Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour of a Tribal Community - A Study on Selected Blocks in West Bengal

Supriya Mallik, Nivedita Bhattacharyya Sahu

Abstract


Information is the basic need of life and without it the development of any community is not possible. The present study tries to investigate the information needs of a tribal community, the Lodha community at Senna and Chandana mouza in the Keshiary block and Khamar and Kattara mouza in the Binpur II block in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. The said study reveals that the information need and use of information sources differ from place to place. The Lodha people in the said places do not have same type of information need and also, they do not use same type of information resources to satisfy their needs. Though these people have information need they are ignorant about the fact from where they will satisfy their information needs. So, their needs remain as it is and their condition in the society remains the same. After even seventy-two years of independence these people remained illiterate enough and therefore have not experienced the taste of development. The only positive thing is that at least a few people in the community residing in these areas have identified the sources of information and are trying to satisfy their information needs through the sources. 


Full Text:

PDF

References


Biswas, S., Das, S., Chakraborty, S., Islam, M., Barui, A., Tudu, M., Chatterjee, A. (2013). Information needs of Patial community at Nadirpara, Dhaluabari village of Coochbehar district: A study. Calcutta University Journal of Information Studies, 15, 53-90.

Census of India. (2011). CensusIndia.gov.in. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ pca/ SearchDetails.aspx?Id= 354013

Chakrabarti, B. (2001). Over the edge of information in the information age: Informational behaviour of the Totos: A small marginal tribal community in Sub-Himalayan North Bengal, India. One individual perspective. The International Information & Library Review, 33(2&3), 167-180. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10572317.2001.10762547.

Chakrabarti, B., Bhowmik, A., Dhara, A., Laskar, H., Dey, M., Roy, M., Mukherjee, N., Naskar, R., Hassan, S., Ghosh, S., Koley, S., Goswami, S., Halder, S., Gharami, S., Das, S., Halder, S., Koyal, S., Karan, A., Mistri, S. (2009). Expanding horizon of information services to the disadvantaged: A study on Dhimal community at Naxalbari block of Darjeeling district. Calcutta University Journal of Information Studies, (11), 56-76.

Chakrabarti, B., Chatterjee, A., Paul, A., Dey, A., Barman, A., Naskar, D., Dutta, G., Mullick, J., Paik, K., Saha, K., Dutta, K., Bhattacharyya, N., Mondal, P., Ari, R., Ghoshal, S., Roy, T. (2011a). Information need of the “Mech community” in Mahakalguri of Jalpaiguri district. The Calcutta Review, 13(1&2), 66-101.

Chakrabarti, B., Maity, A., Karan, A.K., Roy, D., Chakraborty, S., Chatterjee, A., Dutta, G., Sengupta, S., Seal, S., Pal, S., Das, A., Pal, A., Singh, B.R., Halder, B.K., Biswas, P.S., Das, P.R., Naskar, P.R., Goswami, S., Naskar, S. (2011b). Information need of Mech community at Maa Bhandani Hat in Jalpaiguri district. Calcutta University Journal of Information Studies, (13), 62-110.

Dutta, R. (2009). Information needs and information-seeking behavior in developing countries: A review of the research. The International Information & Library Review, 41(1), 44-51. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105723170 8000647

Ghosh, M. (2014). Tribal culture in the matrix of an inclusive society: A case of marginality of tribes in Terai and Dooars region of West Bengal in India. Studies of Tribes and Tribals, 12(1), 71-83.

Indian Folklore. (n.d.). IndianFolklore.org. https:// www.indianfolklore.org/ journals/ index.php/ Mukt/.../ 134

Jalaja, V. & P. A, Kala. (2015). Case study of tribal farmers’ agricultural information needs and accessibility in Attappady tribal block, Palakkad. Journal of Humanities & Social Science, 20(8), 7-12. https:// www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol20-issue8/Version5/B020850712.pdf.

Jayaprakash, J., & Saravanan, R. (2015). Economic analysis of health seeking behaviour of tribal women in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu. Asia Pacific Journal of Research, 1(29), 2–37. https:// www.apjor.com/downloads/230720154.pdf.

Kamila, K. (2012). Assessment of information needs and patterns of information seeking behaviour of Santal community of Jamboni block in West Mednipore district, West Bengal: A survey. In D. Chandran, P. Rajendran & S. K. Kumar (Eds.), Dynamics of librarianship in the knowledge society: Festschrift in honour of Prof. B. Ramesh Babu, (pp. 509-523). B. R. Publishing House.

Mahapatra, R. K. (2016). Information needs and information seeking behaviour of farmers in local community in Odisha: An analytical study. SRELS Journal of Information Management, 53(1), 35–41.

Mandal, H., Mukherjee, S. & Datta, A. (2002). West Bengal in India: An illustrated atlas of tribal world. Anthropological Survey of India.

Sing, K.S. (1994). People of India: The scheduled tribes. Oxford University Press.

Verma, R.C. (1990). Indian tribes through the ages. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Disclaimer 2016-2019 © Indian Library Association (ILA), All Rights Reserved.

Designed and Developed by Dr. Mohammad Nazim under the direction of Prof. Shabahat Husain.