Project Details
RuralVoice.in is a digital news platform, primarily focussed on the agriculture and rural sectors. It seeks to deliver news and analytical content relevant to ‘Bharat’ in both Hindi and English across three formats: Text, Audio and Video.
A CSDS study in 2011 of the six highest-circulated dailies of India – three Hindi and three English – found their devoting just 2% of their coverage to issues specifically relating to rural India. Even within this minuscule rural reportage. The above character of the Indian media – apathy and indifference to rural affairs – has remained even in 2020. But one thing has changed, which is to do with the penetration of the internet in rural India. A report by the Internet & Mobile Association of India and Nielsen for November 2019 revealed the number of active internet users in rural India, at 227 million, to be higher than the 205 million for urban India. Therein lays an opportunity.
Digital India, which is both mobile and optic fibre connectivity-driven, has the potential to bridge the rural-urban divide in information dissemination. For the first time, there is a market for news in, of and for, Bharat!
RuralVoice.in aims at providing a platform for Bharat’s producers. This would be an independent news and current affairs platform that will inform, engage and empower our rural economy stakeholders.
There is a dire need to strengthen knowledge sharing between agricultural scientists/researchers, the input industry and the farming community. The use of new media and digital platforms can serve as a powerful connectivity tool in this regard. RuralVoice.in will help leverage the growing mobile internet penetration – and also increasingly tech-savvy farmers themselves – to fill the information gaps for Bharat.
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