1. religion and spirituality
2. hinduism

Rural Research Report
Kevchi, Bilaspur District
Chhattisgarh
Understanding the tribal rural consumer
Pavan Akella – 20130120050
Akansha Boaz – 20130120087
Neeraj Raje - 20130120122
Acknowledgement
The rural research opportunity at Kevchi Village, Chhattisgarh was a great chance for
learning and professional development. Therefore, we consider ourselves lucky to take part in
this enriching opportunity. We are also grateful for having a chance to meet so many humble
and generous people who led us through this period.
Bearing in mind we are using this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude and special
thanks to our Guide Prof. Manisha Shelat who in spite of being extraordinarily busy with
her duties, took time out to hear, guide and keep us on the correct path and allowed us to
carry out project in the right direction.
We express our deepest thanks to Dr. A.A. Boaz, for taking part in useful decisions, giving
necessary advices and guidance and arranged all facilities to make our life easier. We choose
this moment to acknowledge his contribution gratefully.
It is our radiant sentiment to place on record our best regards, deepest sense of gratitude to
Mr. Pratap Singh Marco, Sarpanch-Kevchi village, Mr.Satyanaryan Singh Uriti, PatwariKevchi village, Mr. Sohan Singh Rawat, Manager Sal Valley Resort, Ms. Shalini Singh,
Deputy Forest Ranger for their careful and precious guidance which were extremely valuable
for this study.
Last but not the least we would like to express our deepest appreciation and thanks to Prof.
Arbind Sinha for providing us with this opportunity. We perceive this opportunity as a big
milestone in our career development. Hope to continue cooperation with all of you in the
future.
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Contents
Understanding Rural Marketing.............................................................................................................. 4
Defining Rural Market ........................................................................................................................ 4
Rural Defined in Numbers .................................................................................................................. 5
Research Objective ................................................................................................................................. 6
Village Selected .................................................................................................................................. 6
Research Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 7
Village Profile ......................................................................................................................................... 7
Village Climate ................................................................................................................................... 8
Village Topography ............................................................................................................................ 8
Demographic Composition ................................................................................................................. 9
Village Resources ................................................................................................................................. 10
Village Economy .................................................................................................................................. 15
Social Structure ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Castes ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Caste and Consumption Patterns....................................................................................................... 17
Village Culture ...................................................................................................................................... 19
Caste system...................................................................................................................................... 20
Superstitions...................................................................................................................................... 21
Temples ............................................................................................................................................. 21
Festivals ............................................................................................................................................ 22
Media Consumption .......................................................................................................................... 22
Brand Consumption .......................................................................................................................... 26
The Art of Natural Healing ............................................................................................................... 29
Communication Need assessment of Kevchi Village, Bilaspur District, Chhattisgarh .................... 32
Communication Strategy .................................................................................................................. 35
Needs of the Rural Consumer ........................................................................................................... 38
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 39
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Understanding Rural Marketing
Marketing has evolved in India over the years. Suddenly many brands are shifting their focus
to rural India. It is not only an interesting and an untapped market but also poses huge
numbers and hence interests the brands. Since Rural Marketing is in its nascent stage, brands
want to enjoy the first mover advantage and capture the territory and create a brand loyalty by
taking over the mind space of the rural consumer before other brands come in. However,
most of the companies also realise that it is not an easy market and is extreme diverse. The
landscape, the language, the socio-cultural behaviour are varied and difficult to understand.
Hence, a lot of research is being carried out in this areas to understand the psyche of the rural
consumer.
Defining Rural Market
The primary problem that lies in understanding the rural market is that they are not well
defined and every organization defines it differently. Hence, it is a humungous task to be able
to segment rural consumers.
Some prominent and nationally accepted definitions of rural market are:
1. “A town with a maximum population of 15,000 is considered rural in nature”
- Planning Commission of India
2. “Rural” is

An area with a population density of up to 400 per square kilometer,

Villages with clear surveyed boundaries but no municipal board,

A minimum of 75% of male working population involved in agriculture and allied
activities.
- NSSO (National Sample Survey Organization)
3. “Rural India” is defined as

All statutory places with municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town
area committee and the three minimum criteria’s mentioned below

Minimum population of 5,000

Density of population of at least 400 per sq. km. (1,000 per sq. mile)

At least 75% of male working population engaged in non-agricultural activities
-
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Census India 2011
4. All locations with a population up to 10,000 are considered as rural area.
- NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development)
5. Rural comprises of those areas with a population of less than 49,000 (tier-3 to tier-6
cities).
- RBI (Reserve Bank of India)
6. Rural is defined as commercial establishments located in areas serving less than 1000
population are rural markets.
- The Sahara group
Rural Defined in Numbers
Some Statistics of the Rural Market in India:
From different credible sources like Census India Survey 2011, IRS Survey 2013, Business
Standard Rural Report 2013, Ministry of Rural Development Report 2013, the different
statistics of Rural India are listed. The sheer numbers speak volumes of the market
opportunities available for different sectors. Some of the major statistics are:

Total Number of Individuals: 83.3 Mn

Percentage of Indian Population in Rural India: 68.84%

FMCG Sales: 53%

Consumer Durable Sales: 59%

Market for Tractors and Agricultural Inputs: Rs 45000 crore

States with maximum Rural Population: UP, Bihar, West Bengal

States with minimum Rural Population: Sikkim , Mizoram, Goa
Popular Government Schemes:
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
MNREGA: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

NRLM: National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)

IAY: Indira Awaas Yojana

PMGSY: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

NSAP: NATIONAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME

IWMP: Integrated Watershed Management Programme
Media Penetration in Rural India:
TV Penetration: 1764 Lakhs

Total TV Homes in Rural India: 713 Lakhs

Cable and Satellite Homes in Rural India: 652 Lakhs

Digital DTH Homes in Rural India: 312 Lakhs
Print Penetration: 11%
Internet Penetration: 6.7%

42% Internet Users prefer local languages

9% Internet Users transact Online
Active Mobile Users: 25 Mn
Total Budget Provision in the Central Budget for Ministry of Rural Development:
$73175 crore
Research Objective
The primary aim with which this research has been carried out is to study a village of India
and identify the need gap that can be addressed through communication.
In the process, the different areas to be studied are:

Understand the rural consumer and their lifestyle.

Find out the factors that affect their behaviour and decisions

Understand their consumption patterns of brands and media.
Village Selected

Name: Kevchi

District: Bilaspur

State: Chhattisgarh
Area (as obtained from Patwari)

Total Area: 409.248 hectares

Krishi ( Agricultural) Area : 53.220 hectares

Van Bhoomi (Forest Area) : 327.955 hectares
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Research Methodology
A 10 days ethnographic research was carried out in the village Kevchi. Exploratory research
was initially carried to understand the rural scenario and the village level details.
Additionally, observational study and in-depth interviews were carried out for going to the
grass root level of several issues that were identified.
Village Profile
The Village Kevchi is situated in the Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh. It is 200 Kms from the
capital city of the state, Raipur and takes around 6 hours to travel. The nearest city is
Bilaspur, which is around 55 Kms from the village. National Highway No. 78 passes through
one side of the village and hence it is connected by road. In order to reach the village the core
area of the Achanakmar sanctuary needs to be crossed. The Achanakmar sanctuary is a tourist
attraction of the state. Also since the road goes through the sanctuary, it is a huge distraction
for the wild animals and hence the state government has been constructing the alternate route
which would close the existing road. This might result is less commercialization of the
villages since the interaction with the urban population might reduce. There is a dense Sal
and
Bamboo
plantation
on
the
way.
Chhattisgarh has the largest forest area after
Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. Out
of 55,674 sq km of its area, 41.18% is
covered by forest, which also implies that
around 12% of the total forest in India is
present in Chhattisgarh. Kevchi is a tribal
village, which majorly consists of two castes
– Baigas and Gonds.
Entry into the Village
The village was extremely clean and had no signs of dirt. The first impression of the village
was very impressive as the school that was crossed visibly had a huge number of girls
studying. After enquiry we late found that around 70% of the students are girl. This was
contrary to the popular belief about rural India not being open to girl education. A beautiful
aspect to notice was the clear night sky of Kevchi. The number of stars and the constellations
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Village Climate
The climate of the village is typical to the climate of any state of central India, which is
majorly dry and hot. During summers, it is extremely hot and is usually accompanied by dust
storms. However, winters are pretty cold with cold winter winds blowing. The rainfall in high
in the region with maximum rainfall during the months of July to August. There is less
seasonal variation of temperature.
Village Topography
Residential Clusters
There are 15 streets in the village and there are different residential clusters based on castes.
Each cluster consists of 25 to 100 houses.
For Example: Mathapani Street: 25 houses
Baigapara Street: 100 houses
The village primarily has two tribes – Gonds and Baigas and this is well depicted in their
settlement patterns. They stay in opposite parts of the village. A typical Baiga settlement is
where houses are very far from each other and houses stand in isolation. However, Gonds
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believe in staying together in a community and hence their houses are next to each other.
Most of the houses of the Gond tribe have cattle like goats, poultry and cows which they keep
for milk.
Soil
The type of soil in the village is Black Cotton Soil and the major crop grown is Rice, which is
also called “Dhaan” in this region. Other crops grown are Corn, Tobacco and some local
vegetables. Central India is extremely rich in Black Cotton Soil. It has extremely high
moisture content and it also very rick in organic matter. For this reason it is a very rich soil
and used extensively for Wheat, Rice, Sugarcane, Cotton and Tobacco. One drawback of the
soil is that it is very sticky and has to be ploughed before the rains.
Demographic Composition
The Number of households in the village are approximately 927. The types of families
prevalent in the village are nuclear as well as joint families. This completely depends upon
the type of caste and the social values that they follow.
The total population of the village: 1495
The population segmentation of the village can be done in different ways:
(The accurate data was obtained from the Sarpanch of the village)
Based on caste/religion

