among other tribal communities. Santhals are settled agriculturist and
distributed in different districts. Hinduism is the predominant religion
of the Santhals. Kauawaran and Sahupokhar villages in Baunsi block
of Banka district have been selected for the study. The Baunsi block
has 21,094 ST population which are mainly Santhals. Kauwaran is
22 and Sahupokhar is 30 kilometres away from district headquarter.
Table 4: Distribution of ST population in Banka District/Block Household Total Popu-lation ST Population
Male maleFe- Total Banka District 380,866 20,34,763 45901 44531 90432
Baunsi Block 35,840 1,85,000 10562 10532 21,094 Source: census (2011), PCA, RGI, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of
India, New Delhi Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur is situated in the central part of Bhagalpur division. This district lies on the eastern tip of the state of Bihar. The border of the newly created state of Jharkhand is in the eastern side of the district. Bhagalpur district ranks 15th in terms of population (30,37,766) and 17th in terms of geographical
area (2,569 sq. km.) in the state of Bihar. This district has 14,743 Santhal
populations, out of total 67,180 ST populations (Census; 2011).
has 11189, of this Kahalgaon block has 8770 ST populations. Only 345
Sauria Paharia is in Bhagalpur district(Census, 2011).Their socio-economic condition is very poor. They belong to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) and found mainly in Sahebganj and Godda districts of Jharkhand. They live on hill tops and interior part of the jungles. They use surnames such as Singh, Paharia, Sauria Paharia, etc. Most of the Sauria Paharia own land and practice shifting cultivation. Their traditional community council consists of the head of the village Majhi and the messenger, Pawdar. They profess Hinduism which bears marks of their traditional religion (Singh, 1998). Sauria Pahariais selected from Ramzanipur village in Kahalgaon block of Bhagalpur district. This village is 35 kilometres away from district headquarter.
Table 5: Distribution of Sauria Paharia population of studied area in Bhagalpur
District/
Block House-hold Popula-Total tion
ST Population
Male Female Total
Bhagalpur
District 563,415 30,37,766 35,545 31,635 67,180 Kahalgaon
Block 63,461 331,585 177,188 154,397 331,585 Source: census (2011), PCA, RGI, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of
India, New Delhi
Socio-Economic Profile of Santhals and Sauria Paharia
The studied tribal communities are lagging far behind the mainstream societies. Their level of education and standard of living are still very poor as compared to other caste groups of the area. Most of the tribal population are largely devoid of basic facilities, such as drinking water, proper drainage system, toilets, medical facilities, transportation and road facility. Unemployment is the biggest problem among all the tribes of Bihar. Most of them are still dependent upon the land and nature. They are now mostly engaged in daily wage labour in the agricultural fields of the caste group. They also go out in search of livelihood. They are also unaware of government schemes for their development and those who have knowledge also face lots of problems
in availing them.
The educational attainment of the population has huge bearing on its socio- economic development. As mentioned both the studied tribes are mostly either illiterate (54 percent) or hardly literate- only able to sign (10 percent). Very few of them are matriculate or intermediate pass. None of the respondents found having graduation and above level of education. The education level of Santhals is also not even better than Sauria Paharia. Following table 6 shows the educational attainment of the respondents.
Table 6: Distribution of respondents by educational qualification Educational quali- fication Santhal Sauria Pah- aria Total No. % No. % Illiterate 26 52 28 56 54 Literate/Can do signature only 6 12 4 8 10 Primary 4 8 8 16 12 Middle 7 14 4 8 11 Matriculation 3 6 3 6 6 Intermediate 4 8 3 6 7 Total 50 100 50 100 100
Before discussing the existing communication system of the studied tribes and their exposure to the modern mass media, it is pertinent to understand the socio-economic profile of them.
