Close on the eve of the new dawn to break in 2008, a unique all-women news channel focusing on development issues in a remote Bihar village has now literally set the stage on fire.
Located in Ramlila Gachi village on the crime-ridden banks of the Gandak river,"Appan Samachar" (our news), as the programme is aptly called, has become popular in over a dozen villages in Muzaffarpur district. It was first aired early this month.
Unlike glossy newsrooms of the established news channels across the country, the single room centre of operations for Appan Samachar is asbestos roofed that has one table, two chairs and an old potable television.
The village has had no electricity for the last four years, and has never had cable television and landline phone. Cell phone network reached Ramlila Gachi just a year ago.
In this age of mad TRP races and cutthroat advertising, Aapaan Samachar is free to air. In addition to providing news that is of use to the villagers, the network is also said to be a vehicle for women empowerment.
Carrying a low range Sony Handycam, a tripod and a microphone with the channel logo, four young girls on a cycle reportedly bump along on the dusty narrow village tracks to talk to people and shoot their stories.
Khusboo Kumari, one of the four girls, is barely 15. But this does not prevent her to read and anchor her 45-minute news programme at breakneck speed.
