In India, the information gap between urban areas and remote regions is becoming a serious problem. This project seeks to demonstrate the role that the nonprofit sector can play in developing a solution by strengthening the Charkha Development Communication Network's Feature Service (obtaining space for coverage of local issues in major urban newspapers and transmitting stories written by local reporters) as a means of disseminating information from remote regions, as well as by considering effective methods of utilizing the media so that remote regions can obtain the information they need.
This year, like last, efforts were made to lobby major media outlets to expand the space allotted to local stories, and capacity-building seminars on journalistic writing were held in the five target states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgrarh, Uttaranchal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. As a result of these activities, some 230 local stories were written during the fiscal year, 170 of which were published in newspapers in English, Hindi, and Urdu. To pilot alternative methods for giving remote regions access to necessary information, efforts were also made to create community radio programs (Chhattisgrarh) and establish rural resource centers (Uttaranchal and Chhattisgrarh).