News Letter Apr Jun 2014

Quarterly Volume 14 Apr - Jun 2014

A look InsideFight against child marriage ….. 2Vrikshon se aye hariyali ….. 3Abu Road – Communities ….. 4Reflection on Freedom ….. 6Stop Child Marriage ….. 7Photo News ….. 8

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Testimonial

Mr. Bhaskar

Programme Executive

Radio Luit

Value of the Quarter

It was a wonderful experience here. Such a enthusiastic, dedicated and nice team is

here, from which I have learnt a lot. We can implement some

of this stations strategies there. I felt one thing most, that is think positively. A positive thought can boost up any

organization. Now I will follow this thinking in my life, in my

station.

In retrospect

It gives me immense pleasure to share with you the details of the service news of Radio Madhuban. The team focuses on dynamically achieving new heights every quarter. Last quarter the focus was on women empowerment and we were able to achieve commendable results that have further strengthened our dedication and commitment.

This quarter Radio Madhuban has worked on some other social issues. Akshay trutiya is considered to be an auspicious day for marriage ceremonies. It has been a tradition to marry children off at a young age in order to save on money and other resources in the local villages. The tribal families have been following this as a practice. Whilst working on uprooting this social evil and while spearheading a campaign in order to raise awareness, the team came across several other veiled beliefs and practices and created a documentary on them through its regular shows.

Additionally, Mr. Ramesh successfully completed the peer review training and visited Radio Luit & Henvalvani. The team has also actively participated in SAT and completed 2 chapters. During the due course, the tool turned out to be immensely resourceful and helped to develop a holistic understanding of each department of the radio. The experience gave immense exposure to the entire team. We at Radio Madhuban received visitors from the peer review team of Jnan Taranga and Radio Luit. It was an enriching experience to meet and

interact with them. While sharing life experiences we were able to connect as a close knit family. Our ties were further strengthened by the time all of us spent together.

It is a matter of incessant pride for us that songs recorded by the community in this quarter add up to a whopping total of 53 and included languages such as Gujrati, Marwadi bhajans, and other Hindi songs by the local artists.

As tradition entails, we celebrated the world environment day on 5th of June. We were fortunate to have the DFO visiting the Radio Madhuban studios during this time. He reiterated the importance of forests and plantation of

trees in and around Abu road.

Another great milestone was achieved, after 10 months of relentless efforts of persuading the rag pickers, the Radio Madhuban team is now waiting for the schools to open to ensure that these children can head back to their schools and pick up books instead of the shattering experience of rag picking.

Radio Madhuban is synonymous with live coverage of community programs celebrations and festivity and these have always attracted people towards the radio. Organizations have, also been supportive and have encouraged us by inviting us to cover their programs. It is in this regard that I, on behalf of the entire Radio Madhuban team, I thank all the Abu vasis and all our global listeners for their support .

Yashwant PatilStation Manager

Acceptance means I realize the only thing I have the power

to change is the terrain of my own soul. The paradigm of the old world is to wrestle with the systems and people that need to

be fixed. The paradigm of the new age we are entering is to accept

that our greatest power to change the world lies in changing our own

being. Today, I will accept this power and tend to the terrain of

my inner being.

Radio Madhuban - Newsletter : Apr - Jun 2014

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Radio Madhuban’s fight against child marriageAlthough technology has revolutionized the world but social traditions still continue to hamper development in rural India. What common people fail to comprehend is that with changing times, customs and social norms have to be modified and adopted to suit the present context.

It is an irrefutable fact that a large number of child marriages are performed in violation of the existing provisions of the law, particularly on ‘Akha Teej’ or ‘Akshaya Tritiya’. This social evil has been practiced for over centuries now and has made social reforms imperative for the development of the masses. To ensure this, awareness about the rigid social conventions and outdated customs that are dehumanizing and are irrational is the most crucial step.

With this in mind, a 15 days long Radio Awareness Campaign was launched by Radio Madhuban on 21stApril 2014.

