MASS MEDIA AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THREE VILLAGES OF WESTERN U. P.

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1 SHORTER NOTES MASS MEDIA AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THREE VILLAGES OF WESTERN U. P. Amit Malik Lecturer in Sociology, D.A.V.(P.G) College Muzaffarnagar Development of mass media and society can be considered as being interlocked as mass media can produce development of society and vice-versa. Communication acts as both an instrument and product of development and economic development and educational development are correlated. Nath, Rao and Babu (2001) conducted a study on multistage response towards agriculture. It reveals that the prevailing socio-economic and cultural situation has a better impact on the information processing aspects. Chalam (2002) conducted a study on social barriers as impediments of information. The study indicates that information is not within the reach of the dalits. The dalits as an ex-untouchables social category is still found to be away from the social communication network. Hart (2002) believes that media forges many attitudes, raises barriers and can play a role in limiting freedom in a democratic society. The role of communication has been very significant. With the development of science and technology for the farmers ways of communication have to become more specialized in a country like India which is so vast and varied. The communication and its media plays a pivotal role in disseminating the new technology generated by research organizations. An attempt has been made here to understand the impact importance of mass media for rural development. The findings of the present study state the impact of news paper, radio, and television on rural population in terms of the interrelation between mass media and rural development. Developing countries are societies in a hurry. They want to catch up fast. They can be assisted by mass media for making people aware of what they want to catch up with. The people in the developing world can not entirely depend on extension work since the extension agents tend to provide intensive assistance to only a small number of innovative, wealthy, educated farmers. This will only accelerate lopsided development, which is against the very spirit of development. But in mass media communication, the masses can participate provided they have the provision to exploit the media potentialities.

2 280 THE EASTERN ANTHROPOLOGIST 64:2-3 (2011) Mass communication has multiplier property. It produces development attitude rapidly and inculcates the capacity to emphasize (Lerner 1958) and facilitate psychic mobility. Empathy is a necessary condition for the liberation of people from traditional bonds (ibid 1958:50). Mc Clelland s (1961:34) thesis is that certain types of media content raise achievement motivations which is necessary for development. It has been commented that with exposure to mass media the individual relates himself to the outside world but, in the case of rural development, mass media can hardly function by themselves. They can create awareness about the existence of new practices for development but a person may not adopt a modern agriculture practice if he comes to know of it only through mass media. However, when it is seen practised successfully, adoption is speeded up. This means that for securing action, personal reinforcement is necessary. Schramm (1967:3) is of the opinion that only when media channels can mix with interpersonal channels and with organization in the village, the expected development will occur. Kuthiala (1980) points out the major role that can be played by radio in the different areas of rural development, namely, agriculture, family planning, non-formal education, formal education, industrial planning and control, national integration and international co-operation. But an adverse remark is that radio is a status symbol and not a change agent in certain rural settings. Rao, however mentions the results of experiments which reveal that radio is a superior medium than brochures, posters, etc., for making changes and informing about practices. But he again cites that there were also results which contradict this happy result. Klapper (1960:110) reported that those who have higher cultural level will prefer reading than listening. This might be due to the reader s convenience, but re exposure also is possible through both the means. The study conduct by Binod Agarwal and M.R. Malik (1968:15) in village Kheda is an attempt to understand the potentialities and limitations of television as an instrument of cultural change, for accelerating the development process. This study was conducted to understand the position of television as a social institution vis-à-vis the rural people and their human problems in the context of ground relalities of estimating precisely how much it was able to contribute in certain specific areas. Objectives of the study The present study will focus on the problem through the following questions: 1. Examine the relationship between mass media and social and economic development in the rural population;

