PROFESSOR EAPEN PASSES AWAY
Dr K E Eapen, who passed away on Saturday, October 23rd, has been justifiably
acknowledged as a pioneer in journalism and communication education in India.
Less
articulated has been Professor Eapen’s vital role as a development activist
and his contribution to
development/community communications. Professor Eapen was one of the key
voices and minds who actively engaged and helped to develop the Bangalore
Declaration of 1996. Many hold the declaration to be
the first and the basis for community
radio in the country. His involvement and active engagement with the community
radio movement continued well after the 2006 guidelines came into place.
Earlier,
he played a significant role in the implementation and evaluation of SITE
especially in Karnataka.
I first had the privilege of interacting with Professor
Eapen in the late eighties when I was with the Media Centre in Bangalore. The
Centre was, arguably, one of
the first community-centric media centres in the city inspired by the likes
of Chitrabhani (Kolkata) and the Xavier
Institute of Communications (Mumbai). The Centre’s emphasis on low cost,
community friendly
media production and its education programmers
benefited substantially by Dr Eapen’s wisdom, generosity and active
participation. Professor Eapen had a formidable media library which he passed
onto the Centre in the late eighties. The library was one of the first of its
kind in the country and was used by scholar and activist alike.
At a time when many in the media world were swayed by the
“big” sweep of the communication explosion, Professor Eapen was relentlessly
focused in his belief and practice that small is beautiful. I was fortunate to
glean this more intensely during most of the past decade when I was the NGO
VOICES, where he was the Senior Trustee. His guidance also helped to shape
many of VOICES’ associations and
involvement with marginalized and vulnerable groups like people with
disabilities and senior citizens. While public memory may be short, many of
these communities, as well as his students and fellow workers in development,
will
always remember him with great
affection, regard and respect.
Ashish Sen
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