Santa was proudly hanging a large, glossy wall calendar inside the village community hall.
It was the annual “Monsoon Preparedness and Landslide Safety Drive” poster printed by the State Disaster Management Authority.
The top half featured a giant, smiling photograph of the Chief Minister, while the bottom half had a tiny paragraph written in dense, microscopic font explaining “The Geomorphic Classification of Mass Wasting Phenomena.”
“Look at this public service, Banta!” Santa beamed, straightening the calendar.
“The Authority has done its duty!”
“The monsoon starts next week, and they’ve given us this beautiful calendar.”
“Our safety is guaranteed!”
Banta walked up, squinted at the tiny text under the Chief Minister’s massive smile, and sighed deeply.
“Santa-ji, this calendar isn’t designed to save your village from a landslide.”
“It’s designed to save the Authority‘s budget and promote the Chief Minister‘s wardrobe!”
“Oye Banta!”
“How can you say that?”
“It has scientific words right here: ‘Saturated Colluvium Shear Strength‘!” Santa read out loud, twisting his tongue.
“Exactly!” Banta countered.
“Does a village farmer know what ‘Colluvium Shear Strength‘ means when the mud starts sliding down his terrace?”
“This is what we call an ‘Eyewash Campaign‘.”
“It’s a low-priority, seasonal routine.”
“They run these boring, un-engaging ads for a week before the disaster season just to tick a box.”
“It lacks local context, it’s laced with technical jargon, and it places political vanity above public safety.”
Santa looked closely at the calendar.
“You mean… the Chief Minister‘s smile won’t hold the slope up?”
“Not even a millimeter, Santa,” Banta said, taking down the calendar and turning it around to expose the blank white backside.
He picked up a thick black marker.
“Instead of this jargon, we need a Sustained Media Campaign.”
“Let’s draw our own map of the village.”
“Let’s mark exactly where the seasonal natural drains cross our paths, and let’s write three simple rules in our own regional language:
- Keep the hillside drains clear of plastics.
- Never dump dug-up road soil on a slope.
- Watch for muddy water coming out of the hill—it means the slope is packing its bags to leave.”
“We need interesting, engaging, day-in and day-out messages all through the year, not a glossy political portrait that people only use to wrap leftover parathas when the rains start!”
Santa grabbed a marker himself.
“You’re right, Banta!”
“Let’s cross out the big photo and draw a proper retaining wall instead.”
“The Chief Minister can look beautiful in the capital; we need to look safe on the mountain!”
संता – बंता की इस जुगलबन्दी से आज हमने क्या सीखा:-
- मौसमी “दिखावे” की विफलता / The Failure of Seasonal “Eyewash“:
- आपदा के मौसम से ठीक पहले चलाये जाने वाले अल्पकालिक और दिखावटी जागरूकता अभियान अप्रभावी होते हैं। प्रतिरोध्यता के लिए पूरे साल चलने वाले, आकर्षक और निरंतर मीडिया अभियानों की आवश्यकता होती है / Short-term, ad-hoc awareness drives before a disaster season are ineffective. Resilience requires institutionalizing sustained, year-round, and engaging media strategies.
- जन-जागरूकता से राजनीतिक दिखावे को हटाना / Eliminating Political Vanity from DRR:
- जोखिम संचार (Risk communication) के सरकारी धन का उपयोग राजनीतिक विज्ञापनों और भारी तकनीकी शब्दों की अपेक्षा, उन व्यावहारिक तरीकों को समझाने में होना चाहिये जो आम जनता की समझ में आये / Risk communication public funds must prioritise actionable local context over political advertising and heavy technical terminology that alienates the vulnerable populace.
संता – बंता की यह जुगलबन्दी आपको कैसी लगी, कृपया हमें जरुर बताये
व
इस जुगलबन्दी को बेहतर बनाने के लिये अपने सुझाव अवश्य दें।
हमें हमेशा की तरह आपके सुझावों, प्रतिक्रियाओं व कटाक्षो का बेसब्री से इंतजार रहता हैं औरसच मानिये इसी के आधार पर हम अपने आप में, अपनी सोच व रचनात्मकता में सुधार करने कोप्रेरित होते हैं।
सो अच्छा – बुरा जैसा आपको महसूस हुवा हो, कमेंट जरुर करते रहें।
#EyewashCampaigns #PublicAccountability #SustainedAwareness #LandslidePrep #NoMoreJargon #SantaBanta
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