Santhal
The main occupation of the Santhal tribe is agriculture. Both men and women
are engaged in this pursuit as farmers and agricultural labourers. They also collect minor forest produce like roots, fruits, tubers, green leaves, gums,
honey, mahua flowers, fuel wood, medicinal herbs, grass, bamboo, timber
from the forest for their day-to-day use. They prepare many things from
sal leaves and make brooms out of the grass. The Santhals are skilled in
hunt. During the lean or post-harvesting season, they go to the neighbouring industrial, mining and urban areas for wage-earning. They are also skilled in
carpentry works (SC & ST Research and Training Institute Bhuwneshwar;
2014). Santhals are also very skilled in art and crafts and their keen interest
in folk arts and crafts could be observed in their houses. Santhal women
decorate the walls and doors of their houses with colourful paintings, which
reflect their love for nature. The Santhal village is surrounded by agricultural
fields, pastures, ponds, graveyards and a commonplace of worship known
as ‘jaher than’. They also perform their rituals at ‘Manjhi than’. It is
also called ‘Budha-budhi than’. Like some other tribal, the Santhals are
polytheists. They believe in the existence of several of deities, ghosts and
spirits residing in the hills, forests and streams and their ancestral spirits
guiding every aspect of their life (Biswas, 1956).
Santhals of the studied area are living in deplorable condition. They do not
have the necessary facilities in their houses. Their villages are also devoid of necessary infrastructures. Lack of awareness and information are the
primary reasons behind their being underdeveloped. Their main profession
is agriculture and agricultural labour. The literacy rate of Banka district is 39.9 percent. Migration is an inevitable event in the yearly life-cycle of the
Santhals. People migrate in search of job opportunities to nearby villages, townships and metro cities. Most of the Santhals are living in mud-houses painted attractively by the womenfolk. The basic sanitation and drainage facility is also not available in their village. Villagers go out in open places for defecation as they do not have toilet facilities in the house. Only irregular ration is available to them through PDS in the name of government schemes. Some people also got ‘Indira Awas’, Old Age Pension scheme and MNREGA job cards. Most of them complain about rampant corruption and said that they are fed up with the system. They are unaware of other scheme being run by the government. They depend on Ward member or Mukhiya for the information of any such scheme. They do not have much access to mass media and hence communicate in their traditional folk media alone.
Sauria Paharia
The second tribe selected for the present study is Sauria Paharia from
communities of the state belong to PVTG and Sauria Paharia is one of them. This tribal community is also living in abject poverty. Unemployment and poverty are the biggest problems for them. Agriculture and daily wages are the main source of their livelihood. The population size of Sauria Paharia
is very less. The problem of unemployment is too big. Only 22 percent population of this tribe are primary workers. Their work participation rate is 37.7 percent. Of this, only 3.3 percent are cultivators and 12.9 percent are agricultural labourers, 14.2 percent are marginal workers and 64 percent are non-workers (Ministry of Tribal Affairs; 2013). Their educational level is also deficient as compared to any other social group of the state. Their literacy rate is reduced than Santhal as only 37.26 percent are literate and 63.8 percent Sauria Paharia remain illiterate. Condition of female literacy is even more miserable as only 32.88 percent women are literates (census 2011).
Study in Kahalgaon block of Bhagalpur district shows that living standards of Sauria Paharia is very poor. This tribe is suffering from biggest problem of unemployment and migration to other states. They have been involved in quarrying, stone cutting from mountains, animals breeding and selling, liquor making and selling are their primary source of income. However, all these economic activities are banned by the state government recently and they are in a fix to pursue their traditional economic activities. Other infrastructure such as, public health facilities, drinking water, sanitation are also not available in their villages. In case of any illness, local quacks are the option for treatment in their villages. They are forced to drink water from an open well or have to go two kilometres from the village for drinking water. Drainage system is also awful in the village. They have never seen electricity in their village. Very few of them have mobile phones. Some villagers use solar systems, but maximum villagers go outside the village to charge their mobile phones. They have no idea of government programmes and schemes for their welfare. Some villagers got ‘Indira Awas,’ but they also complained about corruption. The tribe is unaware of any government or non-government schemes for their welfare. They are devoid of necessary facilities like employment, electricity, road, transportation, education, drinking water and other necessity of life.
