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In view of its special position, the rural press has multifunctional roles to play.
- The rural press can be a link between the policy makers, bureaucracy and farmers.
- Print media can play the role of providing scientific knowledge, imparting adult education and promoting social awareness and development.
- Rural press can disseminate information and knowledge about nutrition, health and hygiene, improved farm practices, family planning measures, employment, development plans and the programmes and policies of the government for poverty alleviation, credit and land reforms.
- They should cover subjects like success story of a farmer, problems faced in marketing of agricultural produce, social superstitions and taboos inhibiting economic growth and productivity, rural banking facilities, use of fertilizers, manure, high yielding variety seeds, irrigation, animal husbandry, dairying, mechanization for optimizing agricultural production.
- The other areas of coverage can be weather forecast reports, health of livestock and their sale and purchase, new development projects like construction of a new road or a bridge in the village, water canals, and electrification.
- Rural press should be the mirror of local people, there worries, their anxieties, their troubles and tribulations. The rural reporter should be in touch with day to day life problems of the common man- a small scale or a marginal farmer, rural artisan, village school teacher, etc.
- The rural press which basically is grass root journalism can cater to all this.
- The rural press can also make public participation in government policies more informed, relevant and meaningful. Apart from broadening the educational base of its readers, the rural press can break down the barriers of isolation and thus be a catalyst for change and growth.
- Thus rural press has a rich potential, an educational and constructive role to play in the sphere of nation building. All that is required is consistent and dedicated effort by rural press in this direction.
- With the gradually increasing percentage of literate rural population and the level of general awareness going up and with improvement of income, rural press can definitely fill the hiatus which at present exists at the various level of bureaucracy, agricultural scientists, political leadership and farming community.
- With sustained efforts, innovative approach, training opportunities and governmental support and incentives, it is possible to build up a cadre of committed journalists who can meet the communication requirement of the rural population.
- Improved communication in rural sector would help in improving agriculture, health, hygiene, economic condition etc. and thereby accelerate the speed of national development
Press is essential and as integral part of democratic functioning of governance of any society. The same is true for India also. The press, as an institution gathers processes and disseminates information that keeps the nation going. While democratic activities and functioning are rebuts in all sections of Indian society and more so in rural India, the press which is supposed to provide essential inputs and links to healthy democratic functioning, is largely confined to elite in urban areas. This perhaps is one of the causes of some of the observations and malfunctioning of our democratic institutions like many other sectors of our economy and social life, the development and growth of press is also skewed is favor of urban population.
It is true that the press has come a long way in becoming professional in its approach and showing excellence in production and is doing very well and is performing the traditional watch dog function. But it has to great extent failed to pay adequate attention to some cardinal objectives of newspapers as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi which was still relevant to the healthy functioning and operation of the press today, especially for growth and expansion of rural press. While the press in India has been fearlessly exposing defects is public life, it has not paid sufficient attention to the other two objectives of the press named.
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Participants