The splendour of Mati o Manush is back

Shykh Seraj goes back to rural Bangladesh

Mati-o-Manush, a popular television programme, was hosted initially by Shykh Seraj on Bangladesh Television (BTV) between 1982-96. This had tremendous impact on farming for its focus on agro-based activities. Though the subject matter lacks glamour, Shykh Seraj the lively host of the programme succeeded in making the programme popular not only to the farmers but attracted the city dwellers as well.

The programme also had a great impact on the young generation, inspiring them to set up various projects like poultry farm, beef fattening, horticulture, rooftop gardening, bio-gas, etc. in rural, suburban and urban areas throughout the country.

Shykh Seraj, the director and head of Channel-i news section, is going to re-launch the programme of BTV after a long break of seven years in a new format with the same mission on Channel-i. The programme has been renamed Ridhohey Mati o Manush, which will be aired weekly from 21st of this month at 9:35 pm.

Talking about the main aspects of re-launch of the programme, Shykh Seraj says when Mati o Manush was being telecast many people became interested in producing agricultural goods. So to enliven the same spirit there will be discussion about marketing, policy-making and even the possibilities of export in Ridhohey Mati o Manush. To encourage the younger generation, we will try to project the activities and also the drawbacks of the primary and secondary industries and the industries that support production. The programme will encourage self-employment.

Living in an age of information technology, our agriculture is yet to come under its influence so we will try our best to build-up a relation between agriculture and technology. The format of the programme will be changed to match current trends.

The satellite channels have different audience than that of BTV but we are optimistic about a change in this scenario.