Column | Window Seat

Swargadwar

Swargadwar (which literally means a gateway to heaven) is the cremation ground of Hindus situated on the sandy beach towards the South-western corner of Puri town in Odisha. Puri is one of the four holy dhams (the other three being Rameswar, Dwarka and Badrinath) and considered a holy place by the Hindus. Most of the Hindus believe that if they die at Puri and are burnt at this cremation ground, the soul moves to heaven. Recently I had to spend about 5 hours at here as my father in law's body was put to flames here. My father's last rites were also performed here in 2003. Both the times I stood there, amidst half a dozen of burning pyres, eyes burning with thick smoke, looking at the carcases being poked into the pyre with long bamboo stuff. There was (still is) no place to sit, no drinking water facility. The entire place is littered with debris. Stray cattle and dogs sleep on the sand turned black with multiple layers of shoot and burnt flesh.
Everyday more than 3 dozens of bodies are cremated here, some brought from over 200 kms away. In the past this Cremation ground used to be desolate. But with time, habitations have come up near and around the cremation ground. Now it is located almost within a busy bazar. In fact there are multi storied hotels just across the boundary wall of the cremation ground on three sides, the fourth side being the beach.
The number of bodies arriving here for cremation is steadily increasing. But there has been no modernization to hasten the burning of the body. There is no electric or gas fired challah here. Neither is there any designated concrete/iron pyre. All the bodies are burnt in traditional make shift pyre on the sand. Swargadwar Cremation ground, despite its fame and holy status is small, the total area being less than two acres.
There are several concrete structures in the ground like temple and a memorial of former CM of OdishaBijuPattnaik, which have cramped the place. As a result pyres are laid at a very close proximity to each other, almost at a touching distance. A traditional Hindu funeral pyre takes three to four hours and burns about 200 kilograms (500 pounds) of wood to burn a body completely. Every year fifty to sixty million trees are burnt for cremations in India, which results in about eight million tons of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions.
Air pollution, deforestation and large quantities of ash, which are later thrown into water bodies, mostly rivers, adding to the toxicity of their waters, pose great environmental problems. The burning of multiple bodies side by side on open pyre emits thick smoke and shoot. Besides the foul odour, the thick smoke causes pollution. It is also a serious health hazard not only for the people present at the cremation ground, but also for the people residing nearby as the smoke from burning body parts can cause pulmonary diseases.
The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) recorded emission of 727 microgram per metre cube of particulate matter from the cremation ground against the permissible limit of 100 in 2013. To contain pollution OSPCB raised a concrete pyre and installed the chimney at the crematorium in September, 2014, and handed it over to Puri municipality for operation. But the chimney has not been put to proper use.
As the town of Puri is given a makeover on the occasion of Nabakalebara, please spare a thought about Swargdwar, the final resting place.

Raja

Arrival of monsoon is cause for celebration for us Indians across the country. Every region of the country has a festival associated with the arrival of monsoon. In northern and western India, Teej celebrates the arrival of monsoon following the hot months of summer In Odisha we have a unique festival known as Raja.

This three day (in some areas four) festival begins on the first day of the month of Asadha (June-July) from which the rainy season starts. It inaugurates and welcomes the agricultural year all over Odisha, which marks, through biological symbolism, the moistening of the sun dried soil with the first showers of the monsoon in mid June thus making it ready for productivity.

It is believed that the mother goddess Earth or the divine wife of Lord Vishnu undergoes menstruation during the first three days. The fourth day is called as Vasumatigadhua or ceremonial bath of Bhudevi. The term Raja has come from Rajaswala (meaning a menstruating woman) and during medieval period the festival became more poular as an agricultural holiday remarking the worship of Bhudevi, who is the wife of lord Jagannath. A silver idol of Bhudevi is still found in Puri Temple aside Lord Jagannatha.

During the three days women are given a break from household work and time to play indoor games. Unmarried girls decorate themselves with new fashion or traditional Saree and Alatha in feet. All people abstain from walking barefoot on earth. Generally various Pithas are made of which Podopitha and ChakuliPitha are main. People play a lot of indoor and outdoor games. Girls play swings tied on tree branches whereas aged ladies play Cards and Ludo. Many villages organise Kabbadi matches among young men. It falls in mid June, the first day is called Pahili Raja, second day is MithunaSankranti, third day is BhudaahaorBasi Raja. The final fourth day is called Basumatisnan, in which the ladies bath the grinding stone as a symbol of Bhumi with turmeric paste and adore with flower, sindoor, etc. All type of seasonal fruits are offered to mother Bhumi. The day before first day is called Sajabajaor preparatory day during which the house, kitchen including grinding stones is cleaned; spices are ground for three days.  

