Beyond the ice cream

The BBC Election Train pulled into Patna station in the early hours of the hottest day of the season. It was 42.8 degrees Celsius. Despite the heat, I was looking forward to meeting some of our project partners and understanding what more can be done in Bihar, one of the poorest states in the country. 

According to India’s National Family Health Survey, 42% of children nationally are underweight.  However, in Bihar it is even higher at 58%. Fewer than 20% of births are delivered in a health facility in Bihar (again, considerably worse than the national average). There is a lot of scope for mass media campaigns that can inform mothers about the best feeding and birthing practices and challenge socially accepted practices which mean women and girls have poorer access to  food, health services and education.

Former Chief Minister of Bihar Laloo Prasad Yadav passing out ice cream to BBC journalists at his home in Patna

I met up with former Chief Minister of Bihar and current national railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav at his home in Patna. Considering the poor maternal and child health indicators in his state, I asked him what he believed to be the greatest need in this area and how did it could be met. He responded by saying that when he headed the state government, he concentrated on immunization, sanitation and education. His view was that local government bodies should have the power to prepare their own budgets and the funds to implement their programmes directly.

During this election time, he was keen to leave a good impression on the visiting BBC journalists. He arranged to have an ice cream cart enter his compound, and personally served each of us a cup of ice cream. His welcome was a clear signal of his aim to woo us at a time when his political popularity in the state is not what it was.

Beyond Mr.Yadav’s courtyard, I caught up with two women whom we trained as “citizen journalists” for our radio programme Aangan Ke Paar (“Beyond the Courtyard”).  This half-hour weekly radio programme broadcast in 2007 was made by and for women in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. It aimed to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS as well as other issues in the context of women’s empowerment. Twelve women, all involved in development work and most from rural areas, were trained in the basics of journalism and radio reporting. Armed with their new skills , they returned to their communities and recorded material on locally relevant issues. Topics included women’s participation in local government, early marriage and women’s ability to negotiate safe sex.

Our Citizen Journalists Shahina Perween (left) and Vijayashree Dangre

Vijayashree Dangre, 36, currently working at UNICEF as a child survival officer for Patna district, says “I was very happy because the project gave me a chance to interact with the community, especially with the women. We raised all women’s issues through this programme. I am proud of myself for being part of the Aangan Ke Paar team.”

Thirty-two year old unmarried Shahina Perween is a feisty woman working on a women’s leadership initiative for the Hunger Project. When she starts to speak, it is difficult to get a word in as she has so much she wants to share. I asked her to tell me about her experience working on Aangan Ke Paar. She tells me enthusiastically that people still talk about the programme. “When I go into the villages, they obviously don’t recognize me when they see me (because it was a radio show), but when they hear my name they ask, ‘why are you not on the radio anymore? Even now, sister, we remember those episodes on HIV, malnutrition and domestic violence.’”

Why does she think people still remember the programme?  “Radio is very important because electricity is a problem here, so radio is more popular than TV. Also, people listen to the radio in groups, so there is always a good audience, and this helps generate discussion about important issues raised in the programme.”

Vijayashree elaborates: “When we go to the community to interview women suffering from dowry, early marriage and HIV, we show them that these issues are worth discussing. You see, women don’t share these things with their husbands or others. They tolerate things. With the radio programme, they realized that they could talk about these things. And other women also get to hear that they have the same problems, that they are not alone. Women who hear their voices on the radio think, ‘everyone is listening to me, they are now paying attention to my problems.’”

BBC election train

I asked what would they like to see in the future, and both were emphatic that there need to be more programmes that address women’s issues. “At the moment there is no platform for us to get our voices heard. No one listens to us,” Shahina asserts. According to Shahina, the main issues that need to be addressed are domestic violence, HIV, trafficking, malnutrition, girl child education and information about government schemes available to women and children.

And not just for women.  Shahina pointed out that programmes that target women should appeal to men as well, as men need to understand issues that are important to women, as they play a role in gender equality. An example she cited was that earning women should be able to keep their money instead of handing it over to their husbands. When I asked what would they want to spend their money on, she said that the point was that they – rather than their husbands – should have the right to decide.

I told them we are about to launch a radio drama for women, and I asked them if drama would be effective at addressing women’s issues. They agreed excitedly, Vijayashree adding, “as long as it is not boring and there is a good balance between a social message and entertainment.” At this point, I was the one who was agreeing emphatically.