Community Visit: Women community of Madhupur, Dibrugarh

Development Communication

Paper Code: 20300

Academic Year 2018

Centre for Studies Mass Communication and Journalism

Dibrugarh University,

Dibrugarh, Assam – 793101

Submitted to:

Abhijit Handique

Assistant Professor, CSJMC; Dibrugarh University, Assam

Submitted by-

Roktim Das

Jyoti Pathar

Pankaj Lohan

Kangkana Boro

Santanu Konwar

Priyanka Sharma

Aparna Mohanta

Deepshikha Sharma

Shyamalima Dolakasharia

Devashree Diksha Sandilya

CLASS: 2^ND Semester 2018

Centre for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication.

ABSTRACT

   Madhupur village is a small village in Dibrugarh which is facing many problems but the Government does not bother to sustain the village.

India in on the way to get digitalised but the villages is in the same condition which will never allow India to be digitalized. Some villages are still undeveloped and they not even provided with basic needs such as electricity, sanitation, transport etc.

The people of Madhupur depend on agriculture and they work hard the whole day to earn their livelihood but flood destroys that also in the monsoon or the unseasonal rain sometimes. They are not safe in their homes as it so uncertain when flood may occur and they have to secure themselves.

The women in the community are unaware of many things which we tried to give brief knowledge on.

Certain questions were set by us to gain more knowledge about the villagers and their problems.

Through the report we came to know that the women are facing problems still they are happy and confidently answering the questions asked by us.

The women of the village are expecting that the Government will help the someday and they can also lead a happy life.

INTRODUCTION

    Assam is a multi community state where there are numerous communities surviving in different areas and situations.

On 3^rd May 2018, a group of 10 students visited the Madhupur village, Dibrugarh under the guidance of Prakash Chetry, the president of Barbaruah region.

We focussed on women Community of Madhupur village and asked certain questions related to women.

10 Questionnaires were prepared keeping in mind the common social problems faced by the women in the villages. Each questioner consisted of 20 questions related to women and their life in the village and what are their expectations from the state Government.

Madhupur comprises of 3000 population approximately and it is flood prone area where flood takes place very frequently.

Their main basis of livelihood is dairy farm and agriculture.

OBJECTIVES OF THE VISIT:

Ø Basic facilities are provided or not by the government.

Ø How we can be a part of development of woman community in Madhupur village.

Ø Are woman equally treated in the society as compared to man.

Ø  Are they aware of the Human Rights such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Act?

Ø What is the minimum qualification of the married woman in a family?

Ø The women of the village are aware of menstrual hygiene or not.

Ø What is the source of income?

PURPOSE OF THE VISIT

Ø The purpose of this visit is to go through the problems of the women community in Madhupur district.

Ø Estimate the literacy rate of the females in the village.

Ø Through various surveys we came to know that Madhupur village is very slowly developing as they are unaware of the basic facilities provided by the Government.

Ø To come across the social problems faced by the women.

Ø Whether women are treated equally in the society or not.

Ø To eradicate poverty from the village with the help of knowledge which we can provide them.

ASSUMPTIONS AND FINDINGS

 Ø The community is growing very slowly and the women in this village are still facing problems like during menstruation they are not allowed to cook or enter kitchen for 5 days.

Ø Women are yet getting married before 18 years of age.

Ø There is a time limit set for the women. They should get back to their home before the sun sets.

Ø The women of the community are very happy with the government as the government has provided basic facilities.

Example: toilets.

Ø Transportation facilities are poor.

Ø Women are fully dependent on men financially as they are not allowed doing jobs.

Ø  Women are totally against of some of the rules which they had to follow before and after marriage. They want to change the mentality in some context and are upbringing their female child with the modern thinking where both the genders are equal.

Ø  But the women and men are equally involved in the decision making.

Ø Flood is the major problem in Madhupur and puts a bad impact in the area as the whole area gets washed away and they have to rebuild their houses.

Ø Income sources of the family are basically agriculture and local business such as dairy farm. The young boys join Indian Army after their studies.

Ø Women are less educated in comparison to man.

Ø There is no pure drinking water provided in the village which results in poor health conditions of the people.

Ø Elephants create havoc for the villagers as the village is surrounded by huge forest and after the sunsets they come towards the village and destroy the villagers grain ,vegetables etc 

 OBSERVATION

    The women of each family we visited came up to answer the questions asked by us. They showed keen interest and became comfortable with us within no time and started speaking their point of issue.

Ø The women have an irrational belief in terms of menstruation.

Ø The villagers are highly religious and practice every rule related to religion.

Ø Women want to move forward but the male of the family do not support them

Ø Women are not allowed to attend the societal meetings and the male play an important role in decision making for the society.

Our questionnaires included various questions such as-

1.    How many members are there in the family?

2.    Who earns in your family?

3.    How many school going children are in the family?

4.    Are both the genders in the family given equal importance in terms of education?

5.  Are the females of the family educated? If yes than what is the minimum qualification?

6.    Do women participate in society’s decision making?

7.    Do the male member creates hurdle for the females in the family? If yes then how?

8.    Are women encouraged by other family members if they wish to do a job out apart     from their household work?

9.    Proper sanitary facilities are provided or not?

10.   What is your opinion about the present government?

11.   Do the women follow superstitious belief during menstrual cycle?

                    12.    Are the young generation of the family allowed to get married by their wish?

13.   Do you follow the dowry system during marriage?

14.   Is there any time limit for the women to return back to their home?

15.   Which transport system is mostly used in the village towards town and vice versa?

MEASURES TO BE TAKEN 

Ø The villagers should be made aware of how to use the modern technologies related to agriculture and enough knowledge should be provided which will help in eradicating poverty.

Ø The women of the village are uneducated but they are supporting the present generation females of the family in educating their daughters as well as the daughter in laws.

Ø The problems of the villagers should be highlighted through the print media or the electronic media so that the government or non government organisation can take certain steps towards the development.

Ø Though the villagers are backward in many things but still the women are willing to do things if the facility is provided. If they are provided with better science and technology knowledge and if they get the support of internet connection in the village than they will surely be developed within no time.  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

      We the students of Mass Communication, 2^nd semester, visited the women community of Madhupur village as it was the part of our assignment of development communication which is taught by Sir Abhijit Handique (Assistant professor).

We were very excited to visit the village as it was the first experience for some of us.

We respect and thank Mr. Abhijit Handique, for providing us an opportunity to do the assignment work in Madhupur village and giving us all the support and guidance which made us complete the assignment duly.

We owe our deep gratitude to our visit guide Mr Prakash Chetry, the President of Barbaruah Region, who took keen interest on our visit and guided us all along, till the completion of our assignment by providing all the necessary information for developing a good system.

CONCLUSION

        Madhupur village is situated 22km away from Dibrugarh district.

The woman of every family were freely answering to our questions as they had some hope as we were asking them questions related to their daily life.

Women of Madhupur are not able to participate in socio economic development process of the society due to lack of educational qualification and this is the reason why women are becoming more dependent on their male partners. This results in creating hurdles for the women who cannot enjoy equal rights as man.

The women of the village want to come forward for a better change but there is no support by the male members of the family and even by the government to some extent. 

THANK YOU FOR VISITING.