Information Seeking Behaviour of Opinion Leaders in Hill Region of Uttarakhand

Abstract

The main objective of the investigation was to study the information seeking behaviourof opinion leaders along with their socio-economic and personal characteristics identified among the farm women in hill regions of Uttarakhand state. The study was carried out in two hill district, Bageshwar from Kumaon division and Tehri Garhwal from Garhwal division. The investigation was confined to total 298 respondents, 177 farm women from village Badiyakot of Bageshwar district and 121 farm women from village Sabli Talli of Tehri Garhwal district selected purposively. Data were collected through semi-structured interview schedule. The findings revealed that majority of the opinion leaders belonged to middle age category, married, educated up to primary school and belonged to upper caste. Agriculture was found to be the primary occupation of all the opinion leaders. About more than half of the opinion leaders i.e., 54.17 per cent were noted to be engaged in animal husbandry followed by 20.83 per cent engaged in poultry farming as secondary occupation. Majority of the opinion leaders had medium years of farming experience. The study alsorevealed that majority of the respondents had medium socio-economic status andinformation seeking behavior. However, localite sources of information were more frequently utilized by opinion leaders as compared to cosmopolite sources, mass media sources and extension education methods.