Radical opinions and views of local youth were identified through the programme Youth Junction. This show was broadcast from 5:30 pm to 6 pm. Radio Madhuban also actively organized village outreach programs with the help of Asha Sahyognis from various Aanganvadi

institutions of Sirohi. Having understood the problems of early marriage and motherhood, they highlighted the physical, mental and psychological trauma associated with child marriage.

Interviews of people from different walks of life such as educationists, social workers, advocates, policemen, government officials and common people etc. were broadcast from 6 pm to 6:30 pm every day to awaken and inspire local people to move against child marriage.

A lot of local women were found to be in agreement with these and accepted that they had to face these problems regularly. Most of the women have shared their experience of early marriage and the consequent problems they had to face. Their views were aired on RM from 7:30 pm to 8 pm during the programme Mera Gaon Mera Anchal.

During the campaign, several informative and encouraging interactions and interviews were broadcast to further augment the outreach of the programme. Some of the excerpts from the same are as follows:

Mr. Pushpendra Singh, who is a teacher at Keshav Balvidya Mandir, Amthala shared that once one of his students was forcibly being married off. Understanding the gravity of the situation Mr. Singh convinced the parents about the detrimental consequences of child marriage and informed them that the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 categorized any such activity as a criminal offence. Subsequently the

boy was not married and has been regularly attending school thereafter.

Our guest at Radio Madhuban was Dr. Giri Raj, an Ayurvedic doctor who linked health and child marriage. Owing to lack of nutrition and education, those who fall prey to child marriage are usually weak themselves, and give birth to children who suffer from malnutrition. They are also unable to educate their children due to over population coupled with poverty and illiteracy. He stressed that even if a girl is married early, she should remain in her maternal house until she is 18 so that she develops a sound understanding of life.

Our guest, Prabhuram Garasiya who is an Advocate, stressed on a girl being of 18 years of age and the boy of 21years for marriage. According to the law it is a crime to indulge or spport a child marriage and anyone found doing so shall be punished with 1 lakh rupees fine and 1 year of jail. He further highlighted that if the children subjected to this evil are not willing to marry, they can file a case against those forcing them into the marriage. The SDM or collector is supposed to take strict action in such cases. Also, those who help to take action against child marriage are given protection under the law.

Child marriage is a serious human rights violation affecting an individual’s rights to health,


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education, equality, non-discrimination and to live free from violence and exploitation. These are rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to protect them, Radio Madhuban diligently carried out its Awareness Campaign to arrest the endemic child marriages that run rife during this time of the year.

RJ Vinod was the project leader for this campaign on child marriage. He not only worked dedicatedly to spread awareness about its severe implications but also stopped three child marriages in the locality. His own parents had forced him to marry and that’s when he realized the trauma and pressures that other people of his age or even younger have to face when they are forced to marry. He strongly debated this issue with his parents and got off. His parents were very reluctant at first and he had to really fight for his freedom and will.

The next was his younger brother and one of their acquaintances. The incident with Vinod sparked in him a fire to fight for the cause and a team from Radio Madhuban provided all the support. Vinod reached out to every village on his bicycle and talked to local people and panchayat about the issue. He informed them about the legal and other implications of this crime. He networked with his friends and our listeners to track any cases of child marriage. A lot of people reported such incidents and Vinod verified the information and tried to convince the parents, relatives and panchayat to stop the marriage.

At times, people would listen to him and agree, but this was very

The man whose pioneering spirit brought about a change

rare. It was very difficult for him to make people realize that they were committing a crime by drastically hampering the child’s future.

The government and police officials, were cooperative, but did not really come forward to support his endeavors. He did not lose hope and turned every stone, with the team’s support, to sensitize people about this socio – legal evil & crime.

Vrikshon se aye hariyali, Har haal me ho rakhvali

World environment day on 5th June 2014 was celebrated with great enthusiasm at Radio Madhuban studios. Several new activities and community projects were planned and the RJs did special shows to spread environmental awareness among the people. Special on-air capsules were played throughout the day on various themes related to environmental consciousness to promote sustainable development.

Radio Madhuban was honoured to have Mr. Narpat Singh Charak, District Forest Officer, Sirohi in the studio for a special show with RJ Ramesh. Mr. Singh discussed some key issues with the listeners and informed them about some latest projects and programs being carried out by the department for the development of the region. He also interacted with our callers who called in to share their views and ideas about environmental conservation.

He said that the department and several other governmental bodies and NGOs celebrate various

special days like Environment Day, Forest Day, Water Day, and Wildlife Day throughout the year in order to spread awareness about the deteriorating condition of natural surrounding and focus the public’s attention to its conservation. Such programs, he said also encourage the common people to come forward for environmental preservation.

He pointed that increasing sea level, melting of glaciers, climate change, resource exploitation, illegal mining and deforestation are some of the major threats to nature. Government is taking several steps to do its best to save the environment but public support and participation remains the missing key to the success of these schemes. He urged the listeners to come forward to save the planet.

He held excessive industrialization and modernization as a cause for unrestricted resource exploitation and destruction of animal habitat. It has also adversely affected the food chain, eliminating some key elements and hampering the natural processes.

He mentioned that several inter-governmental partnerships have been initiated to preserve the nature and promote sustainable development, but equitable resource distribution and judicious resource utilization are very important. He congratulated Radio Madhuban for carrying out developmental programs for the local community and asked all the listeners to pledge to save the trees.

Name: Jankari ExpressRadio Jockey: PareshBroadcast Timing: 6 pm, Saturday

Theme of the Show: The show tries to empower the listeners with general information about the community, society and country in order to keep them updated about the world around them. The RJ also shares international highlights to provide a broad spectrum of information.

New Show


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The life and times of Abu Road - its communities

Visiting different villages our team found out that each village has a unique culture and customs. There are about eight different communities in Abu Road and each one has its own practices and ways to rejoice. Our team was fascinated by this diversity and documented some of the findings. We hope that this endeavor will help to preserve these cultures.

Garasiya Community

1. At the time of child birth like the other communities, people hailing from Garasiya community beat plates and soop (made from bamboo sticks). If the new born is a boy plate is beaten to express happiness and if the new born is a girl child soop is beaten. The idea behind the practice being followed from generations is to inform other people of the community about the arrival of a new member in one’s family.

After seven days the custom of washing the clothes is carried out followed by cooking Maalpua and Choorma (both are Indian sweet dishes). Keeping pace with time, Maalpua has been replaced with sweets. 15 kg food grain is taken which is then mixed with pooja samagri. Two brass glasses are placed in the mix and the baby’s parents are asked to take rounds and give water to the newborn with the help of 7 peepal leaves.

The local deities of the community are worshipped and coconut is a common offering. All the ladies are gifted new sarees in the otherwise costly ceremonies.

2. If the child gets ill, he/ she is taken

to the hospital for treatment. If the treatment fails to restore the health, under such circumstances it is believed to make a votive offering as a devout devotee of the gods and the boy is not allowed to cut his hair and the girl child is not allowed to wear Ghaghara until the votive is fulfilled. The person whom has taken the votive does not attend any social or religious functions in the community during this time.

3. People tend to marry their children in the family pool. The young unmarried men and women are given an opportunity to choose their life partners in a local fair. This practice is being followed since generations. If the girl chooses a partner at the fair, she moves to boy’s house and the information is communicated to the girl’s family after 5 to 6 days. Both the families then agree to ceremonially marry the couple.

Katnhi, which includes jewelry for the bride, and some money is given as a token of happiness to the boy’s family. Relatives and neighbors are invited for feats. Women from the bride’s village sing for 2 to 3 hours and create a musical feeling. The two families then decide on the dowry (Dapa). If the two families agree to arrange for a marriage ceremony, the people from the village community are sent invitations personally with yellow stained rice grain (a token similar to invitation cards).

