Tuesday, December 25

How stories can help

Five days back a friend of mine broke a story abut a village which does not have electricity in Madhya Pradesh but also mentioned that the villagers own mobile sets in the same place. Another friend of mine said “big deal” that’s not a chronicle. I got an anecdote and another friend of mine already had a yarn to unearth.

The story came back through different windows. We heard and read on channels, newspapers, news sites, personal sites, blogs etc etc
Village without an electricity but mobile penetration is there.
Village without electricity but they go for charging their mobiles to 35 km away
Village without electricity but handsets enable the aforementioned denizens to contact outsiders in case of emergency (or to pass along the latest gossip.
Village who lives on a below poverty line and do not have electricity have cell phones.
Telecom revolution has reached a dalit village
In this powerless village called Kajrai in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, it is the Mobile Phone that's lighting up the otherwise dark lives of people.
Mobiles have proved to be lifesavers in times of emergency.
India mobilizes for a rural revolution
Village without an electricity but can be contacted by politicians through sms.

Mobile phones have given the people in this powerless village a recognition and attention. It was a story unearthed about 30 to 40 individuals living in a Dalit village some 50 miles from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh who walk around 12 miles per day just to get their mobile phones charged for the next 24 hours for yapping. In villages like Kajrai, it is not the government's ambitious universal broadband connectivity, but electricity that people need to ease the daily grind.

1 comment:

  1. I saw this story done by CNN IBN, a paradox, indeed.

    This is true in other cases also, wherein corporate companies can make sure that cold drinks be it any brand reaches 'cold' in the hands of consumer even in the interiors of india while our system cannot make sure that simple vaccine which is life saving remains in ice packs and reaches ' cold; so that it is 'potent' and can save a child from preventable diseases !!!

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