Haryana Jail Radio: One year of Tinka Movement behind Prison Bars

What started as Tinka Tinka’s Jail Radio initiative in the District Jails of Panipat and Faridabad and Central Jail, Ambala, in January 2021, has completed one year of its musical revolution in Haryana. In its one year of operations, Tinka Tinka’s endeavour to set up radio stations within jail premises has changed the face of 7 out of 19 jails in Haryana and instilled melody in the lives of hundreds of inmates. With its motto to ‘create rainbows behind the prison bars’, the prison radio project has provided a platform to inmates to exhibit their creative talent and communicate with the outer world during their confinement.

Jail Radio in Panipat, Ambala and Faridabad

Tinka Tinka Foundation started its Jail Radio Movement in Haryana from Central Jail Ambala, District Jail Panipat and District Jail Faridabad in January 2021. As a part of this initiative, in December 2020, 22 detainees, including 6 from Panipat, 6 from Ambala and 10 from Faridabad of which 5 were women, were auditioned and selected for a special training programme. They were mentored to become RJs in the newly established radio stations inside jail premises as a part of this training. Over the past one year, at least 70 talented and well-deserving inmates have been trained in Haryana under Dr. Vartika Nanda.

With the extensive support of Ranjit Singh, Jail Minister, Government of Haryana, Rajeev Arora, IAS, ACS Home, K. Selvaraj, IPS, Director General of Prisons and Mohammad Akil, IPS, DG, Prisons, Haryana, Tinka Tinka’s jail radio project has left an indelible mark in the lives of inmates. According to Haryana’s Jail Minister Ranjit Singh, who inaugurated the jail radio stations, “This initiative was crucial in converting Prisons into Correctional Homes.” Shri Rajeev Arora also expressed his enthusiasm on the foray of jail radio in Haryana. “Jail radio is a unique initiative for positive engagement which will facilitate better communication among prison inmates and help in bringing out their positivity and creativity,” he said.

Based on the well-acclaimed Tinka Model of Prison Reforms, the jail radio movement has helped inmates receive happiness and positivity in their day-to-day life while also imparting crucial life lessons and constructive skills like writing and composing rhythmic songs, and managing the radio stations as technicians, composers and musicians.

Documentary by BRUT India

Jail Radio has proved to be the force bringing smiles to the faces of countless inmates and their families. The work done by Tinka Tinka was recognised by BRUT India in January 2022. This historic video was the first to be shot in any prison across the globe to document the functioning of an active Prison Radio with inmates working as RJs.

Musical Experiments in Prisons

Tinka Tinka as an outcome of its prison radio movement is enabling inmates to explore their hidden talents and fostering musical experiments in jails across India. Seven musical compositions from the jails of Haryana and one from Uttarakhand have also been released earlier by Tinka Tinka as an outcome of its prison radio movement fostering musical experiments in jails across India. These compositions include the song of Sheru, an inmate of Central Jail Ambala, which received appreciation by the former Union Health Minister on his various social media platforms. Inmate-turned RJ Kashish from District Jail, Panipat, has also extended his voice to two of the songs, one of which was released to mark the first anniversary of Panipat Jail Radio. Recently, a signature tune for the radio in District Jail, Faridabad, composed and sung by Gajendra, a 68 year old inmate, was also released as the first song by Tinka Tinka in the year 2022.

Released and broadcast across Tinka Tinka’s social media platforms, including Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Tinka’s own YouTube channel, the songs in collective signify the spirit of courage and determination flowing within the prison imagination. The YouTube Channel, Tinka Tinka Prison Reforms, is the only channel in India that solely focuses on prison reforms and brings in authentic voices from prisons in each episode. These episodic podcasts are conceptualised, scripted and directed by Dr. Vartika Nanda.

Tinka’s Unique Endeavours in Prison Reforms

Besides the one-of-a-kind podcast on prison reforms, Tinka Tinka has also honoured more than a hundred inmates with its exclusive series of national awards since 2015. Tinka Tinka India Awards are conferred under three categories on a designated theme to extraordinary inmates and jail administrators across India every year. In April 2021, Tinka Tinka also established a Prison Research Cell for the jails in Haryana to carry out action-oriented research in the domain of prison reforms, selecting four inmates, two each from District Jail, Panipat and Karnal, for the endeavour.

About Tinka Tinka and Vartika Nanda

Tinka Tinka is the brainchild of prison reformer and media educator Dr. Vartika Nanda who is credited for bringing jail radio in Haryana. These are assuring a new cultural life to inmates by offering them the vocal medium to share their emotions, thoughts and musical expressions with the society. In 2019, Dr. Nanda established radio in District Jail, Agra, located in the oldest jail building in the country, after which the jail radio movement was extended to the state of Haryana and Uttarakhand in the year 2021.

Dr. Nanda has been honoured with the Stree Shakti Award from the President of India in 2014 for her efforts in prison reforms. Her work on prisons has twice found a place in the Limca Book of Records. Currently, she heads the Department of Journalism in Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.

(The authors of this article are final year students, Department of Journalism, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi.)

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