Status of Modern Mass Media among Santhals and Sauria Paharia Tribes are different from any other community, so special policy and programmes are required to address and redress these differences (Joshi, 1998). Many studies reveal that the main factors of tribes being underdeveloped are lack of education, unemployment, poverty, ignorance, less participation of tribal communities in the development process and also apathy of government officials. These tribes are not aware of different developments programmes of government, as well as social and health related messages and campaigns launched by the governments in the state and centre. Lack of information and unawareness are also hindering their participation and availing the development programmes and schemes. It has been found that any tribal society can be better mobilized if its traditions and customs are acknowledged properly while planning and implementing any development scheme meant for them (Reddy and Kumar, 2010; Srihari, 2012; Basu,2000; Anjali, 2013). The use of traditional media including, inter-personal communication is very popular in tribal societies. It will lead to increasing awareness towards development programmes and schemes and their main streaming (Mikkelsen, 2005; Paul and Compton, 1991; Kumar, 2006; Zwaal, 2004; Ganguly, 2016; Gupta, 2015).
It has also been observed that planning for tribal development needs a very cautious approach and also planners should have the holistic knowledge of people’s socio-economic, cultural as well as traditional background (Kumar and Kapoor, 2009). It has been realized that the best way to communicate about the development programmes and schemes is to adopt the mixed method of traditional and modern mode of communication, especially with those communities who are marginalized and isolated, including the scheduled tribes. During the present study, the existing communication systems among studied tribal communities were explored and analysed. The existing media and their prevalence are categorised into two groups for the purpose of analysis i.e. traditional media, which are more in use among these tribal communities and modern mass media.
Modern Mass Media
Print Media
Both the studied tribal communities are living in remote areas and also have very low literacy level as compared to any other castes or group belonging to the mainstream societies. They have government schools for primary education but the condition of the school is not satisfactory. None of the respondents in any of the studied tribe is above intermediate of graduate. Low level of literacy has been affecting their exposure to the mass media. It has been found from the study that due to poverty and low level of literacy, newspaper, magazines and other print medium are not popular among Santhal and Sauria Paharia. Only six percent Santhal and 12 percent Sauria Paharia read newspaper (Table 7). Other print media are also not popular among them.
Table 7: Distribution of respondents by reading newspaper Tribe YesDo you read newspaperNo Total
No. % No. % Santhal 3 6.00 47 94.00 50 Sauria Paharia 6 12.00 44 88.00 50 Total 9 9.00 91 91.00 100 Electronic media
Electronic media including radio and TV also come under the modern mass media. These channels of communication are very popular in the mainstream societies. But when we see the penetration of these electronic media into the studied tribal communities, we found that these are also not very popular. Radio which has been one of the very powerful media in rural India has also very low reach. Only 38 percent Santhal and 48 percent
Sauria Paharia respondents listen to radio (Table 8). Most of them listen to it on tea shop or any other such common place. The reason is that very few tribal families own radio sets in the studied villages. Similarly for the TV viewership, the popularity is lacking. The main reason is low accessibility
to TV sets. Only 4 percent of each of the studied community’s respondents watches television, but none of the family own it. One of the big reasons behind it is lack of electricity in these villages. Respondents belonging to
Sauria Pahariaof Ramzanipur village also said that they have never seen electricity in their village.
Table 8: Distribution of respondents by listening radio and watching TV Tribe Yes Listening to radioNo Total
No. % No. % Santhal 19 38.00 31 62.00 50 Sauria Paharia 24 48.00 26 52.00 50 Total 43 43.00 57 57.00 100 Watching television Santhal 2 4.00 48 96.00 50 Sauria Paharia 2 4.00 48 96.00 50 Total 4 4.00 96 96.00 100 Digital Media
Digital media includes modern gadgets including computers and mobiles. It has been found that the respondents among these two tribes are not able to access to these media of communication. Poverty, lack of education and lack of awareness keep the tribes unreachable to the digital media. Even the literate respondents uses mobile only for talking and not for sending or receiving messages. Few respondents who have migrated to other cities to earn their livelihood have smart phones, but they do not have much idea about their use and functions. They use it for watching videos, songs, movies, etc. Only 44 percent Santhal and 46 percent Sauria Paharia respondents have mobile phones in their family (Table 9). Respondents mostly use mobile phones to talk with family members who have migrated outside in search of livelihood. However, migrant family members are more exposed to the modern media. It has been further found that despite owning the mobiles, they are unable to read or send SMS on mobile phones as most of them are illiterate. Smart phones are very expensive and hence very few people had it. They play music and watch video on it. They do not use internet and social
media. The Sauria Paharia do not have electricity in their village, therefore they have to go outside the village for charging the mobile phones. They have to pay for charging the mobile phones (Rs. 5/per charging). Some of them also uses solar charger for this purpose.
