Mass Media and Communications — Sociology STD 12 Humanities — Question

In India it is difficult to make a clear distinction between the old and new social movements. Discuss.

What measures do you think the government has taken, or should take, to protect the rights of landless agricultural labourers and migrant workers?

In what ways has Globalisation affected Indian television?

In what ways does globalisation affect culture? What impact has it had on wornen?

Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
Peddolla Napidi Bhumana hanged himself at home in Donchanda village of Morthad Mandal late on Friday night. It’s learnt that the 55-year old farmer, faced with crop failure, was driven to desperation because he was unable to clear his mounting debts. Most suicides in Andhra Pradesh have been reported from the arid regions of Telangana and Rayalaseema where farmers are heavily dependent on rain.
As in Vidarbha last year, most of the suicides have been farmers who had borrowed heavily from private moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates. The loans were taken to dig borewells to tap ground water for cotton and other vegetable crops in the absence of rain. The situation has been exacerbated by the falling water table in these districts.
(Taken from a report in The Times of India of 16/08/09)

1. Which are the regions where most farmers’ suicides have taken place? Why have these regions been affected?
2. What are some of the changes in rural society and the agrarian economy that are responsible for farmers’ suicides?

Read the given passage and answer the following questions: Speech by Ankush Kale, who was born in a Pardhi community, at a public meeting The Pardhis are very skillful hunters. Yet society recognises us only as criminals... Our community has to undergo police torture under the charge of theft. Wherever there is a theft in the village, it is we who got arrested. The police exploit our womenfolk and we have to witness their humiliation. Society tries to keep us at a distance because we are called thieves. But have people ever tried to give us a thought? Why do our people steal? It is this society that is responsible for turning us into thieves. They never employ us because we are Pardhis.Source: Sharmila Rege, Writing Caste/Writing Gender: Narrating Dalit women’s testimonies (Zubaan/Kali, New Delhi, 2006).

1. What kind of treatment are the Pardhis given by society? Why does the writer object to this?
2. Is it true that women of tribal communities are more vulnerable? Why do you think this is the case?
3. Discrimination and prejudice of the sort faced by the Pardhis can often result in the emergence of social movements. Discuss any example of such a social movement that you know about.

Describe the history of labour related movements in India.

Read the following passage and answer the given question:
The place is a cramped… rented shack stacked with music tapes and rusty electrical appliances which double up as Raghav’s radio station and repair shop.
He may not be literate, but Raghav’s ingenuous FM station has made him more popular than local politicians. Raghav’s love affair with the radio began in 1997 when he started out as a mechanic in a local repair shop. When the shop owner left the area, Raghav, son of a cancer-ridden farm worker, took over the shack with his friend. Sometime in 2003, Raghav, who by now had learned much about radio… In impoverished Bihar state, where many areas lack power supplies, the cheap battery powered transistor remains the most popular source of entertainment. “It took a long time to come up with the idea and make the kit which could transmit my programmes at a fixed radio frequency. The kit cost me 50 rupees”, says Raghav. The transmission kit is fitted on to an antenna attached to a bamboo pole on a neighbouring three-storey hospital. A long wire connects the contraption to a creaky, old homemade stereo cassette player in Raghav’s radio shack. Three other rusty locally made battery-powered tape recorders are connected to it with colourful wires and a cordless microphone.

1. What changes has media experienced over the last few years?
2. How can media be successful in representing the weaker section of society?

“Three major kinds of change brought about in colonial India were new forms of communication, new kinds of organisation and new ideas.” Explain.

Enviornmental movements often also contain economic and identity issues. Discuss.