Summarising a Radio Segment on Water Rationing
You listen twice to a 3-minute Hindi radio segment from a community station in Rajasthan about municipal water rationing. The segment contains: a newsreader's formal bulletin opening; a short interview with a woman who says 'हमें रोज़ दो घंटे पानी मिलता है, पर वह भी कभी-कभी नहीं'; an official who uses technical vocabulary such as 'वितरण प्रणाली' and 'जल-भार'; and a closing opinion piece in which the presenter says 'सरकार को जवाब देना चाहिए'. You must write a 120-word Hindi summary for a school newsletter aimed at students who did not hear the broadcast.
1. Identify the different voices in the segment and explain how each should be represented in your summary.
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The segment has at least four voices: the newsreader, the resident, the official, and the presenter. A summary for students should not flatten them into one neutral report. The newsreader supplies the factual frame (rationing schedule, times). The resident supplies lived impact, and her quote is the most concrete evidence, so it should be paraphrased or briefly quoted rather than dropped. The official's technical terms need translating for a student audience: 'वितरण प्रणाली' can become 'पानी बाँटने का तरीका' and 'जल-भार' explained as the burden of fetching water. The presenter's 'सरकार को जवाब देना चाहिए' is opinion, not fact, so it must be attributed ('प्रस्तुतकर्ता ने कहा...') rather than stated as neutral truth. The judgement being tested is distinguishing report from comment and adjusting lexis for the new audience.
2. Write the opening 40-50 words of your Hindi summary and justify your lexical and grammatical choices.
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A workable opening: 'स्थानीय रेडियो पर एक कार्यक्रम में बताया गया कि नगरपालिका अब हर घंटे पानी नहीं देगी। एक महिला ने कहा कि उन्हें रोज़ दो घंटे पानी मिलता है, पर कभी-कभी वह भी नहीं आता।' Justification: the passive-report frame 'बताया गया कि' keeps the newsletter impersonal and avoids claiming the school's own authority for the claim. Reported speech with 'कहा कि' attributes the resident's evidence. The vocabulary is deliberately plain ('पानी', 'घंटे') rather than the official's 'वितरण प्रणाली', because the audience is students. The present habitual forms ('देगी', 'मिलता है') match an ongoing situation. If you used the official's jargon or dropped the attribution, you would lose marks for audience awareness and for blurring fact and opinion.