Table 9: Distribution of respondents by having mobile phone in their family Tribe Do you have mobile in your familyYes No Total
No. % No. %
Santhal 22 44.00 28 56.00 50
Sauria
Paharia 23 46.00 27 54.00 50
Total 45 45.00 55 55.00 100
Do you have knowledge about computer or internet
Santhal 2 4.00 48 96.00 50
Sauria
Paharia 0 0.00 50 100.00 50
Total 2 2.00 98 98.00 100
Computer and internet are not popular among the respondents at all. These are out of reach to them. Only two percent Santhal respondents have knowledge about computer and internet and none of the respondents belonging to Sauria Paharia tribe has any knowledge about it. Majority of the respondents have also not seen the computer.
Traditional Media
As tribes are basically settled in remote and isolated rural areas, they mostly depend on inter-personal communication networks. They communicate with each other in a traditional way. They are always associated with each other through folk dance, drama, song, paintings, etc. People of the village do all the work together. Festivals, marriages or any other important events are being celebrated by all the villagers together (Sunita and Kumar, 2018). Like any other tribe, Santhal and Sauria Paharia also have very rich traditional communication medium. The social system of both of the tribe is community oriented, as entire villagers take part in these festivals and ceremonies. Dance and music are integral part of their life, which are always associated with
their festivals and rituals and these are always a community affair. Boys and girls, old and young, irrespective of age and sex, participate in such events together. There is no hard and fast rule regarding the time and place for singing and dancing, but they dance generally during the late evening and at night. The dancers do not wear any special costume, but use regular dress.
It may be observed from Table 11 that most of the respondents are convinced that their traditional mode of communication is the best for any awareness generation programme or advertisement for any development programme and scheme by the agencies. Traditional mode of communication includes inter-personal communication, traditional folk media- nukkad natak, folk dance or song, etc. It can be observed from the table that most of the respondents (78 percent) believe that inter-personal communication is the best medium of communication for them. Among the traditional media, 11 percent respondents also said that folk media like song, dance and drama is best for them and remaining 11 percent were in favour of modern mass media. They said that government can also establish community shows through common TV and radio in the villages. Respondents also said that they rarely get information through traditional media, but they have been regularly using this media within their community.
Table 11: Distribution of respondents according to the preferable mode of communication Tribe Inter-personal communication Traditional folk media (folk dance/song/ street play) TV and radio should be installed in the village Total
No. % No. % No. %
Santhal 34 68 6 12 10 20 50
Sauria Pah-
aria 44 88 5 10 1 2 50
Total 78 78 11 11 11 11 100
Conclusions
Both studied tribes in the state are still living in abject poverty and devoid of basic facilities. However, the condition of Santhal is slightly better. Both these tribal communities use traditional folk media and largely depend upon
inter-personal communication for their communication need. Their socio economic conditions and living standard are so poor that they cannot afford better education.It has been found in the study that the reach to different types of mass media is very less for them. Even the educated respondents are not able to afford these media. Since, the level of education and income of the studied communities are very low, there is also a very little scope for print media as channel of communication and awareness generation. Electronic media like TV and Radio have great impact on our lives, but both these tribes do not have much access to these. The unavailability of electricity in the villages also makes it hard to own and access TV and radio.
It can be concluded that the studied tribal communities do not have much access to modern mass media, and hence their exposure to these channels of communication are very less. In the absence of these modern media, they