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The
First UN Visual Media Fellowship in memory of Bhaskar Bhattacharji has
been awarded to Anil Vishram Revankar, a budding documentary filmmaker
from Pune, India.
The guidelines for the Fellowship, instituted by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with Prasar Bharati, the
Indian national radio and television entity, state that it is to honour
"eminent television personality, stage actor and a dearly loved
colleague in the United Nations (who) began his career as a young producer
in radio and went on to become one of the most popular newsreaders"
on television, and "to promote one of his most cherished ideas,
social change communication, to support independent media productions
that are not only compelling in content and artistic presentation but
can also be used as tools for progressive social change".
Bhaskar, who served the communications and advocacy divisions of UNDP
and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) for nearly a decade, died in New
Delhi on 1 January 2000.
The Citation for the Fellowship was presented by India's Minister for
Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Arun Jaitley, who said for laws for
social empowerment to be followed and accepted, the level of education
in society was of paramount importance, noting that there was no better
instrument than the media to promote social change education. Noting
that the dictates of the market were gradually increasing on the mainstream
media, the Minister said public service broadcasting was losing out
in the consistent struggle between the need to raise resources for commercial
viability and to be viewer-compatible in an increasingly competitive
market. But he expressed optimism about the future of social change
education through the media, particularly radio. The larger bandwidth
and further development in broadcast technology would only result in
greater plurality of choice and consequently mean more space for social
change communication, Mr. Jaitley said.
For the fellowship, Revankar, 34, will work on a film depicting women's
empowerment through self-help group activities in agriculture and poultry
management in the villages of Vansda in the Balsad district of Gujarat
on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. This programme, supported
by UNICEF, was selected for creative conceptualization of video documentation
of a gradual social change without affecting traditional customs and
human values.
Revankar, who is a mechanical engineer and a qualified cinematographer
from the Films and Television Institute of India (FTII), has already
a string of social education films behind him. His film on reconstructive
surgery in leprosy won the national award in 1989 as the best scientific
film of the year.
(For detailed information, application and guidelines about the Fellowship,
please visit www.undp.org.in)
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By Anil Vishram Revankar
In south Gujarat, India, especially in Valsad district, there
is a traditional tribal custom of "Wavli", a unique
tribal tradition giving a woman sovereign right over her earnings.
The husband, father or brother will never dream of having a share
in this income; they sincerely believe that if any money is taken
from the "Wavli", they will surely go to hell. Bharatiya
Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF) reactivated the traditional
custom and started women's income-generating activities as the
"Wavli" Programme, initially in five villages-Mindhabari,
Lacttaked, Umarkvi, Kawdej, Ghodmal-selected on the basis of availability
of water and land, and women who were willing to work in groups,
each with about 25 members.
From isolated small-scale vegetable cultivation and gathering
of minor forest produce, "Wavli" is now a group activity
of raising nurseries, grafting mango and cashew saplings, and
other non-conventional activities. A tribal woman's day starts
from early dawn and ends late at night, taking care of food, water
and health needs of the family, apart from contributing to breadwinning.
With support from UNICEF, BAIF imparts health education to tribal
women, whose common problems include malnutrition, worms and scabies.
Forming and nurturing small, homogenous and participatory self-help
groups of the poor offers a potent tool for human development,
allowing poor households to collectively identify and analyze
the problems they face in the perspective of their social and
economic environment, pool their meagre resources-human and financial-and
prioritize their use for solving their own problems.
The emphasis on regular thrift collection and its use to solve
immediate problems of consumption and production not only helps
meet their most emergent needs but also trains them to handle
financial resources more skillfully, prudently and with a more
lasting impact.
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