The story of television in India is a very peculiar one. It was introduced with the objective of "reaching and teaching the people". TV was to have meaning for places away from urban, affluent areas and fill the many gaps in communication which are likely to exist between people staying in cities and those residing in rural, isolated areas. However, the subsequent chain of events led to a variety of TV's uses relegating education and development to aback seat.

However, SITE indeed was a great happening in the lives of those who were part of it. The experience was further enriched by the experiment conducted over PIJ transmitter in the Kheda district of Gujarat. It provided invaluable experience in the use of the medium for development purposes.

This attempts to give a glimpse of various experiments conducted through TV programmes using a variety of subject areas and formats.

Developing a programme plan for Kheda was a long and involved exercise. The first step was collection of data on Kheda and its people. As a result of this activity, audience profiles and needs assessment studies emerged. In-house team of producers and communication researchers drew up a broad programme plan. It was then taken up for discussion at a workshop to which a number of artists, writers, representatives of the State Government, experts from dairy and Fertilizer Corporation were invited. The programme plan was finalized at this workshop: Its objectives were:

	To design a television system that voices the concerns and problems of the people, thus providing a two-way medium between the masses and the administrators.
	To bring the world and events in to Kheda villages.
	To meet the specific information needs of Kheda villages in the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry, health family planning and nutrition.
	To deal with social, educational, economic and domestic problems experience in the village by the individual, the family, or the whole community.

In pursuance of these objectives, a broad programme pattern was generated which included a family serial called Chatur Mota.

CHATUR MOTA (The Wise Man) - Producer: Hasmukh Baradi
The serial was an instant and outstanding "success". It was very popular because of the effective portrayals, use of local idiom and powerful and entertaining dialogues. However, it was stopped when it was discovered that we were dealing with mostly social problems of the middle class, which had little relevance for our target audience.

DHANJI MAKANJI MALJI - Producer: Hasmukh Baradi
Instead, a new serial called "Dhanji Makanmji Malji" was started where the main characters were drawn from the weaker sections of the community, which included communities such as Vaghari, Baria and scheduled castes. This serial also became quite successful where the problems of the weaker sections were dealt with. The solutions suggested showed that the progress is slow and difficult and success can be achieved through self-effort. Hard-core programmes were made involving agriculture experts from the agricultural university, State and Central Government agencies. However, this relevance of their prescriptions were double-checked with local extension services workers, and the farmers were often consulted to ensure before-hand that the recommendation of the experts could be implemented under local conditions. : -

MARl MEHNAT MARl KAMANI (My Efforts My Fruits) - Producer: Hasmukh Baradi

These programmes were intended to help the viewers to set up low-infrastructure home industries such as the making of chalk, soap, candle, ink, boot polish, etc. Fairly simple straightforward instructions were provided through TV programmes made in consultation with experts from a cottage industries institution. The local "Lead bank" in the district was persuaded to provide financial advance to the villagers who were inspired to undertake the manufacture of particular items recommended. The technical literature giving details of manufacturing process was also supplied on request. It was discovered that through economic feasibility for undertaking such a venture often existed physical and financial inputs were available and the instructional information had reached the people through TV, very few ventured to do anything in practical terms because of psychological barriers and social obstacles. The main problem that television must now tackle had been how to overcome these barriers.

VAT TAMARI (Your Life) - Producer: V N Raina
Topical agricultural problems such as crop diseases and posts were being shown in local affairs (Vat Tamari) programmes. Our feedback showed that while the agricultural programmes were excellent in content and presentation, they served little purpose because the TV viewers who came regularly were mainly landless agricultural labourers. However another interesting feature of this production, was that it aimed at reversing the one-way television message traffic from the source to the destination. The aspirations, problems, needs and desires of the people at the receiving end were conveyed to the source (administrators, experts, etc.) through this programme. A two-way communications traffic thus established had been effectively utilised for specific purposes such as getting a road constructed to connect isolated villages, getting a post office set up in a village. Local affairs programmes also showed success stories - for example, how through self-help and initiative the villagers succeeded in reclaiming a wasteland and converted it into a pasture. The problem of discrimination practiced against Harijans (untouchables) was highlighted and there grievances ventilated.