Schedule Tribe: 1426

OBC: 40

General: 29
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Based on Gender

Male : 742

Female: 753
Based on Age

Adult: 66%

Children: 27%

Old: 7%
Based on Occupation

Farming : 70%

Wages: 30%
Major Sources of Data:

Sarpanch

Manager, Sal Valley Resort

Deputy Ranger, Forest Department, Chhattisgarh
Village Resources
Nearest Towns
The nearest town from Kevchi is Gaurela which is 22 Kms and takes approximately 30 mins.
The other town is Amarkantak which is 25 kms on the other side and is around 45 mins away.
Transportation
There is no bus stop in the village. However, 2 buses cross the village, one at 08:00 AM in
the morning and the other at 03:00 PM and connect the nearby towns to the village. Most of
the teachers travel in these buses. The other mode of transportation is Tata Magic which
keeps travelling from one village to other and are like shared transport.
Occupation
The major occupation of the villagers is Agriculture or Daily wage jobs. Most of the tribals
do not want to work and do not want to sell their agricultural products to earn money. They
work on daily wages and do menial jobs so that they have money for basic things. Their
aspirations are very low and they are happy and satisfied in their own world.
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Types of Crops
Paddy or Rice also called as “Dhaan” is the major crop. They also grow corn and every house
grows vegetables like pumpkin, cucumber and some leafy vegetables that they can use for
their daily consumption.
Amenities
The basic amenities present in the village are
School
There are 4 schools in the village:

Two primary School

One Middle School

One High School
The schools have approximately 120 students each and all are Government Schools. The
schools are well maintained and have daily classes. There is no problem of attendance and the
students attend schools on a daily basis.
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One of the schools that was studied had around 70% girls and it is clearly visible that the
tribals are open to the idea of sending the girls to school to study. The school was managed
by a Head Master, Mr. Sanjeev, who was from Gaurela and he had been handling the entire
operations of the school since 12 years. The school had a problem of getting good teachers
due to the unavailability of government school teachers. There were 3 teachers who had been
recently recruited. There was a high rate of teachers leaving the school. The teachers were
also from Gaurela and used to come by bus. Mr. Sanjeev also highlighted that the children
come from varied financial backgrounds, for instance some have TV at home and some do
not. Hence, they need to be handled very cautiously so as not hurt any sentiments.
Hostels
The hostel facility for school students is extremely well managed. The students from nearby
villages who stay far away and cannot commute on an everyday basis stay in the hostel.
There are 2 hostels in the village – Boys and Girls Hostel. The hostels are situated near the
school and are for students from Class 6th to Class 10th. The number of students in the hostels
is:

Boys: 55

Girls: 48
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These hostels are like dormitories where several beds are kept in a single room and 2 students
sleep on one bed. They have tables where one is shared by two. They get food three times a
day and also snacks. These hostels are also government run hostels and every single things is
provided to the students by the government – Books, Uniform, Plate, Glass, Soap and Oil.
The hostels are extremely well
run and the care takers of both
the hostels – Mr. Jayant and
Mrs. Shyamwati Kanwar were
very responsible and caring
towards all their students.
They were very dedicated
towards their work and were
very loving to all the kids as
well. The kids were also very
attached to them and therefore
were very happy in the hostel.
Aanganwadi
There is an Aaganwadi in the Baiga area of the village and only Baiga kids go to the
Aanganwadi. Around 25 kids attend it regularly and they get mid-day meals. The Kitchen of
the Aanganwadi is clean and functional.
`
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Post Office
Kevchi had a Post Office which was a common one for around 5 smaller villages nearby and
people from other villages would come to Kevhci’s post office.
Primary Health Centre (PMC)
The PMC is functional yet is not visited by the tribals since they have a strong faith in the
jungle dawai and they rarely fall ill and are majorly healthy.
Veterinary Hospital
There is a Veterinary hospital that is a small room where tribals get their cattle like goat and
cow in case they get seriously ill.
Power Supply
The percentage of households with electrical connections is 75%. Most of the houses have
proper supply of electricity. And they get electricity for around 15-2- hours in a day.
However, most of the houses have only low watt bulbs in their houses and do not waste
energy or rather cannot afford to pay the high bills. Solar Panels have been recently installed
in the village, but they are new and hence not used much.
Water Supply
The water in the village is obtained from wells and hand pumps. They do not have any water
supply in the houses directly.
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Irrigation Facilities
There are no proper irrigation facilities in the village
Agricultural facilities
The agriculture is limited to themselves and for their own food. Only two people own tractor
in the village who do farming. Others need tractor only twice in a year and get them on rent
from Gaurela at the rate of Rs.600/hour.
Rice Chakki
There is a chakki in the village that separates rice from its chaff and is free of cost for all the
villagers
NGO Presence
There is no NGO present in the village. The European Commission does support the local
village.
Village Economy
The village economy is not very strong and most of the people only do farming to feed
themselves. There are no banks in the village and there is no concept of loans or savings in
the village. Most of the things for farming are obtained from Gaurela. Most people are daily
wagers and work only to sustain their bare minimum needs. There is hardly any migration to
cities and from other villages
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Social Structure
Castes
The two major tribes present in the Village are:
1. Gonds
2. Baigas
The other castes present are:
1. Oraau
2. Christians (minority)
Gond lady with Godhna
The Dominant caste of the village is Gonds because they are more in population. There is no
such hatred amongst people of different tribes but they do not mingle with each other too
much. School is the only place where different tribes come together.
Baiga women with godhna
The Sarpanch belongs to the Gond tribe. His family is the most influential family of the
village and from ages the Sarpanches have been from his family itself. He states that there is
no disharmony between different tribes but Gonds are politically and economically stronger
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as they are the more educated tribe. However, both Gonds and Baigas are part of the gram
sabha.
Caste and Consumption Patterns
Food
The basic food of both the tribes is: Rice, Daal and a vegetable. A common vegetable that
was found was Godhli or also called Pitti. It is basically a traditional variety of cucumber or
desi kheera. Most of the food that the tribals eat in the minor forest produce collected from
the village. They use the chulha for cooking.
The tribal also use pumpkin, corn and cut them into small pieces and put them for drying,
which are later fried and used as snacks or chips
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Drinks
There are two prominent drinks that are made in the village
Kosna: made out of rice
Mahua: local alcoholic drink make out of mahua
Making of Mahua
The entire process of making the drink was shown to us. It was a
fascinating experience to see the process. They have their own
local mechanisms for evaporation and distillation. They put
Mahua and put water above and below it in different containers
and let it evaporate. There is a mesh through which the
evaporated steam is then cooled and is distilled. This is kept over
the chulha and heated. This drink is kept for weeks and the older
