IGF 2024 Lightning Talk #2 CGNet Swara: Giving a Voice to a Ravaged, Neglected Region

    CGNet Swara
    Kundan Kumar
    Shubhranshu Chaudhary
    Diptendu Roy & Team Members of CGNet Swara

    Speakers

    Kundan Kumar - Secretary CGNet Swara
    Shubhranshu Chaudhary - Founder CGNet Swara
    Diptendu Roy & Team Members of CGNet Swara

    Onsite Moderator

    A Team Member from CGNet Swara

    Rapporteur

    A Team Member from CGNet Swara

    SDGs

    9.c
    10. Reduced Inequalities
    10.3
    16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions


    Targets: // CGNet app aims to afford these communities cohesion and possible redress by giving shared voice to those who have neither recourse nor linguistic representation in India's mainstream media.

    SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

    // Establishment of an open source citizen journalism platform in the conflict affected media dark zone. In the local indigenous language.

    SDG 10 - Reduce Inequality within and among the countries
    SDG 10.3 - Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard

    //The software underlying CGNet Swara is open-source and freely available from an online repository. The system was originally developed as a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently maintained with the support of Microsoft Research India and several volunteers. The CGNet Swara server can be easily replicated. The system requirements are:

    A desktop computer running Linux and Asterisk.
    An Internet connection (for hosting the Web server).
    A telephony interface. We recommend the Topex Mobilink IP to enable calls via a cellular SIM card.
    We have also made the code for Bultoo Radio open-source.
    We are happy to offer guidance to other organizations who are seeking to establish similar services around the world

    SDG 9.c - Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020

    Format

    Video and Slides Presentation along with the Speakers' delivery.

    Duration (minutes)
    30
    Description

    An Android app designed to give voice to tribes at the heart of India's Maoist insurgency was launched September 20 as part of a campaign to end the conflict through the combination of oral tradition and new technology.

    The app allows tribes living in the remote jungle interior of the Dandakaranya forest to become citizen journalists, posting and sharing pictures and stories on CGNet Swara, a mobile phone-based reporting platform cofounded by Indian journalist Shubhranshu Choudhary and American computer scientist Bill Thies.

    Many indigenous people, known as the adivasi ("original dwellers"), in the Dandakaranya region are blighted by problems typical of so many of India's remote communities: land loss and evictions, lack of schooling, absence of medical care, and dearth of civic amenities—combined with deep mistrust of local authorities.

    In the foourteenth years since its launch, the platform has logged over a million calls and thousands of published reports. These have included everything from reporting cholera outbreaks and resolving payment disputes to sharing news about village affairs. The network also features poetry and folk songs.

    Our team will facilitate and manage the interaction in hybrid mode i.e taking in-person questions onsite and taking questions from the streaming platform such as youtube or zoom. Last five to six minutes of the talk would be dedicated to the interaction with facility to reach out after the event.