Theatre turns into live classroom for students

River Narmada is known as the lifeline of central India owing to its huge economic and religious significance. Now, the water via the Narmada canal has entered Rajasthan and irrigating fields in Jalore district.

To make people aware of the river's sojourn from Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan via Gujarat, the Saksham Sanchar Foundation, in association with School of Media & Communication, Manipal University Jaipur, organised a special film screening of national award winning film 'Reva' wherein students were taught live on how rivers can be promoted as the centre of tourism and pilgrimage.

As part of the campaign launched to generate awareness on the river, students were apprised about the tourist potential of the ghats and the economic significance of rivers in central India.

They were assigned the task to write on how rivers can boost the culture, trade, tourism and business.

Speaking on the occasion, Amitabh Shrivastav, Director, School of Media & Communication, Manipal University Jaipur, said: "The beautiful banks of rivers have been the cradle of civilisation. Many cities were established on the rivers' ghats across the world where culture developed. However, in the long run, these cities branded as modern civilisation, started gulping rivers. School of Media & Communication, Manipal University Jaipur and Saksham Sanchar Foundation has taken an initiative to connect rivers with masses and to promote awareness on river Narmada in Rajasthan," he added.

According to veteran film critic Manu Tripathi: "This is the first of its kind experience to see students connected with film screening to learn about the significance of rivers."

Another social worker Manoj Kumar said that Reva, which has won many national and international awards, unveils many surprises in its story. Similarly, many stories lie hidden in and around rivers which upcoming journalists need to open up.

Ravindra Nagar, Saksham Sanchar Foundation coordinator, said: "We have plans to train journalism students at natural locations other than colleges to ensure they get practical knowledge while getting theoretically trained at their institutes. In fact, we are bringing up gurukulam of journalism," he added.

With the Narmada water entering the state, the villagers here now have access to clean drinking water and farmers, using the sprinkler system, are being able to grow cash crops like cumin.

The Narmada Canal Project after traversing 458 kilometres (285mi) in Gujarat, enters Rajasthan near Shilu in the Sanchor tehsil of Jalore. The 74 kilometres (46mi) main canal, with 9 major distributaries, serves an area of 1,477 square kilometres (570sqmi), including 124 villages.

It further aims to supply water for irrigation and consumption to the districts of Jalore and parts of Barmer from the 458 km long Narmada Canal in northwestern India that brings water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam.