The Hindu : Front Page : Village newsletter concept makes news

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 07, 2007
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Village newsletter concept makes news

Shastry V. Mallady

R. Kannan. — PHOTO: S. JAMES

MADURAI: A village newsletter, highlighting social issues and problems such as women's safety and micro-credit, has received the State Government's recognition this year in the form of `Tamil Nadu Scientist Award.'

A sociology professor in the Madurai Kamaraj University, R. Kannan, has been selected for the award for preparing a tool kit that helped villagers in the `making of a newsletter, a manual' and mobilising self-help groups in voicing their issues through the medium.

"This free newsletter in Tamil, `Naanayam Seidhi Madal,' coming out from Thiruchuli in Virudhunagar district, reaches about 5,000 villagers in the area. The aim is — communication must act as a development resource for transformation," says Dr. Kannan, who is also the Director of UGC Academic Staff College.

The tool kit developed by him gave step-by-step guidelines on how to come out with the newsletter. The experiment has been successful due to active participation of SHGs and community-based organisations.

The State Government, on Friday, released the list of persons selected for the Tamil Nadu Scientist Award 2006, in which two MKU professors figured — Dr. Kannan and V. Ramakrishnan, Professor and Head of Department of Laser Studies in the School of Physics.

Laser laboratory

In the case of Dr. Ramakrishnan, the award was in recognition of his role in establishing a `laser laboratory' in the university.

Many initiatives were taken for popularising science and the School of Physics did much work in laser studies, he said.

The Vice-Chancellor, P. Maruthamuthu, lauded the faculty members for their success.

"The Tamil Nadu Scientist Award is a recognition of their hard work. I myself was a recipient of that award a decade ago and such a honour augurs well for scientists," he said.

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