it is, the better it tastes. Though it is illegal to make mahua, it is
an important part of their life and they enjoy it and regularly
make it.
Making of Beedi
We were shown the entire process of how the beedi is made by one of the tribal’s, who used a
tendu patta and stuffed mahua into it to make the beedi. However, it was only for his own
consumption and not for selling.
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Clothing
The traditional dress of Men is Dhoti Kurta and that of Females is Saree. The tribal females
wear lot of jewellery like ear rings and kardhini (waist).
Village Culture
One main area of study which we focused during our rural research was to understand their
Culture. During our interactions with the villagers we observed a stark difference in their
values and aspirations from life when compared to the inhabitants from the towns and metros.
They don’t have high expectations from life but are true to their in terms seeking knowledge
and enlightenment. The dominant values which come out from this study are their traditions
which they follow religiously. Kevchi is a microcosm in itself where the villagers are
accustomed with the self-sustained life style which they practise every day. For their
livelihood villagers here do farming in the lands which they own within the village. Unlike
other villages, women in this village yearn to be socially aware of events happening around
them and want to gain basic education to understand the economic structures of their
households. This is the reason behind the encouraging female children to study. The youth
seek employment, but most of them do not usually venture out to other villages for jobs. They
19 | P a g e
usually find something within their own vicinity and would like to be bread earners to their
family.
Women
The women equally take part in the decisions of the house along with the men. However, the
girls’ hostel supervisor told us that when girls of classes 8th and above go back during
summer vacations for 2 months, they get married and do not come back. Most of these girls
are Baigas. There has been only one girl from the village, named Pramila who has reached
the University for Future Studies. We also met a lady named Ram Kali, a Gond tribal, whose
child and her daughter’s child was of exactly the same age. Her daughter was married at the
age of 13. Other Gond house we met a newly married bride who was 14 years of age.
Caste system
The entire village is basically divided into two main castes. ‘Baigas’ and ‘Gonds’. The match
making process is followed by an arranged marriage system. But there are small differences
in the way marriage happen in these two tribes. In the Baiga caste the bride usually stays with
groom and his family without any marriage ritual until the family gives a consent for
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marriage. After she gets the consent from the family the marriage is performed following the
social and religious rituals. This is called as “Paithul Vivaah”. In case of Gonds tribe they
follow a strict ‘gotra’ system. Families with same gotras are restricted and cannot happen.
During the marriage, the Baigas have an interesting custom where relatives make the bride
and the groom sit on their laps and dance. Also, like people offer sweets in marriages to each
other, among the Baigas, they offer Mahua to each other.
Another interesting culture that the ladies of the tribes have is that of “Godhna” or tattooing
as we call it. This also is dependent on the castes. The Gond get it done on their ankles and
arms. However, Baigas, also get it done on their foreheads. The ladies can be distinctly
identified by this. There is another caste that is do the art of Godhna. They are called
“Vaidrin”. Most of the Baigas and Gonds get the Godhna done when they are young. They
believe that it is the only thing that will go along with them once they die.
Superstitions
An interesting superstition that we figured out
was that when the cattle is taken for grazing
into the forest and if the tail gets wound on any
tree, the tail that is wound is cut and only then
the cattle is taken back home. This was an
extremely weird and different superstition that
they follow and something never heard of
before.
`
Temples
There are three temples in the village entry is not restricted to any caste. Everyone is free to
enter the temple and can offer prayers to the deity. The priest offers prayers in the morning
followed by the ritual of holy fire called ‘Harathi’. Majority population of the village is
Hindu and so there aren’t many other religious workplaces where people from other religions
offer prayers. Temple is maintained by the fund which is allocated to the village by the State
government. All the accounts are managed by an officer who is accountable for all the
finances incurred for the day-to-day activities in the temple. In case of major festivals there
are special prayers conducted within the temple premises.
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Festivals
Most of them in the village follow the Hindu religion and celebrate major Hindu festivals
with aplomb and grandeur. The major festivals which are celebrated throughout the year are
mentioned hereunder:

Bhojali Festival: One other major festival usually celebrated in Chhattisgarh and
other parts in Madhya Pradesh. This festival is observed in the month of ‘Bhadra’.
Just a week before the Bhojali day comes ‘Nagapanchami’. On this day they sow
the wheat grains, grain, rice in an earthen pot and are matured to grow into green
shoots. They finally towards the end of the Bhojali day leave these pots in the
river and they feel this ritual will bring an abundant crop every year.

Nawakhani Festival: They celebrate “Nawakhani” which is celebrated when the
first crop is cut and a reverent offering is given to the goddess.

Hareli Festival: Hareli is the famous Chhattisgarh festival celebrated in the
month of Shravan. Farmers in this month worship their farm equipment and cows.

Cherchera Festival: The other harvest festival which is celebrated in
Chhattisgarh is Cherchera. Villagers usually dance to the local music after the
harvest of the first crop.
Apart from these local festivals the other major festivals which are celebrated are Navratri
and Dusshera. Since the major day-to-day occupation of the villagers is through farming and
irrigation major events of celebration are mostly associated with farming activities. This can
be observed from the festivals which are celebrated here every year. Apart from these
festivals they observe other festivals which follow the Hindu calendar.
Media Consumption
The other broad area of study during our
rural research went into understanding
the Media Consumption pattern of the
households
in
Kevchi
Village.
We
studied the print media consumption in
the village by posing questions about
their
news
consumption
from
newspapers. We have identified that there
are very few households which have
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subscribed for a daily newspaper from the vendor. The others based on the availability and
their interest levels buy newspapers occasionally. Hindi newspaper is the prominent among
other newspapers. The three newspaper which are available in this village are Nava-Bharat,
Hari Bhoomi and Dainik Bhaskar. As mentioned earlier there are very few households get
newspaper in the morning. There are about six such households who receive the newspaper in
the morning. The time around which the newspaper gets stocked in the village is 8:00 – 8:30
AM in the morning. We weren’t able to extract the approximate number of newspaper which
are brought into the village for consumption.
In a family setting the head of the family is the person who first reads the newspapers.
Followed by that based on the availability of time other members read newspapers
throughout the course of the day. Invariably a vivid reader who has a genuine reason to read
newspaper spends about 45-60 mins in reading newspaper. The main section which is widely
read by all in the newspaper is the Headline section and the 4th Page in the newspaper. The
reason behind reading headlines is that they want to understand major happenings around the
world. They also spend a lot of time in Page 4. This is the local edition of the newspaper.
More often than not, events in village are covered explaining the details of who celebrated,
where and what.
Though women and girl child are encouraged to study in this village, there are very few
women who read newspapers in this village. They usually skim through the newspaper in
their free time during the day. Other than the households, newspapers are usually seen in tea
stalls and pan shops in the village. The consumers of this tea stall while relishing their tea
they read through major newspaper headlines. Based on the data available it is found that
there are 6 households which have a daily subscription of newspapers. The usual day unlike
in the cities doesn’t start by reading newspaper while having a morning drink. So, people
who are genuinely interested in reading only subscribe for newspapers. Households in this
village also follow the concept of sharing the newspapers after a family is done reading
newspaper. So this is one other reason behind such low number for subscription in this
village. Villagers who know how to read and write usually read out news items for those who
cannot read. They participate in discussions after such news reading sessions are done by
someone who can read. Through such discussions they keep themselves updated with things
happening around them. The local section in the newspaper is one main source of information
to know what is happening in the nearby villages around Kevchi. The two famous
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newspapers which are preferred over other available newspapers are Hari-bhoomi and NavBharat. The reception level for English dailies here is low when compared to Hindi papers.
Radio
The other source of information to the households here at Kevchi is through Radio. When
compared to number of households which have a newspaper subscription the number of
households who have radio transistor is higher. There are about 10 -12 household who own
radio transistors and consume content during the day. The consumption patter is different for
Men and Women. Men usually tune into programs like news coverage and entertainment
programs which airing songs. They also tune in to programs which talk about latest farming
techniques which, is a regular program done by All India Radio for the benefit of farmers in
small villages. By tuning into this program these farmers get to know new innovations they
can bring into their farming and irrigational activities. The major two radio stations men
usually tune into are All India Radio and Vividh Bharathi. Other than News programs and
entertainment programs, villagers also tune into sponsored programs. There are a wide
variety of sponsored programs they listen to in the areas of hygiene and social empowerment.
The radio consumption pattern of women is very different from when compared to that of
Men. Women usually tune into Vividh-Bharthi and listen to programs for news and
entertainment. The timings which they tune into radio is usually in the evening.
Radio is mostly found in general stores and tea stall where bigger congregation of villagers in
one single location. Since, radio is an easy source of entertainment at a cost affordable by
almost everyone, radio seems to be the dominant channel for media consumption in Kevchi.
There is no communal activity where people meet and listen to radio in the day. The choice
of tuning into radio is usually an individual’s choice or forced upon by someone if he/she is
in a public area. The local language songs are also played to attract attention from more
audience. But it is usually, the women who consume more content than Men in this village.
Men because of their own occupational activities do not find time tune into radio station
programs. The two most popular languages in which shows are done here are Hindi and
Chhattisgarhi. Women and Senior Citizens occupy the audience segment for programs in
radio.
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Television
Out of the available forms of media channels the most popular channel for media
consumption is Television. In our discussion with village authorities we have found out that
the television had come to this village somewhere in the early 90s. Then in the 90s Television
is only restricted to couple of households who are financially better off when compared to
others. A small survey conducted by village authorities has yielded the information about
how many Television sets are
there in the village. There are
about 20-25 television sets in the
village, out of which 20 are
Colour TVs and the rest are
Black and White. There is no
evidence of community TV set
in the village. At no point there
was some such arrangement of
Community Television for the
villagers to view programs. Few
houses have satellite television.
They watch television for a variety of reasons. News hours, Cricket and Drama feature in the
list of most popular shows they watch every day. Irrespective what age bracket they fall there
is a very good reception to sports programs. TV is usually in the living room where the
occupancy of the room can go up to 10 people. Whenever there is a live telecast of Cricket
matches, people who don’t have a television at home watch matches at their neighbour’s
place. On an average they watch television for about 4 hours in a day. They usually watch
television in the evenings. Children are the ones who usually switch on the television sets in
the evening. They mostly watch sports and the women in the village watch entertainment
programs. Usually in the evenings when women meet after finishing off their daily activities
they discuss the programs they have watched the previous day. Living rooms are usually
small and are occupied when the entire family sit to watch a program. There is no specific
seating arrangement in which they sit while watching programs. Women sit along with men
and there aren’t any inhibitions while they are watching programs on television. When there a
neighbour from the other caste comes to watch a program on TV he is allowed to watch
program along with the owner’s family member. There is no discrimination of people who
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belong to the other castes. TV sometime acts as a binding force as it connects families by
building conversations. Few houses told us that Zee Anmol was a popular channel among the
tribals.
Brand Consumption
The major problem that national brands are facing today is that local and counterfeit market
is prevalent in the rural sector in India which is very difficult to break. It was very evident
from our research as well. We visited 2 shops and analysed the shopper behaviour through
observation and also by asking about the consumption patterns from the shopkeepers. The
insights that we got were that