During these three days women and girls take rest from work and wear new Saree, Alaktaka,and ornaments and make merry. Swings paly a dominant role during raja festival.The swings are of different varieties, such as 'Ram Doli', 'CharkiDoli', 'PataDoli', 'DandiDoli' etc. Songs specially meant for the festival speak of love, affection, respect, social behaviour and everything of social order that comes to the minds of the singers. Through anonymous and composed extempore, much of these songs, through sheer beauty of diction and sentiment, has earned permanence and has gone to make the very substratum of Odisha's folk-poetry. While girls thus scatter beauty, grace and music all around, moving up and down on the swings during the festival, young men give themselves to strenuous games and good food, on the eve of the onset of the monsoons, which will not give them even a minute's respite for practically four months making them one with mud, slush and relentless showers, their spirits keep high with only the hopes of a good harvest.

As all agricultural activities remain suspended and a joyous atmosphere pervades, the young men of the village keep themselves busy in various types of country games, the most favourite being 'Kabadi'. Competitions are also held between different groups of villages. All nights 'Yatra' performances or 'Gotipua' dances are arranged in prosperous villages where they can afford the professional groups. Enthusiastic amateurs also arrange plays and other kinds of entertainment. 

Raja is also the time, when different home made cakes (pitha) are made and eaten with relish. The special variety of cake prepared out of recipes like rice-powder, molasses, coconut, camphor, ghee etc. goes in the name of "PodaPitha" (burnt cake). The size of the cake varies according to the number of family members. Cakes are also exchanged among relatives and friends. Young girls do not take rice during the three-day festival and sustain only with this type of cake, rice-crispy ('Mudi') and vegetable curry. 

Marketization of Pitha 

Call it 'PitharaBazarikarana' (marketisation of home made cakes). On the occasion of Raja (14-16 June) Big Bazar has started selling pitha. No need to make at home. Get it off the shelf from the mall.

*** 

10 June 2015
The columnist, a journalist turned media academician lives in Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction. Contact: mrinalchatterjee@gmail.com
Posted in www.orissadiary.com
http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=59591

50 Great Indian Cartoonists | Bal Thackeray

Published in Cartoonwatch. May 2015 issue.
Editor: Triambak Sharma.

Information | Solo Play Festival

CARTOONISTS OF ODISHA | Aswini Rath and Abani Rath

CARTOONISTS OF ODISHA | Aswini Rath and Abani Rath

Bolangir based Aswini Kumar Rath (born 19.9.70) and Abani Kumar Rath (31.5.72) are brothers who work together. In fact they call themselves ‘the only cartoonist brother duo in the world’.[1] 

Aswini has a PhD in botany. He is working as a Lecturer in Botany in Bolangir. Abani did his M.Sc in Chemistry. He is working as an officer in insurance sector. Their first cartoon was published in 1989. Since then their cartoons have been published in several local, national and international newspapers, periodicals and web sites including The times of India, Indian Express, Sambad, Samaj, Dharitri and many others.

They have won many awards and honours. Their cartoons have been exhibited in the prestigious 'First International Saloon of Graphic Humor-Lima-2008, Peru', and won Honourable Mention prize in the 15^th, 16^th and 17th 'Daejeon International Cartoon   Contest in Seoul, Korea in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and  Special Mention prize in the '2^nd Free Cartoons Web International Cartoonist Festival', China, 2003.

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[1] www. aswiniabani.com

Article | Media and Development

Media for Development: Issues, Factors and a final Caveat

Prof. (Dr.) Mrinal Chatterjee    

Professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC),

What is Development?

Development is a complex issue, with many different and sometimes contentious definitions. A basic perspective equates development with economic growth. The United Nations Development Programme uses a more detailed definition,[1]  according to which development is to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community. Thus, development encompasses other indicators of quality of life, both physical and metaphysical, as an individual and as a member of the society.

Achieving human development is linked to a third perspective of development which views it as freeing people from obstacles that affect their ability to develop their own lives and communities. Development, therefore, is empowerment.[2]

What is Media?

Media is defined as “Communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional messages are disseminated. Media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax, and internet.”[3]

However, often it is used to denote ‘news media’ or ‘press’.

What Media does?

Media can play five roles. There can be considerable overlapping in the roles.

·         Media as an Informer: Media informs. That is the primary function of news media. It informs about events; and also about various problems of society, and what causes them, and what is being done or not done about them. This helps fix accountability.

·         Media as a Watchdog: Media defends public interest by keeping watch over the goings on in the society. It is said that sunshine is the best disinfectant. That somebody is watching me- is the best deterrent to lot of social maladies like corruption.

