Workshop on NREGA and Media Advocacy: 19-20 Dec 2009

This workshop was part of Pipal Tree’s efforts in developing a platform for journalists to interact with grassroot workers and activists. The central objective of this workshop was to establish media as a key element in information sourcing, support and intervention and to develop an effective media advocacy for the proper implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

NREGA has the potential to redefine the socio-economic and political situation of the rural villages by way of empowering women, adivasis and other marginalised sections of society, improving local governance, generating productive assets in the villages, preventing migration, etc. Unfortunately these potentials are not realised by the State or the people in many parts of the country.

A total of 15 journalists and 23 grassroot workers and activists from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu participated in this two-day workshop held at Fireflies Intercultural Centre, Bangalore. The workshop involved critical appraisals of implementation of NREGA through presentation of case studies from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu and reflections on the role of media in supporting the movements for social and environmental justice.

The relevance of this workshop: The official figure of poverty says that 250 million people in this country are earning less than 12 rupees a day. This is of course contested by other researchers and one very significant research group says that the number probably is as high as 500 million. We all know how far 12 rupees can get us in these days of inflation and price rise. Just the thought of 500 million people are probably earning less than 12 rupees a day is a shattering thought for anybody who is sensitive. All we hear of is the other India which is the second fastest growing economy in the world after China. But a large number of people are struggling to keep their heads above water. Media has an important role to play since they create public opinion. We have to think about the possibility of creating a new media movement in the context of the serious problems we are facing today in the country.

Being a journalist today is not an easy proposition. Infotainment became the major driving force of the media. Every newspaper has different ideological clicks. There are a lot of contradictions in working in the media. And yet all is not lost. There is still some space available in the media. Whenever there is somebody who is determined to communicate s/he is able to communicate. So the challenge is despite the contradictions how we can do something which is still meaningful. Perhaps we can look at the idea of media becoming the kind of a new practical intellectual movement for issues of social justice and of environment.

The other contradiction we found as far as Pipal Tree’s work is concerned is that the relationship between the media and the world of social activists who are working on Dalit issues, tribal issues, environmental issues or fisher-folk struggles is not as strong as it should be. Not that the media has to believe everything that the social activist is saying. Nevertheless this relationship can be useful for both the media and the social activists.

The reason why the focus of this workshop was on NREGA is, here is a programme which has revolutionary potential in the sense that the state itself has legitimised it saying for 100 days of a year each rural family will get employment. If it is true that 500 million people are earning less than 12 rupees a day then this 100 days of employment is truly revolutionary. It can mean a life and death situation for lot of people particularly in the dry season. Yet, given the lethargy of the state bureaucracy and the political class a programme like this can just degenerate into something which has been legislated but full of corruption and apathy and nothing happens. NREGA can be a mindless Act where the panchayath can use the workers for digging a pit, or making a road, if we do not look at the planning process. Local planning is hence necessary to take up work which is meaningful and productive. Here is a possibility for both the media and civil society organisations to see whether this Act can give fresh life to our rural areas.

Understanding of issues for a journalist is very important. But where is the time for journalists to do the reading and the researching, to connect with the real issues in the country. So perhaps we should look at the possibilities of building solidarities with social activists and with intellectuals in the field.

Why we are emphasising the vernacular media is its closeness to the people. Barring an occasional article, by and large the English media is not living up to what it should be doing. Not that the vernacular media is. But perhaps the potential is there and if the journalists in the vernacular media become motivated, become more connected to real issues in a way we can create a new visionary media. Maybe the spaces still exist if we are able to strategise and intelligently use it.

The potentials of NREGS: The structure that we promote in India is not favourable to the poor. The majority of people in the country depend on the environment for their livelihood. When the environment degenerates they are forced to migrate to city in search of employment. They live in the slums and do odd jobs. The growing middle class and the upper middle class rule the world. They do not worry about the growing inequalities and impoverisation of rural and urban poor.

The NREGS has come in this background. The potential for revolution is there in NREGS. But the way it is implemented in most part of India is not satisfactory.

The Act clearly mentions that the goals of NREGS are alleviation of poverty, creation of rural productive permanent assets, supplementary employment when agricultural season gets over and ensuring food security. But the State is trying hard to make sure that these potentials are not realised by the people. Here is the role of media to proactively involve in changing the situation.

The following are the major potentials of NREGS:

1. Cash flows to rural areas
2. Potential to form a union: Unless you organise and struggle you will not get your rights. Many groups failed miserably trying to organise agricultural workers into unions. There were many reasons; the main reason is the agricultural labourers do not work under one employer. In Nrega the State is the employer. This gives an opportunity to organise the agricultural workers to demand for their rights as labourers.
3. Women getting equal wage: Both men and women were avert to the idea of getting equal wages for same work. This social situation is changing with Nrega though with much reluctance.
4. General wages rising: Wherever the activists have organised people to demand for Nrega work one could see an increase of 10 to 15 rupees in the general wages.
5. Solidarity between labourers and marginal farmers: Here since the State is the employer and the marginal farmers have to continue work after the agriculture season is over there is a friendship emerging between the agricultural labourers and marginal farmers.
6. Social security. If you work for 50 days under Nrega you are entitled for health insurance and life insurance. Unfortunately, the workers are not aware of this provision and the state does not want them to know.
7. Rights based approach: On contrary to the earlier government schemes, Nrega is demand driven. In a right based approach you have to assert your rights. If 10 people as a group demand work, on 16^th day they have to be provided employment and if not the state has to give them unemployment allowance. For the first time the state commits itself to the rights based approach.
8. Permanent productive rural assets: The Act clearly says that only those kinds of works to be undertaken which creates rural productive assets. If you build a tank that means you can irrigate your field, plant trees, do fishing and so on. So over a period of time it helps to eradicate poverty. So the emphasis is given to activities like creation of new tanks and ponds, de-silting of lakes, tanks, watershed development, development of SC/ST farm lands, afforestation, making land productive, planting of fruit trees and medicinal plants, etc

   It is the journalists’ responsibility to do investigative journalism and bring to the fore the reality in the field against the visions.