Brand Stickiness is very high and people ask for particular brands. These brands are
those that have been available to them over the years and hence they have got used to
it.

The number of counterfeit or duplicate products is very high and their cost is at least
50%-60% lesser than their original products.

People buy smaller SKUs and are not willing to pay more for any product.

Most of the purchasing happens on an everyday basis and there is hardly any bulk
Purchase
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The brands that we found in the shops were:
Product
Brands
Price
(in Rs)
Soap
Breeze, Nirma, Lifebuoy
5-10
Toothpaste
Colgate, Laal Dant Manjan
10
Biscuits
20-20, Parle-G, Anmol 2 in 1, Raja Makha 5
Bite, Parle Butter Bake
Oil(100gm – 250 gm packs Nihar Shanti Amla, Rai ka Tel, Ghoonghant 5-10
and sachets)
mustard oil, KCC Jasmine Coconut Oil,
Bandphool Tel
Shampoo(Sachets):
Clinic Plus
1
Tea(100gm)
Camel
5
Cream(Sachets)
Boroplus
5
Pen
Orson Club Ballpen, Riton Power Ranger
3-6
Blades
Lazor Ultra, Vijay Stainless
0.25
Snacks/Chips
Haldiram Halke Phulke, Haldiram Chane 3-5
Moong Daal, Sai(local namkeens)
Toffees:
Strawberry Center Fruit, Marco Cocunut 0.25 - 1
Candy, Milton Khatta Aam, Newton Sweets,
Local mithai(barfi)
Bulb
nmt Original
10
Mosquito Repellent(Rare)
Mortein
5
Tobacco
Daven
0.50
Miscellaneous
Ganpati Sivai, Balloons
Minor Forest Produce
Honey, Mahua
Honey: Rs
200/kg
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The Art of Natural Healing
Herbal Centre: Local healer
One of the most fascinating things
about the village is the presence of the
local Ved (local healer). The most
prominent Ved of the village is “Sumer
Singh”, who has been acknowledged by
the European commission as well for
his outstanding contribution to the
natural medicine practices. He uses
“jadibootis” from the forest and makes
customised medicines for each patient.
He specialises in the Naavi-Gyaan, in
which he studies the nerves of the patient and can identify the health issues that he is facing.
It sounds unreal, but the day we spent with him was one of the most interesting days of our
research. He had a small 2 room centre which had been funded by the state Government and
the European Commission. There were several patients who had come to consult him and
were his regular visitors. We heard some mind blowing testimonies of people who had been
healed, who could not even walk, were paralysed and the medical doctors had confirmed that
the medicines would not heal them. In such situations, Sumer Singh had used his thumbs to
press the nerves of the patients and in few days
they were healed. These were educated people
from nearby cities and they had developed faith
in the process of Navi-Gyaan and natural
medicines because they had seen the benefits of
it. The wife of Sumer Singh was not someone
who knew the method, however she was the
one who would accompany him to the forest to
gather the natural forest ingredients for making
the medicines. The kind of medicines that he
provided ranged from natural remedies for – Dant Manjan, Gum problems, Ghatiyarwaat
Saartika, lakwa, safed pradar, Malaria, Gola tumour, liver pathri, heart and Sugar. All of us
also examined ourseleves through Sumer Singh and the health issues that he told us were
29 | P a g e
extremely relevant to what we were facing – from low Haemoglobin to constant stomach
pain. We even got basic medicines made for us from him and they have been proving
beneficial to us.
We enquired from him if
he has passed over his
knowledge to anyone in
the village, he told us that
most of the people are
aware
medicines
about
made
the
from
plants and it is a popular
thing amongst the tribals
of the village. However,
he told that Naavi-Gyaan
is something that he had
been teaching his son,
since he does not want it to get lost. He
also had lot of basic biology books
which he used to keep looking at. It had
pictures of the human body and the
nerves that are present.
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Vanoshad Vikraya Kendra
There is a huge center of natural ayurvedic products next to Sumer Singh’s Centre, this has
been established by the Medicinal Plant Board of Chattisgarh, which is under the forest
department. The centre consists of a manufacturing plant which mixes and prepare the
medicines from the raw material from the forests. The entire process is automated and it even
has packaging machines. There is a shop next to the centre, where the finished products are
sold. This shop is besides the highway and hence the target group is not the village people but
the city people to which the idea of natural medication is being spread. The different raw
materials used are: Jetropha, ambla, trifala, ashwagandha and many other roots of plants.
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Communication Need assessment of Kevchi Village, Bilaspur District, Chhattisgarh
In our rural visit we came across various problems faced by the villagers of Kevchi village.
Some of these problems we believe could be solved by effective communication. Few of
these important points are listed below.
1. Students are not aware of future career options
The students of Kevchi village have had very little exposure to the outside world. For them
the education gets over once schooling is done. The next logical step for them is to being a
daily wage laborer. Lack of awareness between the students results in them not having any
dreams and aspirations. Therefore they find themselves very content with their life.
Understanding this need gap, the Government of India established Indira Gandhi National
Tribal University in 2008. The tribal are yet to recognize the full potential of this university.
2. Students are not able to compete with others due to lack of confidence
Students of Kevchi studying in the government schools have access to education in the local
language, i.e. Chhattisgarhi. When these students step out of the protected walls of the
school, they are not able to express themselves well in the real world. Hence, although they
are very talented they fall behind others.
3. Lack of promotion of ethno-botany or local healers (Example: Veds) around the
village
Kevchi village is unique for its ethno-botany
relationship.
Ethno-botany
means
the
relationship between people and plants. An
example of this successful relationship is in
sheer number of Veds present in the village.
Some of these Veds have been acknowledged
by UNESCO and Govt. of Chhattisgarh. It is
however unfortunate that this uniqueness of
the village is still under the wraps and very
few people are even aware of it.
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4. Lack of promotion of village tourism
In India village tourism is seen a lucrative area which can be a source of livelihood for many
villagers. In Kevchi village, we observed that there was a resort ‘Sal Valley Resort’ which
was built with the intension of spreading tourism. However, this has not been promoted and
the resort is almost always empty.
In our opinion, the most important challenge faced by the people of Kevchi is to
promote the ethno-botany or local healers around the village. This is a problem of
external communication which has prevented the locals from gaining a considerable amount
of income from activities around the natural healing processes.
Ethno botany (from ethnology, study of culture, and botany, study of plants) is the scientific
study of the relationships that exist between peoples and plants.
The problem is of how the villagers have so far lost out these sources of income due to lack
of proper communication of their USP. The villagers, if and when fall ill visit the Veds only.
For a lot of instances, as these traditional methods of natural healing are also known to most
villagers they treat themselves without the help of anyone else. The awareness of this
problem is low as the villagers have not realized the true potential of the veds.
33 | P a g e
The problem has affected the entire population of the village as this lack of awareness
resulted in loss of income generation for them. The attitude of the population is that they
want to find a solution and a way to optimize the same.
Presently, the current population uses non conventional media to promote the advantages of
natural healing in the neighbouring villages through word of mouth, wall painting, etc.
Villagers have also been promoting the same on highways by putting up hoardings on the
highway passing through the village. These efforts have yielded few results but it is still a
long way to go to utilize the great untapped potential
The villagers are still moderately unaware of the solution, but efforts are underway to educate
them of the same. Out of 925 households in Kevchi, 25 have TV and 6 have newspaper, the
scenario in neighbouring villages is also similar. We can clearly see that there barely any
media penetration. The media that can be used to communicate awareness about Veds will be
non conventional. The communication will be driven at Melas and Haats where there is a
congregation of people from neighbouring villages.
The new communication will help them establish credibility and spread awareness about the
various benefits of natural healing It will also generate employment as the demand created
will result in employment. Financial and infrastructure currently is being provided by
UNESCO and Govt. of Chhattisgarh. These grants could be extended depending upon the
success of this model.
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Communication Strategy
In order for better penetration of the communication strategy, we intend to use the following
model.

