Folk media as a tool of development communication in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Folk media augment the content of mass media channels with the vibrant dance and music forms along with their inspirational colours and costumes. The utilisation of folk media for communication revives the culture of common people. Besides, proper and systematic organisation of folk media motivates the people for their participation in the development processes. Therefore, folk media have been exploited as an important vehicle of communication for carrying the developmental messages to the rural masses in Himachal. Himachal Pradesh is known for its rich cultural heritage Therefore, utilisation of the vibrant traditional dance forms and music of the state in carrying developmental messages prove to be useful in changing and modifying the attitudes of the people and the values they maintained. With enhanced participation of people, folk media helps to accelerate the developmental processes. So, to examine the utilisation of folk media as a tool for development communication is significant in the context of Himachal Pradesh. This paper tries to find out the merits of employing of Himachali Nati and Composite-folk-form (Himachali folk dances, folk songs and folk music) in development communication, trace the possibilities of utilizing folk media for more developmental messages, the problems of employing folk media in developmental messages, solutions to the problems and other related issues. Folk media have great potential to motivate the people for their participation in the development processes. But, there is need for proper equilibrium between the folk media and modern mass media so as to achieve the desired goals of development.