Jacob Cherian writes about how blogs are being used in India to highlight social issues (via Munir Umrani). Blogs have become one of the easiest and cheapest ways of broadcasting. The blogs mentioned by Jacob are focused on the state of Madhya Pradesh
- Campaign to raise concern on maternal deaths in Madhya Pradesh, India
- newswhichmatter
- About infant mortality
There are also sites like Tsunami Help India which maintains information about lost people and increases awareness about requirements and contributions. One blog that I had noticed was Mumbai Help which has been used extensively during emergency situations. It is in fact a part of the WorldWide Help Group. I had come across Blogswana which aims at increase HIV/AIDS education in the African country of Botswana.
I think blogs are an ideal means of highlighting and popularizing social issues. Of course, Internet is still not accessible to everyone, but the access is improving at good speed, at least for the urban areas. The unfortunate plight in developing countries is that the urban population, which usually has higher literacy percentage, is not aware of social issues in the rural parts where lives are dominated by illiteracy. The mainstream media is not enough to highlight these issues, it is too inaccessible for everyone to voice their concerns. Even if they are published, these news get lost in the national and political news. In addition, the mainstream media is too one way to convert the news into an issue in which the readers can participate.
Blogs have made it easy and inexpensive to amplify the local voice. Also, blogs can act as medium of broadcast, and sometimes even two-way communication that bridges the gaps. One other thing that the blogs do, is to maintain the archive, which can document the state very well. I sincerely believe that blogs can bring people together and provide a platform for communication on social issues. I hope that the NGOs, social institutions and even the individuals, if not the Government leverage this technology.
February 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Its nice to see such initiatives but it will definitely take a long time before such initiatives garner any importance. As you are already aware, in India, newspapers and tv news is the main way to spread news. Blogging can be a powerful means only if it is read by the right people. By right people I mean bureaucrats, politicians and NGO’s. It will take a long time before the above said people start reading. Nonetheless, its a start. Maybe the newspapers could do something by publishing a column from blogs highlighting such issues.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
True, it is important that the right people read it. However, I think even if the common man gets aware by reading blogs it will help a lot.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:42 am
[...] is already used in India to highlight social issues, but this shows a strange and unexpected growth pattern in India. It is growing more in the common [...]