9. Participation in decision making: Nrega gives us an opportunity to participate in the decision making process and to exercise our democratic rights. The potential of Nrega to make the local self governance transparent and accountable is enormous.
10. Environmental regeneration: If planned well, Nrega can contribute to the regeneration of the natural resources.

This Act is a tool to change the unjust social structure. The Hukeri gramapanchayath in Belgaum, where women from Nayaka tribal community made the panchayaths to operate in a transparent way, is an example of the change NREGA has brought in the system.

But it is unfortunate that no newspaper writes on these things. The media has an important role in informing the civil society not only what is happening but also what should be happening.

Challenges in social and environmental reporting: The following are the main points emerged from the interactive session on the challenges in doing investigative reporting on social and environmental issues:   

-          The space available for social and environmental reporting is very limited. Both the vernacular and English newspapers give little representation even for larger issues like farmers’ suicide, rural distress, etc.

-          The daily routine of the journalists are such that it does not allow them to go looking for special stories on important social and environmental concerns like the Nregs.

-          The political orientation of the newspapers is another concern in doing objective reporting.

-          News is getting more and more entertainment oriented and journalism is losing its focus and direction. It is fast losing its ethics and the journalists are easily being diverted from real issues to issues that are trivial, something far from the real concepts of journalism. There are journalists who will publish articles only if they get money or gifts. Political parties are commissioning newspapers. Recently there are reports from Maharashtra that paid advertisements are appearing as news items in news papers.

-         Newspapers do not see the readers as readers; they see them as their customers. So issues are not getting focused in the media.

Suggestions to develop a more effective media advocacy for social and environmental issues: It is true that there is little space available for important social and environmental issues. But, even if the media is giving something flimsy or something trivial, if the journalists are serious, there is a space for serious journalism even in the crazy commercial journals. We must occupy that space.

We must positively influence the decision makers (proprietors and editors) in the magazines and newspapers as to what are the things one must look into. If they are ready to spare at least one person once in a month to look into the activities in the rural areas then the situation could gradually change. This kind of intervention at the level of the decision makers in the newspapers and also the voluntary efforts of the reporters can make a positive change in the media.

It is true that the state and national newspapers have difficulty for space. Whereas there is a lot of scope for such issues in regional papers because the readers of regional papers are the people who are affected by these social issues. Therefore they are open to write about these issues. The national newspapers have to cater for the needs of the corporate world. So there is little space for rural reporting. The first newspaper to write on Nregs in Karnataka was Andolan newspaper, the regional newspaper of Mysore. If the regional papers are given orientation to social issues they will definitely play a supportive role. So we need to associate them well. The cable TV channels are another alternative to get the news to people. But there is a need for a network to share news to the regional newspapers and channels.

We have to identify individual journalists from the newspapers whether it is good or bad and motivate them.  The activists can support them with statistics and field experience. It may not be then difficult in the age of internet and right to information to build a story based on this information.

Discussion on the possibilities of building an Activists-Media partnership: In a context where infotainment is the word of the day, there is a lot of pressure on the journalists, who are seriously committed to social causes. But playing the blame game will not solve the problem. We have to identify what media can do to highlight important social issues and to do this better what kind of support they need from the activists.

There is very little creative relationship between the journalists and the NGOs. Part of the problem is also to find an NGO which is creatively thinking. NGOs have also been corrupted. What many do is self aggrandizement. Most NGOs do not have the ability to sit together, assess what they have done, to say that this issue is important, to produce a press report, etc. There are a few people who have the ability to do so. So maybe we can identify in each state say six NGOs who would be interested to be part of this process and be willing to work with the media in providing information, in proposing that these issues be taken up.

Issue of adivasis or farmers are not important for the newspapers. They may send reporters to write a story on the fashion weeks, but are not ready to send one for a good story to the countryside. But if you are ready to give a good story without sacrificing your daily routine then they would be happy. If there is a media-activist partnership this can happen.

There is a competition between the news papers. So bringing the proprietors of newspapers together for an open session is difficult. But individuals can try to build up relationship with the proprietors and editors of newspapers and magazines. So if 30 of us in the 3 southern states do it, it means 30 editors we are building up a relationship. They are also in a difficult position. So if they can build a trust with a number of people and are aware that will help.  So with a degree of strategizing the situation can be improved at least by 25%.

Infochange India and India Together are doing an alternate kind of journalism in English. We can look into the possibility of having similar web-based journalism in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada. So the local papers can also get resources from this site.

Many state level newspapers also have a district edition which provides a lot of scope for district level news. If you make it a point to make the story interesting then maybe it will be covered by the other district level papers and it becomes state news. So at this level we need to have a workshop for the rural journalists and the freelance journalists on how to write a story, how to project it; not just copying the statistics given to them by an NGO.

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