UNILINEAR MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT Walt Rostow and Daniel Learner were the chief proponents of the Unilateral model. According to Rostow, a traditional society suffered from many limitations such as limited production facilities, superstitions, non-application of science science and technology and rigid social structures. The traditional people also had irrational attitudes. In his work, The Stages of Economic Growth : A Non-Communist Manifesto (1960), Rostow offered a model of development that contained five stages. At the outset a traditional society exists with all its inherent limitations. From this condition, it has to be converted con verted into a society which is modern and industrial. Advancement in modern science and technology and their application to the farm and industrial sectors are very essential for the attainment of development. When people get the information that economic progress will bring in good life, they will approach the sources for such help. Development in transport and communication sectors will lead to better infrastructure. These are the preconditions for take-off. The take-off stage is the stage of development. Obstacles to development crumble. Economic growth becomes a normal activity and modern institutions expand. During this stage, the rate of investment will grow from 5 to 10 percent of the national income. New industries come up and enormous eno rmous profits flow facilitating re-investment. Labour will become more and more skill oriented and finally, the farm sector will achieve p henomenal growth as a result of the development in other sectors. The next stage is drive to maturity. Here the economic growth rate is sustained. Production outpaces population growth, technolog y improves and foreign trade flourishes. The last stage is that of high mass consumption . People opt for luxury goods and an d services. The United States, Western Europe and Japan can be listed under this category. Similarly Daniel Learner suggested that urbanisation, literacy, political participation, empathy and mass media would bring about modernisation. He also identified social mobility as another important factor in the modernisation process.
DIFFUSION MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT Communication effects research has given scope for the diffusion model. A s you already are aware of, the mass media and opinion leaders pass on the information on innovations to the masses. In other words, they diffuse the knowledge o f new practices and innovations among the target audiences. There was a long debate on the question whether ideas were developed separately in each culture or were borrowed by others. The evolutionary school contended that each major culture developed individually and independently. By the end of the nineteenth century, the evolutionary theory came into criticism for its inconsistencies. The new protagonists contended that most cultures exhibited elements of borrowed culture more than what had developed from within their own culture. Later researchers by 1940s identified the role of mass media in national development. The external influence on societies for development became the basis of diffusion model. Rogers defined the development of individuals as 'the process by which individuals change from a traditional way of life to a more complex, technologically advanced, and rapidly changing life style'. Everett is an important contributor to diffusion studies.
The diffusion model contained five stages of adoption. The process of adopting innovations depended upon several factors. The five stages are awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. The first stage is awareness. Here the individual is exposed to the innovation. However, he lacks complete information. At the seco nd stage of interest, he seeks more information to understand the innovation. In the next stage, he evaluates the innovation in the light of his needs, both present and future. He may decide to try the innovation little and this can be called the trial stage. When he decides to continue the use of innovation, it finally results in adoption. In the early stages of awareness mass media play a vital role, but at the evaluation and adoption stages interpersonal sources of information carry more influence than others. Rogers also identified these five stages as knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. The diffusion model was criticised because: a. It concentrated mostly on media and their messages. In effect, it had a bias of communication efforts; b. Consequently, it never paid any attention to the media content; c. The knowledge of the adopters or target audience was not properly measured; d. Pro-source bias; e. Pro-innovation bias; f. Never identified the real causes behind backwardness, and g. One-way flow of message.
MECHANISTIC MODEL Jan Servas, who is an advocate of participatory approach to development, has identified two streams of strategies for development and compared them. Ac cordingly, the first one is called mechanistic. This model considers that people need to be helped because they lack abilities and sources to develop on their own. This is also known as problem-solving model which considers the strategist knows everything and the target audien ce has no knowledge whatsoever. Inevitably, the Western knowledge is d escribed as superior. Here the agent of change is either the policy-maker or researcher. For them, people are nothing but targets. Leaders are appointed by higher authorities and mass media are used to carry the messages of development. The communication process is top-down and one-way. The whole process is designed to be of short-term and prefers evolutionary chan ges in the society for development.
