‘People should decide what development is’ says Shubhranshu Chaudhary

                                                                 Photo:Harshit Charles

After almost two decades working as a reporter who was always in hurry to report ,meet the desk deadlines and sound victorious , he realized that media was not reporting the basic problems faced by the people but the conflict, to start his alternative media platform .Shubhranshu Chuadhrary edged  Edward Snowden to win the Google digital activism award 2013 talks to us about his journey, discusses the perils of media ownership in hands of elite and present day government’s decisions. He started his career in deshbandu hindi daily in Raipur and then BBC, he quit BBC in 2003, soon he left the path of conventional media to serve community.

CGnet swara has broken shackles of aristocratic communication model. Please tell us about how this journey has been?

The journey of CGnet Swara started while talking with the foot soldiers of Maoist movement who told me “democratize your media and this problem will be solved”. It did not make sense in the beginning but slowly things become clearer.

How content you are with your dream of 'democratic media' which is made come true by cgnetswara?

 CGnet Swara has brought out voices from the remotest parts of the country which did not happen before. People who can’t read and write and people who speak a language not understood by many have now started picking up their phones and telling their stories and some in the rest of the world has been also listening.

With big industrialists taking over media houses, do you think we are heading towards 'content capitalism’? How this would impact the nation which is still a 'third world'?

Media was always been owned by few rich and powerful but it has only become more blatant now. We can’t have a mature political democracy unless we have a vibrant democratic communication platform which will help us choose the right people.

Mainstream media has always sensationalized the Maoist problem. How difficult it was for you to persuade the people in Chhattisgarh to trust your medium?

We are a very small experiment. We need to reach more people. We have prioritized our work in media dark zones where one will have to reach people physically to tell them about the platform and teach them on how to report there. So it is a slow process. But once people understand the importance of an independent and democratic platform they join in big numbers.

Tell us something about swasthya swara?

We realized that similar platforms can also be used in other fields like health, education and agriculture etc. We started Swasthya Swara where traditional healers from forest areas can share their knowledge which can be used by patients from all over. Traditional healers have been helping patients from time immemorial but now some of them also have a mobile phone. If we link these phones with internet more people can make use of their knowledge.

The present day government came with agenda for 'development’. Do you think they have failed the word 'development' by reducing it to mere a rhetoric?

People should decide what development is and what kind of development they need. If development does not help the majority they will reject it as they have done in past.

Government is set to dilute the Forest Rights Act, which would affect tribals. Is this government destroying the right to question? What role CGnetswara got to play in fighting for the cause?

Acts like Forest Rights Act are outcome of long struggles of people’s movements. People will fight back if they are diluted and bottom up dialogue model platforms like CGnet Swara can help people share their stories of struggle and strengthen them.

How is response of Indian philanthropy while it comes to funding projects like Cgnetswara and other alternative media?

We got a concessional rate for phones calls by Airtel. We hope more such companies and Indian philanthropists will come forward to support democratization of media projects like ours.

Are there any challenges while running CGnetsawa-politically ,technologically or socially. If yes how do you tackle with them?

State first called us a Maoist platform and tried to create various types of hurdles. First Adivasi journalist we trained got arrested as soon as he finished his training with us. He is out of bail after spending more than 2 years in jail. We were also closed 3 times but we start again.

What would be your advice to budding journalists who are going to work in the contemporary socio-political dynamics.

Please remember Gandhi’s talisman. If your work helps the poorest and weakest person you have met in your life then you are on the right path.

Does CGnetswara have programme where it trains young journalists in use of alternative media. If yes, please tell. If no, do you have plans?

We do regular workshops with villagers to train them on how to use their mobile phones to tell the world about what is happening around them. We also use a cultural team to tell the same in an entertaining way with the help of dance, drama and puppet show.

What are your future plans?

We want to create a sustainable and duplicate model of independent and democratic communication. We hope there will be hundreds and thousands of such platforms in future who will collectively create a paradigm of bottom up, representative news