Documentaries on social communication for sustainable innovations and development in India

Documentaries on social communication plays a significant role to propagate the message of sustainable innovations which leads to sustainable development.

Potka Developmental Block consisting of 20 villages in East Singbhum district of Jharkhand is situated at a distance of about 60 km to the south of Tatanagar, the industrial city of Jamshedpur. The tribal villagers of this forest fringe area are either small or marginal farmers which cause their dependence on forest for fuel wood, fodder and part of livelihood. There the Regional Centre, National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, a nodal centre under the Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India has motivated, trained and sensitized nearly 1000 tribal men and women forming about 100 self-help groups. The centre has prepared them to undertake various activities like Tassar Cultivation leading to silk production, Lac cultivation, Grass mat designer products and Bamboo artifacts production so as to produce saleable products for national and international market. The documentary on the historical event of establishing the first Small and Medium Forest Enterprise in India titled Artistic approach, a film by Susanta Biswas has played a significant role to provide the tribal villagers and their produces a nation-wide market exposure and establish convergence with different organizations and sectors like various Government departments for development of funds, Bankers for regular credit flow, Insurance companies for social security, District Rural Development Agency, Jharkhand Tribal Development Society and Corporate Sectors for infrastructure development and marketability of the products.

Again, the women folk living in the forest fringe areas of Mandu a village in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand have established and nurtured local temporary nurseries. As well as they protect and care the plantation done by them with a sustained effort. The documentary on women participation in National Afforestation Programme Programme at Mandu, titled the tender touch, a film by Susanta Biswas has successfully propagated the message of afforestation and the significant role of women folk in the same.

Joint Forest Management is a viable concept and is perhaps the only means of eco-restoration under Indian context, where too many people are too much dependent on too little forests. A proposition for saving forests at Ayodhya hills in Puruliya district of West Bengal by making the forest fringe dwellers self-reliant to wean them away from forest has been audio-visually documented by Susanta Biswas . The documentary titled Forest Management Beyond JFM was highly appreciated by the the State Forest department of West Bengal.

The documentary on tribal artisans of Jharkhand titled "Artistic approach", produced by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, was selected for the 8th International Social Communication Cinema Conference 2009, organised by Roopkala Kendro, Department of Information & Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal and screened at Nandan, the West Bengal Film Centre, Kolkata.

"Artistic approach" along with “the tender touch” and “Forest Management Beyond JFM “ is accepted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India for the national telecast in Doordarshan (the number one television channel in India in terms of absolute viewer-ship).

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