Darpana Communications

With funding from the Planning Commission, Darpana Communications recently created new programming and produced a mini band of programmes that aired on Doordarshan Gujarati for one month with the aim of becoming the pilot project for other Doordarshan Kendras.

The programmes covered issues ranging from human rights to education to health care to citizen's rights to issues of violence, coexistence, celebrating diversity, literacy, employment generation, basic values, the processes of democracy, the environment, panchayat raj, gender equity and more. Specifically, there were four broad subject areas which were identified in consonance with the central Government's thrust areas and by NGOs working at the grassroots in Gujarat. These were women's empowerment, children and adolescent issues, health and water.

Darpana Communications is working on a major documentation project on handloom and handcrafted textiles with the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. With 14 million families depending on handlooms and handicrafts for their livelihoods, this DVD and book project is an invitation to the world of designers to utilize the spleandour of India's lesser known textiles for contemporary wear and use. The project will last a year and entails the D Com team traveling from Kashmir to Pochampally and Arunachal Pradesh to Rajasthan. The documentation will include recording songs related to the textile traditions or their use.

Produced with support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Srishti, an environment quiz program involving children from 400 schools across Gujarat was telecast on prime time Doordarshan. The 16 episode game show became one of the top TRP rated television programs at the time.

Click here to view this Divya Bhaskar article on Darpana Communication's Srishti environment quiz now airing on national television

Under project funding from the Ford Foundation, Darpana Communications has been running a one hour slot five times a week for three years to empower women. Using all genres of television this has been a path breaking project that we hope will lead to better and more effective use of the television medium for social change and for empowering and educating people.