Gawariya Community

It is at the birth of the child that his or her life partner is decided by the parents. They are married at a very young age. If the boy does not agree to enter into the marriage agreement, the elders mediate. Gawariya people are not allowed to marry outside the community. The elderly people of the community are respected for taking important decisions.

The tradition of dowry is practiced in the community. The custom of ring exchange is also popular. Local priest of the community decides the date of the marriage.Baarmaa is the ritual followed at the time of death. The body is cremated and after seven days a customary meal is organized. The people of the community sell glass bangles.

Bheel Community

The bheel community practices farming as its primary occupation. At the time of child birth, a bheel family would follow similar customs of beating a plate and bamboo soop.

In case a child falls ill, the parents take a votive and offerings are made to the community god and goddess for the betterment of the child. As children grow older, the groom’s family finds a suitable match and visits the bride’s house with ten to fifteen bottles of liquor as a token of joy.

At the time of death, money is charged under the Mautana-practice. If the bride dies due to any reason, her family demands money from the groom’s family. The groom and the family is publically harassed. Child marriage is prevalent in this community and often results in severe cases of suppression


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Muslim CommunityThe entire community practices Hakika for about 40 days after the child birth. The relatives are called for a feast to celebrate the birth irrespective of the fact whether the child is a girl or boy.

The wedding ceremony is termed as Nikah, in which seven Kalme (religious chants) are read. Both the bride and groom wear Sehra on the wedding day. When the newly-wed bride comes home, it is customary for her to cook a sweet dish for members of the family.

Maali Community

At the time of child birth beating of plate and soop is observed and the family worships the well (Kuan).

The girl is treated with utmost tenderness and care prior to her marriage. She is made to have Ghee and is beautifully dressed. There is a custom of stealing the groom’s shoes and ask for money in return. The cotton-throwing game is also played in the temple premises.

Exchanging rings during engagement is a new tradition that is picking up.When the bride enters her new house, she is welcomed with great joy. It is an auspicious practice that she knocks a small kalash (vessel) filled with rice before entering. It is believed to bring prosperity and good luck.

Another custom of picking up the plates by the bride is practiced in the community where the bride is made to pick up the plates placed at different places on the floor without making any noise of the plates. Noise is symbolic of quarrels and future-problems in the family. This custom is repeated many times. The elder in-laws give gifts to the bride.

People in the community are even open to love marriages. Dowry is not only accepted but also given by both sides.

When a family member dies, his day

Kohli Community

On the sixth day of the child birth, the Kohli community celebrates what is called as Chhathi which commemorates the story of Lord Krishna and his mother who washed his clothes on the sixth day of his birth.

When child is 40 days’ old, the ritual of worshipping the well is carried out with relatives and friends. In this, the child’s mother eats boiled Bejari and drops some of it in the well as an offering to the lord of the well.

Both the families celebrate a variety of customs and the groom weds the bride and takes her to his house. Child marriage is a common tradition.If a family member leaves for heavenly abode, a mourning ceremony is held on the twelfth day after death and Maakiya and Mautana rituals are carried out.

The community believes in taking votive and on their fulfillment people pay visit to a Dargaah (tomb of a saint) and offer flowers as a token of their reverence. On the demise of people, the body is buried followed by reading of the holy Quran. They even observe the custom of 10th day and after 40 days, the ceremony of Roti Fatiya is held.

The birthday anniversary and death anniversary are called Ursa. The concept of dowry is not much in practice here in Abu Road.

of death is observed as Shradh every year. The family prepares a small gathering on this day and serves food, liked by the member who died, to the relatives and priests.

People are mostly involved in making garlands and gardening activities.

Ring ceremony is carried out when the marriage agreement is finalized between the families. The groom is made to wear a turban and the wedding celebrations last for 5 days.

The celebrations include establishment of Lord Ganesha’s idol, Ratjaga (awake whole night), the same day the ritual of Tel Pujan is also done. After this ritual the girl and the boy are not allowed to move out of the house. On the wedding day, the boy visits the girl’s house for Toran and exchange of garlands between the two. After the garland exchange, the couple is made to take rounds around the pious fire.

