1Research Scholar, Dept. of Lifelong Learning and Extension, Palli Samgathan Vibhaga, Visva-Bharati and Section Officer (Accounts), Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; ✉atanusinhavb@gmail.com
2Professor and Head, Dept. of Lifelong Learning and Extension (Rural Extension Centre), Palli SamgathanVibhaga, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan
Information is treated as a vital and powerful tool of socio-economic development, no less important than land, labour and capital towards empowerment of people towards attaining sustainable development (SD). Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-sufficiency, self-reliability, self-confidence in a democratic society for controlling their lifelong learning and quality of life. Access of right information at the right time in right form and ability of sharing information to others empowers people. Mass media in this regard plays a crucial role, as a vast portion of population may be reached through mass media. Present study conducted in four Santal villages of Birbhum district (West Bengal) with 100 Santals (50 males and 50 females) attempts to investigate the extent of use and utilization pattern of mass media in information seeking behavior, by the Santals of the study area. Finally, it suggests towards empowering the Santals for attaining sustainable development in the study area. In the study, a mixed reaction of the respondents has been received regarding the exposure to various mass media. Mean value of social awareness based on mass media of female Santals (x2= 109.43) was better than the male Santals (x1= 106.18). The 't’ value of the study indicated that null hypothesis H0 is rejected and alternative hypothesis H1 is accepted. The Santals are incapable of developing themselves, through their own efforts. Many government schemes and initiatives remain still unutilised due to their illiteracy, neo-literacy, barrier of language, lack of guidance, unawareness about the programmes etc. They should be motivated to come out from their isolation and should be aware about various government initiatives. It was also observed that availability of mass media with the Santals is too limited. However, accessibility to this media is somewhat better among them. It was found that evening (between 1730 - 1800 hours) was the best time for exposing themselves to mass media. Folk items and formal discussions were the preferred format in terms of mass media. The study demands for coalition of traditional folk media with mass media, to improve their quality of life and attain empowerment.
Information communication, Mass media, Information seeking behaviour, Agriculture, Self-help group employees, Rural credits/loans, Santals, Visva-bharati
