Journalism Students From Invertis University Explore Rural Life

The heart of any country lies in its villages. One needs to be acquainted with the challenges of rural life to appreciate its simplicity. A group of students from the Invertis University recently payed a call to the villages of Badhauli and Prithvipur (Bareilly) as a part of their Journalism and Mass Communication curriculum. This visit helped the students to closely observe the life in the rural areas and interact with the village Pradhan’s.

The conversation with the Pradhan’s enables the students address important health and sanitization challenges and share information on relevant government schemes. Mr. Ashish Chatterjee, Assistant Professor Ms. Jasdeep Kaur, and Mr. Vipul Raj, a senior journalist and a local of the village accompanied the students on the rural visit and imparted some useful anecdotes.

There are several government schemes that are in fact extremely useful for the villages, but the locals fail to utilize those schemes out of ignorance. The remaining villagers face various challenges and end up not enjoying the fruits of these schemes. The visit of these students and their discussions with the Pradhan’s help them ideate on various ideas and develop a plan to get financial assistance for their ventures.

Toilets have been constructed in all the rural areas by the government. However, the villagers lacked knowledge about the importance of sanitation and the health challenges that occurs due to open defecation. The conversation of the students with the villagers, helped them provide the much-needed push to act in the right direction. The villagers felt comfortable in opening-up and conversing freely about their problems with students, which was a positive signal in terms of the success of the trip.

The students also suggested a number of precautions to ensure the safety of the women and children in the village.

· Ensuring Clean Drinking water

· Preventing Female infanticide

· Prevention Of Diseases By Vaccination

· Discouraging Open Defecation

· Encouraging Frequent Female Health Check-Ups and more

While organizing rural visit for students is extremely insightful, more volunteers and government officials should visit such areas to better understand the challenges and problems faced by the villagers.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (bank account opening with zero balance), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna (savings account for female child), Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana (health insurance program for the poor), MUDRA or Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency ltd., (loan without collaterals up to Rs. 10 lakhs), electrification and providing cooking fuel to thousands of villages etc., are among the many schemes from the government that has made a huge impact in the rural lives.

While there are several governmental schemes introduced, many villages face their own challenges in terms of realizing their value. The visit of government officials, volunteers (as a part of the CSR), and by the educational institutions encourage the rural inhabitants to understand the importance of various lifestyle and socio-economical changes. Such visits are also very critical to help students become socially aware. Living in towns and cities, they often get used to feeling entitled. Rural visits give them an alternate perspective and help connect identify various methods through which holistic development could be achieved.