Radio Mattoli stands out as a shining example.
source: http://www.yourstory.com / YourStory.com / Home> Social Story / by Amoolya Rajappa / January 09th, 2018
