BROADCASTING IDENTITY

FROM COMMUNITY RADIO TO CHILDREN'S BOOKS, MEET THE CHAMPIONS LEADING A QUIET REVOLUTIOΝ ΤΟ ΚΕΕΡ THEIR LANGUAGES ALIVE

-  ANASUYA BASU

THEIR CALLOUSED HANDS DEFTLY WEAVE ROPES that tether domesticated animals like cows and buffaloes. They live in leaf-thatched houses on the edges of forests. Their knowledge of Indigenous plants in the Jharkhand and Odisha forest belts, where they live, surpasses any others. The Birhor community is a marginal upajati who speak the Birhor language, which is low in the hierarchy of Austro-Asian languages and will soon be extinct if not for the laborious efforts of language crusader Bikram Jora, a linguist with a doctorate from Delhi University.

Similarly, the Asur language, another in the family of Austro-Asian languages, is being conserved and revived by community radio broadcasts led by activist-poet-author Vandana Tete. Pre-recorded plays, songs, and news scripts are played over loudspeakers at weekly haats in villages of Jharkhand to popularise the endangered language spoken by about 9,500 members of the Asur community.

The Asurs, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Jharkhand's Netarhat, Latehar, Palamu, and Gumla districts, were once iron smelters but now practice agriculture. They live on society's margins yet maintain a unique culture, with distinct rituals and traditions.