Karnataka   

Making the people ‘street' smart

Novel method:Folk artistes creating awareness on government schemes through a play in a village in Dharwad district on Sunday.

Daddi Kamalapura (Dharwad): The district Scouts and Guides Training Centre premises in this idyllic village reverberated with the sounds of different kinds of musical instruments and folk songs on Sunday.

There were street plays, Gondaligara Pada, Geegi Pada and other varieties of folk entertainment that enthralled the audience.

But the only difference was that besides entertaining the audience, these art forms focussed on creating awareness on the government's welfare schemes instead of mythological stories.

The street play titled ‘Ariyona Baa' shed light on welfare schemes for small and medium farmers, subsidies and other facilities on offer. Another episode stressed the need for having toilets in each home and the government's assistance for constructing toilets. Interestingly, these plays also cautioned the people against approaching politicians for help and advised them to approach officials instead.

The artistes also demonstrated how to take the help of popular folk forms such as Gondaligara Pada and Geegi Pada to sensitise rural people to various issues. Information on different schemes including Sandhya Suraksha, Madilu, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Total Sanitation Programme will be provided to the people through the folk way.

Deputy Director of Information Basavaraj Kambi and Senior Assistant Director P.S. Hiremath said the artistes, who underwent training, were amateurs from villages.

The department would sensitise them about the schemes, the changes made in recent times and provide them training by professional artistes on how to mould folk forms to suit present-day needs.

These trained artistes would go to the villages and train other members. They would also conduct awareness programmes throughout the year, they said. The department provided Rs. 2,500 per unit for street plays and Rs. 800 per unit for folk performances. Each unit would present 10 programmes in a month, the officials said.

Assistant Director of Information, Haveri, C.P. Mayachari, said street plays and folk forms which were popular in north Karnataka were found to be more effective than other media, to sensitise people. As many as 70 selected artistes received training at the camp which will conclude on Monday.

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