The first step of the communication strategy is to identify youth from Kevchi village,
train them in the science of natural healing from herbal medicines. This training will
be a rigorous course where the students will not only have information of the product
35 | P a g e
but also be certified to produce them. We feel that the problem is that most of the
people feel that the art of natural healing is just a myth and a superstition, however
after carrying out the research we feel that natural medication and Naavi-Gyaan are
backed by biological evidences and they need to be studied in detail and at institutions
so as for more people to believe in it.

As the media penetration in the villages neighbouring Kevchi is very low, hence we
will use Wall paintings, Public gatherings of opinion leaders as a medium to reach the
villagers.

It is important to generate interest in the minds of the villagers in order for them to try
out the natural healing methods. Interest level can be increased through Puppetry,
drama, etc.

After generating interest it is important that the villagers are made aware of the
product. This can be carried out by setting up temporary camps in villages.

Education and persuasion is the key as the villagers will be apprehensive about trying
the natural healing process first. It is at this stage that we use influencers to persuade
an convince them

The trained youth will also travel to various cities across the country. There is
growing demand for herbal medicines across the country. They will be encouraged to
set up shop in new cities and generate their own livelihood. This will make them self
reliant and will enable to contribute towards their village as well.
36 | P a g e
Communication strategy for inclusion of youth in the overall development of the village
Identify and train youth
in herbal medicines.
Students will not just
learn but will also be
experts in preparing
medicines
Generate interest and
create knowledge in the
minds of the people
from
neighbouring
village and ask the youth
to take up education in
Ethno botany
Educate and persuade
the
villagers
using
opinion leaders and
running
camps
in
villages
Encourage the youth
trained
in
herbal
medicine to travel to
new cities and establish
their practice
37 | P a g e
Needs of the Rural Consumer
Equal access to
resources
4.
Equal access to
Empowerment social services
Adult
3.
literacy/
EducatioTransformationa
Job
oriented
n
Total training
2.l
Social
security/
insurance
Sanitatio
Credit and
Supportive
Participator
n
Financial
Skill
y decision
support
developmen
1.
making and
t and
Agriculture
self rules Informati
Regular Survival
training
on
Water
income and
Irrigation
supply
Land employme
Rural
nt
rights
Equal
Populatio Land Power
wages for
Medical
equal
n
help
work
Communit
Housing
Infrastructu
Legal
Institution
y facilities
drinking
re
aid
al
water
developmen
finance
Public
t
Work Sheds
transport
Shops/Kiosks
Environmental
Upgradation
Recreation
Communication
and participation
The above figure enumerates the needs of a rural consumer. Understanding this we can map
our village in the section it belongs.
With the help of our primary research we can deduce that our village is in the Survival Zone
as the villagers there are involved in agriculture; they own their own land and are self
sufficient. They are not dependent on others for their livelihood. They have their own health
centres in the village.
38 | P a g e
The next level involves heavy dependency on government resources. As this would not
happen in a time bound manner, our communication strategy focuses on taking the village to
the third rung; i.e. the transformational rung.
As per the communication strategy, we are focusing on skill development, Education and
development of Infrastructure. As this would make the youth of Kevchi travel and search for
livelihood outside the village and make send the support back to the family, thereby making
them self reliant.
Conclusion
We have had the most enriching experience of our life by understanding the tribal culture and
different aspects of the Kevchi village. We realise that we stay in a different world and are
not even aware of the other side of the picture. This research has not only helped us in
understanding the life, needs, wants and issues of a single village, but also widened our
horizon to be open to see and challenge things and not be ignorant to things around us. We as
individuals would like to do our part for the village of Kevchi and we hope to give back to
the village in the future.
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