3 SHORTER NOTES Assess the status and role performance of newspaper, radio and television as a mass communication in the village; 3. Identify the informational needs of the rural people through newspapers, radio and television; and 4. Suggest the means for effective performance of mass media as an instrument of socio-cultural change and rural development. The first question aims to highlight the inter relationship between mass media and rural development and focus on the role of mass media in social and economic development in the rural areas. The second question focusses on finding out mode of various mass media like newspapers, radio, and television among them in order to see which is the more inflective and effective mode. The third question intends to identify the needs of the rural areas to be fulfilled by mass communication. And the fourth question will determine the effectiveness of mass media as instruments for the social, cultural and rural development in respect of different sections on the basis of age, sex, income, health, education, occupation, value ideas, industrial opportunities and their accessibilities. Methodology All the above issues have been studied at micro level, i.e. in a rural setting of Muzaffarnagar district of western U.P. Muzaffarnagar district is situated in Ganga Yamuna plain. The river Ganga makes the eastern boundaries and river Yamuna makes the western boundaries of the district. The district extends between longitude and latitude 29.30, 232 meters above the sea level. It is admistratively divided into five tehsils and 14 blocks and 1027 villages. The selected villages namely Butrada, Bhainshwal and Karodi are situated in Tehsil Shamli. The number of households studied was 300 and 100 were selected from each village. The information was collected by stratified (purposive) random sampling method through observation and structured interview schedules. The field work was done in the year Findings 1. Out of the total respondents, 10% respondents who use all means of mass media and 8% respondents use television only have shown high use of agricultural implements and new seeds and fertilizers under the impact of mass media. 2. Out of the total respondents, 20% respondents who used all means of mass media and 16% respondents using television only have shown high use of electronic goods. 3. Out of the total respondents, 8% respondents who used all means of mass media have also used vehicles in higher number.

4 282 THE EASTERN ANTHROPOLOGIST 64:2-3 (2011) 4. Out of the total respondents, 15.6% respondents of middle age group and 12.3% respondents of upper age group had high levels of awareness created by mass media about the development practices. 5. Out of the total respondents, 32% respondents of other backward castes, 3.3% respondents of general castes and 3.3% respondents of scheduled castes, respectively had high levels of awareness created by mass media about development practices. 6. Out of the total respondents, 17% respondents who had education upto intermediate level, 11.6% graduate respondents and 6% postgraduate respondents had high levels adoption of developmental practices. All the respondents who had technical education (2%) had a high level of awareness created by mass media about the development practices. 7. Out of the total respondents, 18.6% respondents of middle income group and 18% respondents of high income group had high levels of awareness about development practices, created by mass media. Johnson (1959) has pointed out that the reception of mass media is influenced by such characteristics as age and socioeconomic and educational attainment. The present study also shows the same impact of age, caste, education, income, and occupation through the means of mass media. In a study, Kuthiala (1980) pointed out the major role that can be played by radio in different areas of rural development, namely agriculture, non formal education and formal education. Binod Aggrawal and M.R.Malik (1968) conducted a study in village Kheda to understand the potentialities and limitations of television as an instrument of cultural change on accelerating the development process. The findings of Aggrawal et al. (1968) are that television influences the various dimensions, while the present study revealed that television plays a significant role for rural as well as agricultural development, seen in the level of exposure and awareness at the stage of adoption by rural people. Malik and Aggrawal and pointed out that a majority of rural population engaged in agriculture or related occupations, acquire maximum information through television as comparised to radio and newspaper. Therefore, we can say that in the present study it has been seen that the audio-visual media is the most effective one for making a changes in various aspects of rural life. The impact of visual media on overall development has been influenced by various dimensions such as age, caste, income, education and occupation. The respondents of middle age groups, middle income status and other backward castes have shown a high level of exposure and adoption to development practices, created by mass media. It has also been observed that as the educational level of respondents increased there has been an increase in the level of exposure and adoption of development practices introduced by mass media.

5 SHORTER NOTES 283 REFERENCES Abhay Nath, C. C. Rao and V. R. Babu 2001 Multistage response towards agriculture information. Rural India, Bombay. Aggarwal, Binod C. and M. R. Malik 1968 Television in Kheda. New Delhi: Concept Publishers. Chalam, K. S Social barriers impediments of information, Social Action, 53(4): Hart, J White? No sir local professor pushes and to radical privilege. The Boston Globe, City Weekly, 24 September. Johnson, J. W. C Social context and mass media reception studies, Public Communication, 2, summer. Klapper, Joseph T The Effect of Mass Communication. New York: The Free Press. Kuppuswamy, B Communication and Social Development In India. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers. Kuthiala, B. K Village study shows radio is a status symbol not agent of change, Communicator, 15(1): 3-5. Lerner, Daniel 1958 The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing The Middle East. New York: The Free Press. Lerner, Daniel and Wilbur Schramm 1959 Communication and Change in Developing Countries: Honolulu: East- West Centre Press. Mc Clelland, David 1961 Achieving Society, Prnceton, New Jersey. Van No Strand. Mc Millan Rao, BSS 1992 Television For Rural Development, New Delhi, Concept Publishers. Rao, Lakshmana, Y. V Communication and Development, Delhi. Schramm, Wilbur and Lee, W. Ruggeh 1967 How Media System Grow. Yadav, J. S Communication strategy and the challenge of rural development, Communicator, 14(2): 6.