Naubat Baaja to address health issues of youngsters
JAIPUR: More than 25 people from the state called on Naubat Baaja on Monday,two days after the government launched a cloud-telephony based channel that uses packaged edutainment to address issues linked to health, wellbeing and empowerment of young people, especially adolescents.
The channel was launched on March 8, the International Women’s Day, by state women and child development (WCD) minister Mamta Bhupesh.
To leverage the penetration of mobile telephony in media-dark and far-flung areas in Rajasthan, the department of WCD, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) have rolled out a cloud-telephony based channel, said UNFPA state coordinator, Sunil Thomas.
He said Naubat Baaja will be publicised at more than 62,000 anganwadi centres across the state, in partnership with the WCD department, and also at youth clubs formed in Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in the districts.
District level officers, civil society organizations, grass-root level functionaries of different departments in child-marriage prevalent districts such as Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Dausa will be involved intensively in publicising the channel, Thomas said.
Thomas said the edutainment channel would have information on different schemes and development programmes that are beneficial for the young and old, men and women in both rural and urban areas. “We also have plans to popularize Naubat Baaja through wall paintings at gram panchayat level and chaupals, where people gather,” he added.
“Although Rajasthan is progressing at a fast pace in terms of most development indicators, the state is still grappling with challenges linked to health and wellbeing, particularly among young peopl e a nd women,” s a i d Thomas. Thomas said Naubat Baaja will address social issues such as child marriages and gender discrimination, will speak about the importance of girls, empowering adolescent girls among others.
WHAT IS NAUBAT BAAJA
Naubat Baaja works on a very simple technology– ‘ Give a missed call, and get a call back with free infotainment.’ It works on any kind of phone, including feature phones and smart phones. Ones needs to give a miss call to 7733959595, and will get a call back with a 15-minute clip.
It includes four different sections: RJ Link – a radio jockey (RJ) introducing the capsule, Shaayra Bano – raising social issues through comedy and satire, Chuppi Todo – stories of champions of change, challenges they faced and how they have overcome them, Manmauji – a girl who is energetic and polite, will speak against wrong practices. All these components are woven together with popular songs and will provide entrainment along with creating awareness on social issues. HTC