NEW ENTERPRISE:News at your fingertips

by Arun Singh


Like everyone says these days, communication is key to development. Here is an effort on that count. New Delhi-based International Media Institute of India has started an initiative called ‘Gaon Ki Awaaz' by which it sends out news to subscribers twice a day on their mobile phones. The news subjects of the service vary fromalerts on health camps to local events, local Government announcements and farming tips.

User-friendly

Sunil Saxena, the dean of the institute, says the user-friendly nature of the service has led to the increase of their subscriber base from 20 to 250 in just a few months time. He says the service was developed to meet the requirements of the rural community. A bunch of reporters produce news by recording 30 to 60 seconds voice messages on their phones. These short news bulletins are then sent as MMS to the local editor for review. Saxena checks each alert before sending them out to the subscribers as voice mails. The reporters are from Rampur and Mathura area where the pilot project is presently being run by the institute. “The idea is to convey news reports in the local dialect, Avadhi,” adds Saxena.

He says, “We wanted to move away from the SMS alerts because many villagers can't read them. It had to be a voice call, it could not be MMS either as many villagers don't have MMS facilities on their phones.” On why such a service works, the educationist says, “In most of our villages, literacy levels are low. So newspapers do not work as a medium of disseminating information. And because power supply is often erratic in these areas, television is also not a very good medium for it.” Initiated in December 2009, the project now covers 20 villages.

Though the programme is being funded by Dave Bloss, a Knight International Fellow, it got its first advertisers last month. Saxena says, “The total cost of the four-month project is roughly 1000 USD. But in the long run, we are looking for two types of advertisers to make it sustainable. One, the local businessmen and the other, the big agro companies.”