Participation in the mainstream media: CNN-IBN is a 24-hour, English-language news channel which provides a slot for airing mini-documentaries produced by local citizens on a cotemporary social issue. The initiative, aptly called “Citizen Journalists Initiative” has so far attracted many feedbacks on the atrocities and irregularities by the public authorities, binding them to take immediate actions. Majority of the print and non-print media including city-based FM radio stations, television channels and newspapers regularly stay in touch with their audience through phone-in programmes, field visits, SMS-polling, audience survey and numerous other methods. Recent media reportings, especially in the television news channels have been successful in launching a public outrage against the political hypocrisy that takes place right in the citadel of the world’s largest democracy. In many ways, media activism successfully holds the public officers accountable to their positions, failing which they are directed to relinquish from their posts. Media has emerged more powerful than ever before - bearing enormous developmental efforts for the society. Even then, a large section of the society – constituting mainly of small farmers and cultivators, fishermen, pastoralists, industry workers, artisans, among others – remain the indirect participants of this silent media revolution. At the one hand, they possess little or no access to the electronic media; and on the other, they are not socially and economically empowered to contribute to this silent revolution.

Voice inclusion: If voices of few media organisations can held the politicians and bureaucrats alike accountable, small scale media units in villages can show the rural society to development. For the majority of culturally rich villagers, electronic media ventilates the unheard and undocumented cultural expressions in form of orgal history, dance, papetry, handicrafts and many others. Villagers are equally rich in traditional knowledge that help them perform better in their socio-economic environment. At the same time, villagers are the vicitms of illiteracy, taboo and oppression. Instances of crime and violence like robbery, murder, rape, cheating, sorcery are rampant in the villages and media only can aggravate justice for the vicitm and punity for the criminal. Otherwise, victims of socio-economic oppression will never be solaced and the tradition of ever-continuing violence will be prevailed. In a sense, grassroots media is meant for citizen’s empowerment. Empowerment comes through access to information, access to fair and effective law enforcement and justice system, ensuring effectiveness of public services and people’s own social, cultural and political emancipation.

Technological inclusion: Today, internet, radio and television dominate the media industry. India is witnessing rapid inroad of a least two media – radio and television. Media is thus far dominated by the rich and elite class who design and deliver the message to the poor and the less privileged. Internet is an inclusive, cost-effective, democratic, interactive and personalised media which provides the users to publish content in many forms – through email, webpages, blogs, audio and video content. Electronic media like this are urban centric and distant from the rural lives. Our experiences show that rural areas are easily adaptive of electronic media, technologically and otherwise.

Gender inclusion: Women are the primary agents of change for India’s 0.6 million villages, as they serve as the leaders in self-help groups, co-operatives, milk-producer’s groups, pastoralists, creche, local governments, health centres and so on. Yet, women are the most marginalised and opressed when it comes to socio-economic empowerment. In an inclusive information society, women are the leaders in the emerging media revolution. Voice of women knowledge workers must be heard through the electronic media – for they own the message of development for their families and for their villages. With the launch of the National Rural Health Mission (2005-12), a country-wide programme ushered by the Indian government to bring trained healthcare facility at the doorsteps of the millons of villagers, women health activists are being recruited as part of the programme. Electronic media for these health activists, called ‘accredited social heath activist (ASHA)’ is proved to essential for their continuing education and training, awareness-raising and mass mobilisation. Women need to be empowered to exercise their ownership and control of their rights to broadcast their voices through media. This indeed is necessary in the exisisting context where victims of torture and death from dowry or rape are discouraged from reporting or forced to withdraw complaints from law enforcement agencies. Media ownership is a step forward towards promoting gender security.

Youth inclusion: Today children and youth constitute the largest population segment of Indian society. Their participation in the media revolution has been sought by agencies like UNESCO, UNICEF and others. Media broadens the social, cultural and educational experiences of young people at large while providing them an opportunity to actively engage in the community affairs. Many of the knowledge workers being trained in media productions are youth and they fulfill their social responsibilities very well. In developing countries, most of the telecentre managers will be well under the age of 30. It is not surprising that young people are leading the creation of knowledge societies. As a result of globalisation, young people are increasingly being averted to their social responsibilities. In today’s political scenario, highly-educated youth is a rare phenomenon. Engagement in media production makes children and youth more responsive and sensitive to social issues. As such, being adaptive to the electronic media than others, children and youth are the natural trainers for the rest of the society.

Barriers to inclusion: Till now, infrastructure has been the key barrier to local media production. Policies in favour of local media production are in exisistence for quite some time now, but so far this has not been given the priority in the government’s annual budget. Despite compelling arguments and advocacy, community radio in India has so far received no support from Indian government. Nevertheless, the process of creation of grassroots ICT infrastructure has just began in India. At least two governmental programmes – the Common Services Centres (CSC) and the National e- Governance Plan (NeGP) – draw the framework of creating rural ICTinfostructure. It is expected that the grassroots media productions will eventually exploit these facilities. Capacity-building of grassroots citizens in media production is a major challenge. Villagers are fraught with many socioeconomic problems and the development agencies must plan and implement the capacity building programmes very carefully. Training of trainers (ToT) methodology is successful in cascading the capacity-building efforts to a wider population, but in this case the training agency is required to work in tandem with the trainers and the media producers to oversee the implementation process. In essence, several regional and language-based networks can sustain the initial momentum.

Including the excluded: Challenge of fighting against the social and political exclusion lies in the success of media empowerment. Rural women, children and youth population who are traditionally excluded are empowered while being the lead constituency in the emerging media revolutions. Local media houses produce content in local languages, on local issues – then such voices become drivers for policy and public reforms. Since the evolution of poverty reduction strategies and national development plans, citizen’s participation in the mainstream development agenda has been a challenge for the funding agencies, national and local governments. With the evolution of local media, citizens are directly empower med to broadcast their opinions in development process. As globalised economy is directly impacting local values and cultures, religious and non-secular violence is erupting, posing threats to local and global security. In the neo-world order, local media holds enormous potential and responsibility in creating inclusive information society.