Focus on the digital mediums during the fourth day at Samvaad conclave

Digital Solutions take Centre Stage on Day 4 of Samvaad 2020

Changemakers from the hinterlands of the country gave insights into the scope for digitalization within tribal communities. Experts and youth leaders joined us online and discussed digital mediums that bring tribal communities together.

TRIBAL VOICES ONLINE

Bikram Biruli, hailing from the Ho tribe who has started a website, www.hosamaj.com, spoke intensively about how he used the online medium to create awareness during the coronavirus pandemic.

With a lot of youngsters running their YouTube channels, they shared about how they have been garnering the online medium to reach out to the communities.

Vinod Kumar, hailing from the Bhil tribe of Rajasthan, runs his YouTube channel called “Kotda Times” and has been spreading awareness among tribal communities through his channel.

“I have collected information pertaining to government schemes from the block and district offices and have translated them in the regional language and have put it up in my channel. They have received huge response especially the recent videos that I put up during the lockdown period garnered a lot of reviews,” says Vinod.

Vikram Murmu, another tribal youth, runs another YouTube channel, Sarna Today, that he setup to bring dialogues around tribalism into mainstream media. The initiative was started to cover the history, way of life, cultural richness of the tribal communities of Jharkhand. They have successfully covered numerous stories of tribal communities and heritage till date.

Rest of the programme:

As a part of the artisans’ masterclass, Sumanti Oraon from Oraon tribe, Madhya Pradesh and Sunaram Soren from Ho tribe, Jharkhand, imparted training on the basics depicting Sohrai painting on a canvas using natural ingredients such as clay and charcoal, and Oraon art through finger painting.

At the Samvaad Action Research Collective, experts discussed about the importance of oral literature and how it can be a very important tool during the process of action research.  Padma Shri Daitari Naik, who carved a 3-km-long canal from a mountain stream in Odisha, joined the session and stressed on how action involves evaluative, investigative, and analytical research methods designed to diagnose problems.

Dr. Anjana Singh, Head, PG department of History, Nirmala College, Ranchi University, Dr. Kachyo Lepcha, a teacher in Lepcha language and have 15 publications to his name, and Mr. Manoj Nigadkar, PhD scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai joined the discussions.

As a part of the film screenings, Samuday ke Saath, Johar was screened. Directed by Abhijit Patro, it is a twenty-minute ethnographic documentary film about the daily activities and customary practices of the Adivasi group - the Santhals - dwelling in and around Jharkhand, India.

Samvaad also celebrated traditional cuisines of 16 tribes across 10 states with the dishes that were exclusively available for the people of Jamshedpur on online food aggregator platform Zomato since yesterday. As many as 25 items are available on the menu with Madwa Momo (dumpling made using raagi flour) garnering a lot of attention.

The online sessions have received a lot of enthusiasm from tribal communities across the country and beyond. The inaugural ceremony that was screened live received more than 5000 views.

The Samvaad ecosystem has brought together more than 30,000 people from 117 tribes across 27 states of India and 18 countries in the last 6 years. The concept of regional Samvaad was initiated in 2016 with the objective of reaching out to more tribal communities in the hinterland and factor unheard voices therein.  

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The group (excluding SEA operations) recorded a consolidated turnover of US $19.7 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2020.

A Great Place to Work-Certified^TM organisation, Tata Steel Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000.

Tata Steel was recognised as DJSI steel sector leader in 2018 and has ranked fourth in the steel sector in 2019. Besides being a member of the worldsteel’s Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel has won several awards and recognitions including the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse recognition for its Kalinganagar Plant - a first in India, and Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17. The Company, ranked as India’s most valuable Metals & Mining brand by Brand Finance, received the ‘Honourable Mention’ at the National CSR Awards 2019, Steel Sustainability Champion 2019 by worldsteel, CII Greenco Star Performer Award 2019, ‘Most Ethical Company’ award 2020 from Ethisphere Institute, and Best Risk Management Framework & Systems Award (2020) by CNBC TV-18, among several others.

To know more, visit www.tatasteel.com and www.wealsomaketomorrow.com.

Follow us on          

About Tata Steel Foundation

Tata Steel Foundation (the Foundation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited, was incorporated on August 16, 2016 under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013. The Foundation operates across 4,500 villages in the states of Jharkhand and Odisha through a 600-member team reaching over a million lives annually. The Foundation is focused upon co-creating solutions, with tribal and excluded communities, to address their development challenges. During this process of co- creation, the Foundation endeavours to develop and implement change models that are replicable at a national scale, enable significant and lasting betterment in the well-being of communities proximate to the Company’s operating locations and embed a societal perspective in key business decisions.

Disclaimer:

Statements in this press release describing the Company’s performance may be “forward looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/ supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/ or other incidental factors.

Kulvin Suri

Chief, Corporate Communications-India & SEA

Tata Steel

E-mail: kulvinsuri@tatasteel.com