Usefulness of Radio and Television Programmes by Garo Farm Women in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya

A study was conducted to find out the perceived usefulness of radio and television programmes by farm women in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya state of India. Total of 100 numbers of respondents were randomly selected from two blocks consisting four villages for the study. The data were collected by using interview schedule through interview method. Mean, percentage, frequency distribution, Chi-Square test and Spearman’s rank correlation were used for analysis of data. All the statistical analysis has been done by using statistical software like SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 16.0 and MS-Excel Spreadsheet. The results showed that respondents perceived usefulness from radio programmes were ‘News in Garo’ which ranked 1 st , followed by ‘Mother’s milk is best for baby’ ranked 2 nd , ‘Disaster management on earthquake’ ranked 3 rd and respondents perceived usefulness from television programmes were ‘Health and family welfare’ which ranked 1 st , followed by ‘Self help group’ ranked 2 nd , ‘Health and nutrition’ ranked 3 rd . The study also observed that relationship between the socioeconomic status with their utilization of radio and television programmes had non-significant relationship. Thus, the information gathered from radio and television helps the farm women in their day to day lives.


INTRODUCTION
Electronic media like radio and television is an important electronic medium which helps to spread information to the farmers. It plays an important role in agriculture development which disseminates latest information regarding farm and technologies. Radio is an audio-medium which is the most cheapest and effective mass medium through which message can be delivered to wide range of listeners which include both literate and illiterate in a very short time. It can even reach where there is no power supply and covers large section of population.
All India Radio broadcast programmes related to community, agriculture, religious, educational, health and family programmes in regional languages for farmers and rural masses through its regional stations under the features of 'farm and home units'. Television is an audio-visual electronic medium which is popular and effective means of information, education and entertainment. It is ideal medium to convey information to illiterate and literate in urban and rural areas and reached at shortest time. It covers various programmes like entertainment, agriculture, religious, health and family. It gives essential information and knowledge in order to raise agricultural production and rural development through Krishi Darshan programme. Television and radio play as an important communication tool in the field of agriculture which deliver messages to the farmers living in remote areas upgrade their social status, improve knowledge level and helps to bridge the gap between the scientist and the farmers. It helps people to aware of their needs and influences to adopt innovations. It is also considered to be most effective electronic media for transferring scientific knowledge and modern agricultural technology to the farmers. The farmers can easily understand the messages and can follow the instructions and operations that are given through radio and television. However less number of studies has been conducted so far on utilization of messages from radio and television by the Garo community. In this circumstance a research study was undertaken with the following objectives: Objectives: 1. To study the usefulness perceived by the respondents from radio and television programmes. 2. To know the socio-economic status of farm women and its relation with utilization of information from radio and television.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study was carried out in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Two blocks were selected through random sampling method i.e Rongram and Gambegre blocks. Four villages were selected randomly from the two blocks i.e Eden Bari and Masumatagre from Rongram block and Ronggatagre and Rongbilbangre from Gambegre block. A total of 100 women respondents were randomly selected for the study and data is collected through personal interview by using pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule. The data collected from the respondents were converted into coded form, tabulated and scored. The data were analyzed by using appropriate statistical methods such as mean, percentage, frequency distribution and Spearman's rank correlation. All the statistical analysis has been done by using statistical software like SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 16.0 and MS-Excel Spreadsheet.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
From the Table 1 it is observed that use of information by respondents from radio programmes were 'News in Garo' which ranked 1 st , followed by 'Mother's milk is best for baby' ranked 2 nd , 'Disaster management on earthquake' ranked 3 rd , 'Government welfare scheme' ranked 4 th , 'Cash crop cultivation to prevent soil erosion' ranked 5 th , 'Self employment through floriculture' ranked 6 th , 'Nutrition -key to development' ranked 7 th , 'Disaster Management on flood' ranked 8 th , 'Role of women in Swachh Bharat Mission' ranked 9 th and 'Soil and land preparation for horticulture crops' ranked 10 th . The probable reason of maximum used of 'News in Garo' programme might be that farm women understand it better in getting information on agriculture and rural development because it is in local language. As all the respondents were women they found it useful the mother and child related programmes.
The data in the Table 2 found that use of information by respondents from television programmes were 'Health and family welfare' which ranked 1 st , followed by 'Self help group' ranked 2 nd , 'Health and nutrition' ranked 3 rd , 'Importance of antenatal check Up' ranked 4 th , 'Arts & crafts' ranked 5 th , 'Integrated farming system' ranked 6 th , 'Skill development' ranked 7 th , 'Awareness programme on pesticides for paddy cultivation' ranked 8 th , 'Mango grafting' ranked 9 th and 'Self reliance' ranked 10 th . The reason for higher percentage of using 'health and family welfare' might be that respondents get information related to health services provides by Government which helps them to improve good health for themselves and also for their family. They also found useful 'self help group' programmes might be the reason that they also have interest in income generation, solving problems and participation in group activities.
The results of correlation analysis in Table  3 revealed that there is no significant relationship between the farm women's socioeconomic status like age, major occupation, education, marital status, family size, family type, annual income, primary source of income, land holding and possession of mass media equipment with their utilization of radio and television programmes.