After marriage, the bride and groom visit her parent’s home. It is customary for her to pick 7 plates kept on the floor with sweets in it


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and the groom touches the plates one by one with his sword. The bride then places the plates before Lord Ganesha’s idol.

Another custom called Laakhloon is very famous. In this custom some pieces of bangles and salt chunks are mixed together. The newly-wed couple is asked to search for the bangle pieces. The one collecting more pieces wins the game. The bride’s family tries to support the groom to win. When the bride gets upset with her mother-in-law, to make her cheerful the mother - in – law ties a piece of jewelry to the end of her saari.

Apart from all these, the ritual of Bindoli is observed at the girl’s place. The groom is made to sit on the mare and is taken for a round in the village. Women in the Kohli community observe fast of Karvachauth.

At the death of a person, a lamp is lit and kept near the body. After the body is taken to the cremation ground the entire house is cleaned. The elder son of the house is made to wear turban.

Prajapati CommunityThe custom of worshipping the water-well is practiced at the time of child birth. The girl is given the freedom to choose her life partner. After the marriage agreement is settled between the two families engagement ceremony is organized followed by the marriage. The game of finding the ring is of special attraction during the marriage ceremony. Dowry is a common practice. People of the community are essentially potters. Now a days, tractors are used for carrying the mud.

Meghwal Community

The child birth takes place at the mother’s house essentially. No discrimination is done between a girl child and boy child. The boy child grows his hair long and then his head is shaved at a ceremony called Jatra.

The boy’s family visits the girl’s house thrice before finalizing the engagement. Date of the wedding is fixed according to mahoorat set by the pundit. Dowry practice and Child marriage is now not prevalent in the community.

The customary meal organized at the time of demise of any person is now not in practice. People’s attire has also changed with time. Meritorious students of the community are felicitated during the ceremony.

Reflections on our freedom

Mr S N Subba Rao, a living spirit of independence, visited Radio Madhuban studio during his visit to Shantivan for the Education Wing Conference and compelled all our listeners to rethink our freedom. Mr Rao is a freedom fighter, who struggled for the nation’s independence.

Born in Bangaluru, he was only 13 years old when he joined hands with others for India’s freedom. While in school on 9th August 1942, he heard that a lot of Indians were imprisoned by the Britishers. He, along with his friends, went on to the streets with the slogan of “Vande Matram”. He was wearing khadi and caught the police attention and was arrested.

He was baffled by the mere thought that he could not praise his own country in his own land and decided to join the freedom movement.

“Although Gandhi ji did not roam around in the South, but his ideas were very popular”, said Mr Rao. He added that in those days, sacrifice was respected and regarded with honor. Anyone who sacrificed his home, job or money was an inspiration and a hero for others. Going to jail was also very honourable. He still remembers the time when Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose gave the slogan, “Jai Hind” for the first time in 1943

Mr Rao very clearly explains “But then, all social evils like corruption, falsehood, violence, inequality and injustice should have also been buried that day. After all, we were free and true freedom meant no lies, no fights, no struggle and no misery. But even today, our nation is tightly clutched in these evils.”

In his message to the community listeners he said “everyone must be proud of their invaluable freedom and honor it by doing their duty for this great nation. We should devote 1 hour to exercise (Deh) and one hour to the nation (Desh) every day. We should try to make our country free from violence, corruption, addiction and all other wrong-doings.

“It was a remarkable sight and delightful feeling to see the Tiranga go up on the flag post at the midnight of 14th August 1947. There were days when we could not freely carry the Indian flag, but seeing it high up in the capital gave everyone a great sense of joy, pride and achievement”, shared Mr Rao.

continued on page 7


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RM: Vajaram ji, tell us about yourself, your education and marriage.