HUN HAA - Producer: V N Raina
Many NID students helped in various ways during production of this serial. One of them made some of the most beautiful puppets for our "Hun Haa" series. A good deal of the popularity of the series was due to these lovable and very lively puppets. One of the principal characters , (HUN) was a Donkey puppet. With his endearing "donkey qualities" he became so popular with the Kheda TV-crowd that he regularly received invitations to marriage celebrations from the villages. At the end of the series we held a puppet exhibition in the city. The puppets drew such large crowds that we had to extend the originally scheduled two-day exhibition to whole week.

Hun Haa featuring a man and a donkey - ego and alter ego questioned basic beliefs through questions and jibes by the donkey. The donkey could, for instance, ask Harijans why they should at all believes in a God who seems so grossly unfair; could point out the contradictions inherent in a hypocritical society; he could state that Manu - the creator of the caste system – was only a human being; and he could all the time poke fun at the foibles of man. The extensive (largely successful) use of folk- forms to convey developmental messages and to arouse the apathetic rural poor, and the creation of the genre of false illusion are probably two of the most significant original contributions of Pij to Indian TV.

ZAROOKHO (View from the Gallery) - Producer: Prafull Bhavsar
Zarookho was based on the very popular folk form of Gujarat, (Bhavai) with modification to make it interesting on television. In the beginning of each episode Ranglo, Rangali and Nayakji (Sutradhar) used to introduce socially relevant message in a light mood with satire. After Bhavai, the subject was treated in drama form. The message was emphasized with chhappa (Jingle) and through dance and songs. Subjects like status of women, health, alcohol, education, children, blind faith etc. were covered in 137 parts of Zarookho.

TRIBHETE (Trijunction or Cross-roads) - Producer: Hasmukh Baradi
This 55 parts serial presented different viewpoints on a given issue. An issue was first presented in a dramatic form. At the climax the play was stopped and compare entered the scene. This compere "Interviews' each of the characters and asked him/her the reasons for his/her actions or behaviour. In doing so, an attempt was made to articulate the points of view of different individuals in the given situation. This form proved very effective in presenting a rationale of issues, exposing prejudices and breaking down stereotypes.

KAKA NI DELI (Uncle's Courtyard) - A current affairs serial. - Producer: V N Raina
This was a serial that tried to explain, analyse and discuss topical issues. The stock caricatures were an old couple in a village that is visited by a young man from the city every Tuesday. They sat in the courtyard and talked about topical issues while the neighbours joined them. The old lady questioned the actions taken by the Government, whereas the visitor tried to explain the Government's point of view. Various people related problems and issues were woven in the serial and villagers too were invited to participate in the programme. This programme was very popular and was on air for more then two years. It was keenly watched both by villages and by government officials. The efforts were to present both-or all-sides of an issue, while making the "news" more comprehensible and interesting to villagers.

BHALA BHUSA NA BHEDBHARAM (The Stark Differences) - Producer: Bharat Dave
This was a serial in a drama format of around 50 episodes. It was a story of two friends. Although they were very close friends, they were far apart from each other in terms of thinking and approach towards life. One was very idealistic, honest and truthful, another was practical and compromising. In each episode a particular problem was raised and depicted in a dramatic presentation, where both the friends tried to resolve the issue according to their respective approaches. In each episode both the friends met in a garden and carried out a thorough postmortem of their styles of resolving the Issue - either through honest means or through unethical tactics. One of them looked in to the eyes of the audience and directly asked their opinion.

This was an effort to make people value 'conscious as well as to prepare them to accept the collective responsibility about any evil existing in our social life.

LEKHAK NO AINO (Mirror of the Writer) - Producer: Dhiren Avashia
A 23 part serial in a drama format "Lekhakno Aiyno" produced in the year 1985-86 depicted the society as viewed, understood and analysed by the writer. Writers should not write only for the sake of art but should incorporated various socio- economic issues such as child exploitation, illiteracy, women's exploitation, unequal social fabrics, superstitions etc.