·         Media as an Enabler: Media increases people’s access to information. Information brings them power and to some extent prosperity. If we take a look at the media consumption and development matrix of Kerala and Bihar or Orissa, we shall find that there is a clear relation between access and use of media and development. It also can and often does act like a force multiplier, creating and/or consolidating public opinion.

·         Media as a Public sphere: People can air and share their ideas through mass media. Issues can be discussed. Suggestions for solutions of problems can be aired and discussed.

·         Media as a Platform: Media provides platform, where people can air their grievances, put forth their views, and participate in governance. By providing a platform and acting as a public sphere, it enables people to engage with governance.

Media and Development

As stated earlier, media encompasses several genres with diverse objectives. Depending on its nature, agenda and objective, its engagement with development could range from zero to cursory to nihilistic to the whole hearted one.

Among the media which engages itself with development there could be two broad divisions: media on development and media for development. It needs further explanation.

The news media usually focuses on development from news angle. They may report on development related events/issues, analyze and debate over concerned issues/initiatives. This may be called Development Journalism. The objective basically is to inform the stakeholders and to help them an informed decision by providing analysis and perspective from different angles.

Then there is a section of Media which works for development. This could be NGOs, development activists, Public Relation Personnel of government or even Corporations effecting development projects. This might include a section of news media too. This could be termed as Development Communication. It has a different objective. Development communication is organized effort to use communications processes and media to bring about development by several means including effecting some kind of behaviour change on the part of stakeholders. Its scope and scale of operation is usually bigger than Development Journalism.

Can Media impact Development?

Several research studies have conclusively proved that media influences attitudes, perceptions and decision making; and it generally influences behaviour. Interestingly, it does, often without people knowing it. Consider Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.[4] Media often helps create that environment/ambience in which learning takes place.

However it must also be noted that media’s influence is not all pervasive. Media is not the kind of magic bullet that once it was considered to be. Several factors (social, political, behavioral and psychological) impact media’s efficacy.

Besides these, media, especially news media now has to grapple with some issues if it wants to remain relevant in its engagement with development process.

Issues

a.      Control: Media must enjoy considerable freedom to meaningfully engage with the development process.  A controlled media can hardly be effective. Control of the media by a few individuals, corporations or governments is inimical to the media’s ability to effectively carry out its role.

b.      Framing: It is defined as “Setting an approach or query within an appropriate context to achieve a desired result or elicit a precise answer.”[5]. Put simply, it means how do you want your viewers/readers to see an event/issue. Framing in the social sciences refers to a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, groups, and societies organize, perceive, and communicate about reality. In psychology domain, ‘framing effect’ is an example of cognitive bias, in which people react differently to a particular choice depending on whether it is presented as a loss or as a gain. Media can, if it wants, create that bias. Noam Chomsky has elaborated on the concept as ‘manufacturing consent’.

c.       Competition: Media world has become over crowded, at least in India. There are over 84, 000 publications, 700 plus television stations including over 200 news channels, over 500 radio stations including the AIR stations and private stations and countless news sites. In a fiercely competitive field, all players shout and screech for attention; and unfortunately in the competitive screeching the core issue often gets lost.

d.      Trivialisation: The fierce competition in the media world and other factors including financial often make media go for the trivial. Trivialisation erodes its credibility.

Caveat

Media can play a meaningful positive role in the process of development. However, media’s role can be negative for the society if they are selective, biased, sensational, trivial and inclined to propaganda and other vices.
Therefore, Media must maintain its credibility[6]. Credibility is the source of all power of Media. Media is powerful because people have faith in it. People believe in what appears in media. This faith propels people to action. It may not always translate to immediate physical action. But the impact is there. It shows probably in the next election result or rejection of a policy or in any which way. And because it leads to action, media assume the position of power.

Credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise. Trustworthiness means the condition of being worthy of being trusted.[7] Trust on the other hand means firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Being truthful and reliable are two major constructs of trust. Expertise[8] means special skill, knowledge, or judgment. People rely on the reports published in media also because they have faith on the ability of the people doing it.

Media Credibility depends on just two factors: Satya (Truth) and Seva (Service).

Truth- not in any philosophical sense, but in a very mundane physical sense: complete adherence to fact- unbiased, objective.

Service[9] - not in a physical sense but in an altruistic sense: media must have a moral universe, a sense of justice[10] and fairplay; and empathy for the underprivileged.

When Media sticks to ‘truth’ and ‘service’ it almost automatically helps development- physically and socially; and also morally and spiritually.