VR: I studied till the 8th grade. Thereafter, my mother passed away, so I had to assume responsibility for the family, hence I dropped out of school. I work for the Janta dal yojna, I ensure that people are able have access to potable water. I do so by fixing hand pumps. At the age of 16, I met my bride at a local Mela and decided to marry her. Now I am 28 and have 4 children. They are all studying. Both my boys are in the fourth grade and my daughters are in the third grade

RM: How does one go about settling the match in such cases where two people meet at a community Mela?

VR: Once the bride and groom want to get married, the girl’s family go to meet boy’s family. They enquire about the family’s details and essential information and then the matrimony is fixed. A local community samellan or congregation is held to further obtain the approval of the heads of the community as well. Given the process, it is almost like making a compromise. We didn’t have a formal wedding ceremony; that would cost us 60-70,000/-, while this way we just spent around 10.000/-It was very prevalent in our community. There are a lot of people like me who

The following interview was recorded with Vajaram, a local man from Morudu, who is a social worker and an avid Radio Madhuban listener. The interviewee was exposed to Bal Vivah or child marriage at a tender age of 16. Excerpts from the interview are as follows:

An appeal to stop Child Marriage

got married at a very young age. But we have no experience about how else can we tackle a situation like this where in we are faced with Baal Vivah. Lack of education heightens the issue further.

RM: Your wife was 15 when you two got married? Was she able to carry out basic chores like cooking & how did you behave with her?

VR: She wasn’t very experienced but she learnt a little day by day. I was pretty supportive but these were chores I had not dealt with in the past, so I was inexperienced myself. We would often turn to our neighbors for help and guidance.

RM: How did you manage the finances for you and your wife? When did you have your first child?

VR: Money from my inheritance that my mother had left me was enough. But eventually that was depleted, so I then took up a job as a laborer. Within a year of our marriage we had first child. My wife had to be taken to the hospital and surgery had to be performed. Due to her age, natural birth could not be achieved and she was operated upon.

RM: You told, you had left home shortly after your marriage? Did you not feel responsible for her?

VR: I went to Ahmedabad for a month. During this time I was wishing that my wife goes back to her parents’ home. But she was still around when I returned. It was confusing for me to be married at that age; so I was hoping she would leave so that I don’t have to assume any responsibility. But then I realized that it was better if we made this work out and if she stayed on. My elders from the community helped me out too, and counseled me in order to make me realize my duties and responsibilities.

RM: Since you have faced Bal Vivah yourself, do you think that this is

the right direction for the future? Should a change be ushered to alter the tradition?

VR: Bal Vivah came naturally to me in those days and times. But I firmly believe that it is a social evil. I would ensure that my children should study. Child marriage leads to a lot of physical and psychological distress, so I would keep my children away from it. Bal vivah has already been banned. Children are educated nowadays and they know the right and wrong. The situation has definitely improved and changes have begun .Boys and girls should be treated equally. They should be educated well. Teachers are also a great inspiration and they keep our children aware about the ill effects of child marriage. Bal vivah is a societal evil that needs to be curbed. No one should fall prey to it.

Live from Community

On completion of 75 yrs of its services in India CRPF organized a cyclerally. It was covered live by Radio Madhuban

He expressed his great hopes from the youth of the country as he organises regular camps for development of young minds all across India.

continued from page 6

Anupdas Swamiji Bhajanmandali coverage by Radio Madhuban from Mt. Abu.


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Mr. Anil Srivatsa, CEO, Radiowalla, Bengaluru Mr. Haulianlal Guite, SDM, Mt. Abu

Mr. & Mrs. Govind Lubania, Rtd. Hocky Player, Mt. Abu

Mr. Suresh Goyal, Governer, Lions Club, Balodra

Mr. & Mrs. Vipin Bhardwaj, Bollywood Film Director, Mumbai

Sadhvini, Jain Panthi

Mrs. Harpreet Sukhramani, Advocate, Delhi

Mrs. Yogita Bhatt, Reservation Officer, GSRTC, Bhavnagar

Documents

News Letter Apr Jun 2014