Media in Development of Tribal Communities A Research Study Three Blocks of the Sirohi District, Rajasthan

Abstract

Purpose: The tribes in India are characterized by the dominant groups as distinctive
with their comparatively more isolated habitation in the hilly and the forest areas, and
their distinct social, economic and cultural lives. The connotation ‘tribe’ attributed to
certain ethnic groups in India is the legacy of the British colonial rule. The present
investigation was carried out to assess the role of media in development of tribal
Communities in Sirohi District, Rajasthan. Further, the study throws pertinently light
on the Sirohi District of Rajasthan and the tribal communities that reside there. The
study also delineates how media plays an important role in developing the region in
different ways.

Design / Methodology / Approach: This study is based on an enthralling philosophy
that tribes stratified deliberate random sampling methodology to collect data from
Sirohi district respondents in Rajasthan particularly from three block i.e. Abu road,
Pindwada and Shivganj. Survey respondents out of the total 500 respondents were
made up of 357 male and 143 females.

Findings: The study reveals that Media has brought into the open the innumerable
achievements that are going on in the country. Media has given the power to reach out
to the society as a whole. It can make heroes out of ordinary men. The media has acted
as a deterrent to many negative forces in this society. Media has significantly promoted
social causes like literacy, health management, anti-dowry practices, discouraging
female feticides, AIDS awareness etc. The effect of mass media in this community is
positive as well as negative. Media is a propeller as well as the direction provider of
society. In the end the research concludes that Traditional Media is higher than issue
coverage by New Media.

Originality / Value: The tribes in India are characterized by the dominant groups as
distinctive with their comparatively more isolated habitation in the hilly and the forest
areas, and their distinct social,economic and cultural lives. The connotation ‘tribe’
attributed to certain ethnic groups in India is the legacy of the British colonial rule.
The present investigation was carried out to assess the role of media in development of
tribal Communities in Sirohi District, Rajasthan. Further, the study throws pertinently
light on the Sirohi District of Rajasthan and the tribal communities that reside there.
The study also delineates how media plays an important role in developing the region
in different ways