According to a 2006 report on the Indian media by Delhi’s Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, upper caste men, who were 8% of the country’s total population, make up about 71% of key decision-makers in the industry. In contrast, members of other backward castes (OBCs), who are 40% of the population, had only a 4% representation in key decision-making. Members of scheduled tribes had no say at all.
Filmmaker Stalin K. was prompted by this inequity in the media — and what he calls its ‘corporate’ capture — to take an alternative approach and start Video Volunteers, a group of community correspondents using handheld cameras supplemented by other technologies like smartphones and tablets. VV revenue comes from selling content to media organisations and donations.
At a recent event at the Godrej India Culture Lab, We the Nation: Micro Narratives of Change, Mr. Stalin spoke about the team’s video series, India Unheard. “We wanted people who were part of the communities and who could live the stories that they were telling,” he said. “As journalists, we were always taught to not get attached, to parachute in and out. I always thought that never made sense, because I wanted to get involved.”
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VV’s Mumbai correspondents were part of the presentation. Their brief, they said, is to not just report a story but also to follow it up toward finding a solution. They proudly say that their reports are subjective, and that their audience is free to make their own judgements.
Amol Lalzare said while commuting on local trains, he would pass a station called Vangani on Central Railway’s Main Line; there, he would see a large group of blind men and women carefully attempting to cross the railway tracks together to get to the platform. He wondered why there was no provision for a foot overbridge, and decided to explore. He found that the village is home to about 350 blind people, and a large proportion take the trains to get to the city for work. The government had been promising for years to build a foot overbridge to help them get to the platform safely, but had not delivered. Their only option was rely on each other to cross safely. While interviewing residents, Mr. Lalzare met a woman who had lost her arm when she had been knocked down by a train.
Mr. Lalzare showed his video about Vangani to concerned officers in the BMC and the Railways, and went regularly with residents of Vangani to petition for the bridge. It led to some action from the government, who promised a budget of ₹1.5 crore but, Mr. Lalzare said, the project has since been caught up in local politics.
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Another video by Zulekha Sayyed reported on how 900 families were made homeless after their colony in Nala Sopara was demolished. ‘Builders’ had tricked them into paying for houses, and then vanished without a trace. The video gained several thousand views on YouTube. Ms Sayyed said she felt it was important to cover issues such as these in order to tell the story of people who live on the margins.
“When people travel on the train everyday they may see informal colonies like these being demolished without understanding what happens to the people who live here. I felt it was important to cover demolitions like these because one day it could happen to my own community too.” Ms Sayyed lives in a slum area near Ghatkopar, and another video from her locality on open drains and garbage dumping helped spur action by the BMC after she showed it to her local councillor and gathered support for a campaign within her community.
The Mumbai work is just one example, Mr. Stalin said, that who produces the content is as important as what is produced.
VV now has 220 community correspondents in 170 districts across 17 states. They include 51 women, 30 dalits, 30 Adivasis, 25 religious minorities and 90 agriculturalists. The organisation’s eventual plan is to be present in every district in India.