***

7 April 2013

Sanchar Marg, Dhenkanal 759 001, Odisha

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[1] Development is a comprehensive, economic, social, cultural and political process which aims at the constant improvement of the wellbeing of the entire population and of all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of benefits resulting there from.-UN Definition

[2] http://www.volunteeringoptions.org/VolunteeringDevelopment/WhatisDevelopment/tabid/78/Default.aspx

[3] http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/media.html#ixzz2PgZO9UUu

[4] http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html#sthash.eiOG1VpH.dpuf.

Bandura’s social learning theory indicates the effectiveness of human social models in influencing another to change behaviors, beliefs or attitudes, as well as social and cognitive functioning. Through processes such as observation, vicarious experience (experience gained by observing another) and social interaction, one can acquire the behaviors or expertise mediated through a human social model. The theory takes into account that learners can abstract a range of information from the behaviors of others and that learners can then make decisions about which behaviors to adopt and which to ignore or not adopt. Bandura notes that learners may acquire internal codes of behavior that they may or not perform later based on the observation.

http://www.ulqcl.com/kappnotes/index.php/2011/05/banduras-social-learning-theory/

[5] http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/framing.html

[6] [noun] the quality of being believable or trustworthy. Synonyms: credibleness, believability.

[7] http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/trustworthiness

[8] It consists of those characteristics, skills and knowledge of a person (that is, expert) or of a system, which distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people.  An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain. An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study. An expert can be, by virtue of credential, training, education, profession, publication or experience, believed to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may rely upon the individual's opinion.

[9] Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with the Truth: “In the very first month of Indian Opinion, I realised that the sole aim of journalism should be service (Penguin Books, 1983) ”. This is the essence of ethics for media.

[10] As Martin Luther King, Jr had said,…. “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Presented as a paper at the seminar on “Frontiers of Development Practices in India: Reconfiguring the Development of Underdevelopment”, 13-14 April 2013, organized by Dept. of Sociology, School of social Sciences, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack

Column | Window Seat

Puri, now

I was in Puri just two days before DebasnanaPurnima, little over a month and half before Nabakalebara, the mega event which is expected to attract millions of devotees to this small town. The entire town seemed to be dug up throwing all traffic into utter chaos. Residents of Puri are fed up with the incomplete road and drainage works, which seem to go on for ever. Look at the accompanying photographs taken by Ashok Panda on the morning of SnanaPurnima and you will realise what am I taking about. Compounding their woe is ceaseless power disruptions.
The entire town wears a shabby look, with debris thrown by the roadside, waste water flowing on the road from choked drains, small kiosks selling everything from fast food to trinkets practically everywhere in the town. The road from Bhubaneswar to Puri is still incomplete. The two rail crossings are proving to be major bottle necks. The double lining of railway tracks is far from complete. I strongly suspect the delay in finishing many of these works, especially the road and drainage work in Puri town is deliberate. In the last minute hurry many works will be covered up with substandard job at an exorbitant price. The temple, Srimandira, the centre of attraction looked unkempt. Inside, it was crowded beyond its carrying capacity. Even then people were partaking abhada (prasad) inside the temple, blocking pathways. There were far too many police persons, many of them clueless about what they were supposed to do.
Nabakalebara is just round the corner. and Puri is in a mess. Only a miracle can save it from sliding into a chaos.

Near the Hospital at Puri badadanda. Photo: Ashok Panda

Decentralised Planning 

Recently I attended a Media Workshop on Decentralised Planning: Development and Mass Media. I was to deliberate on the role of media in decentralised planning and development and to focus on the challenges and opportunities in reporting this. The workshop was organised by Govt. of India and UNDP. That the Govt. has woken up to decentralised planning and implementation is in itself an encouraging sign. The good intentions have not yet shown any practical impact at the ground level is another story.
I feel there are just four issues which impede decentralisation of planning and execution.
a. Socio-psychological condition of people both at the grass roots and at the bureaucracy and higher political domain
b. Administrative bottle necks
c. Capacity Building
d. Financial Decentralisation.
These four issues need to be sorted out, or at least engaged with for decentralisation.

Tailpiece 1: Sun 

Kaas, Surajkivibiwihoti…. To use toda to control me rakhti… (If Sun had a wife, then she would have kept in some control)

Tailpiece 2: Maggi

Q: What is the gender of Maggi? A: Male. It gets ready in 2 minutes. (Courtesy: A social media forward)

*** 

3 June 2015

Journalist turned media academician MrinalChatterjee also writes fiction. He lives in Dhenkanal. He can be contacted at mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
Read this column here:
http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=59438

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Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina, 6-12 June