Narsamma Masanagari, Deccan Development Society

"My name is Narsamma, but everyone calls me General Narsamma because I am proactive and determined. I wasn’t able to go to school until I was 12 when I got accepted into DDS’ Pacha Saale (The Green School).

I got involved in recording and hosting radio shows and participated in local festivals in the countryside. My teachers were impressed with my radio skills, and with the interviews I did in the villages.

I was young and illiterate when I was introduced to radio, and this technology gave me a livelihood, an identity, and recognition across the country and abroad.

These days, people have many ways to become informed, such as television and the internet. But none of those provide the kind of content we produce at Sangham Radio.

In this context, community radio like ours revives forgotten and lost traditional practices, Indigenous knowledge systems and cultures. I feel responsible for keeping them alive."