ORGANIC MODEL The other extreme to the mechanistic model is organic model. It is in total variance with the mechanistic model. According to the organic model, people do not depend upon charity. In fact, they can help themselves. The process that makes them help themselves is called empowerment. The attitude is not problem solving, but posing the problem to the people. The model considers participation of the people in the developmental process as never-ending. They also share knowledge since everyone has something to offer. The rational knowledge is also considered as useful and relevant. People themselves are change agents, and are considered as subjects and actors as well. Leaders are selected b y people themselves and leadership ilifications were co-operation, delegation and adaptability, as listed by livas Melkote. The organic model emphasised on the integrated media
and two-way Communication. While the mechanistic model opted for rarchical and vertical organisation structure, the organic model preferred fo-horizontal structure. This facilitated listening to people and also trans-sion of information both ways.The planning is of long-term, open ended its evaluation is done by participants themselves. The organic model ed at the removal of causes of underdevelopment and also at making ctural changes in the society. However, participation has different meanings for different people. organic mod el, which is also known as participatory model has its own jlems. The y can be: 1. unstable and non-receptive political climate in the country concerned; 2. feudal & dictatorial system that does not promote democratic participation; 3. lack of local leadership and institutions; 4. control of production means by a few; f•
total marginalisation of the down-trodden sections of the society; 6. gender inequity; 7. an unwilling government; 8. paucity of funds, and 9. infrastructural inadequacies affecting grassroot participation. The participatory model looks interesting and relevant. However, several factors affect its efficacy. Ashcroft and other thinkers suggested a development communication model called knowledge-sharing model. It was to be on a co-equal basis. The experts argued that both the benefactor and the beneficiary by sharing knowledge had an equal chance of influencing each other. Nair and White framed a transactional communication model to support this idea. The model identified three levels of participation was active, creative and continuous. Quasi participation was less focused and laid less emphasis on two-way communication. Low participation did not p ay much attention either to the need for change or communication. 5.
2.6 DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT COMMUNICATION Initially the focus was on communication for deve lopment, which emphasized on big media and government-people communication. However, after its detailed evaluation, a new concept, development support communication, emerged. The development support communicator was the link between the technical experts and the people. His job was to bring them together to interact with co-equal partners. In developmen t communication, it is found that a common communication language was absent. The practitioners of development projects and beneficiaries are attempting to solve the problem. Development Support Communication model has the characteristics which are listed here: 1. 2.
Basically it is development agency based; It has horizontal knowledge sharing mechanism between experts and receivers;
3. Aims at grassroots level development; 4. The focus is on participatory method, and 5. For communication, small media like video, film strips, traditional forms, group and inter personal communication are used. The ultimate objective of DSC is to create a lasting mutual trust between the benefactors and beneficiaries. It envisages a pro-active role for the common people in development process.
GANDHIAN MODEL__________________________ Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, brought political independence to India from the British rule. At the same time, he had his own thesis of development. Mahatma Gandhi knew the needs of the people in a country of villages. He proposed a holistic approach to development. Gandhiji combined moral and spiritual values with economic goals that contributed for an overall development of both the individual and society. The core assumptions on which the Gandhian model was based were: 1. True India can be seen only in its villages, not in cities. 2. Exploitation of the villages and villagers by the urban people should stop. 3. Minimum needs or basic needs of the people should be fulfilled first. 4. Physical labor is compulsory for all and they should earn their living through such labor. Then everyone understands the real dignity of labor. 5. People should opt for indigenously (swadeshi) produced products and institutions. The ethical balance between ends and means was greatly emphasised by Gandhiji. This was essential to the success of non-violence. The Gandhian model underscored the importance of village economy for not only its self-sufficiency but also of the entire country. When needed, villagers could buy
