WORLD BANK / INDIA ROADS

STORY: WORLD BANK / INDIA ROADS
TRT:3:24
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/MIZO/NATS

LOCATION: MIZORAM, INDIA, 2013


SHOTLIST:

MIZORAM, INDIA, 2013

1. Close up, car over rough road
2. Close up, pothole in road
3. Med shot, car going through muddy road
4. Wide shot, traffic in town of Thenzawl, India
5. Med shot, exterior of Rinzawl Hotel Restaurant
6. Med shot, restaurant owner Lalzuava taking money from customer
7. Med shot, interior restaurant, people eating
8. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalzuava, restaurant owner:
“My restaurant is called the Rinzawl Hotel. I started it in 2010, because the World Bank road opened. My wife and family work here now.”
9. Close up, people eating
10. Med shot, woman carrying food
11. Pan right, Mizoram countryside
12. Close up, wheels of car
13. Wide shot, cars driving through town
14. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalzuava, restaurant owner:
“Since the World Bank road came, there is a huge difference in my income. It has gone up by 50 percent. Now we have a car, a house. We wear better clothes.”
15. Med shot, restaurant interior people eating
16. Med shot, people in kitchen of restaurant

GRAPH – WORLD BANK

17. Close up, Map of Mizoram and surrounding areas

MIZORAM, INDIA, 2013

18. Med shot, jeep going through mud
19. Med shot, travelling shot along rutted road
20. Wide shot, town of North Kanghmun
21. Med shot, woman Lalpartlani walking with basket on back
22. Close up, feet walking
23. Med shot, walking shot, woman and basket
24. Med shot, woman taking basket off back with another woman
25. Med shot, two women walking near produce shop
26. Wide shot, road and church
27. Med shot, truck driving away
28. Med shot, car driving towards camera on bad road
29. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalpartlani, farmer:
“A good road would be a big benefit to us. More transport trucks could come here. Now, we have to pay a big fee to get our crops to the capital.”
30. Med shot, truck passing by
31. Med shot, truck with sand bags
32. Wide shot, truck passing by
33. Close up, woman weaving at loom
34. Med shot, two woman at loom
35. Close up, same two women
36. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalthazuili, weaver:
“Thenzawl has always been famous for its traditional weaving. Hand looming is very profitable. It's a good source of employment, even for those who are illiterate.”
37. Close up, hands weaving on loom
38. Close up, hands weaving
39. Med shot, interior, woman sitting, other woman at loom in back
40. Med shot, woman with woven goods leaving house
41. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalthazuili, weaver:
“Now with the new road, it's easy to send things to sell there. Also, we now have our own shop right here. Because there are more people coming to our town now to buy things.”
42. Med shot, woman walking to store
43. Close up, woman spreading out weavings
44. Med shot, interior of store with customers
45. Med shot, workers behind counter in store
46. Close up, woven good and hands
47. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalthazuili, weaver:
“From just my earnings we can buy everything the household needs.”
48. Close up, customer’s face
49. Close up, purse and money
50. Med shot, exterior of weaving goods shop
51. Wide shot, town of North Kanghmun
52. Wide shot people bathing at outside water trough
53. Med shot people bathing at outside water trough
54. Med shot, woman carrying bucket
55. Wide shot, exterior of house, children running
56. Wide shot, church and road in town
57. Wide shot, children playing in road
58. SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalpartlani, farmer:
“If there is a good road to our village, we would not have to migrate to other places just to make a living. As long as there is some type of employment or a way to sell our crops, none of us would ever leave.”
59. Med shot, woman walking with wood in basket
60. Wide shot, exterior house with kids on patio
61. Med shot, kids on patio
62. Med shot, old woman and kids on patio
63. Med shot, car driving off
64. Med shot, kid with toy
65. Close up, woman with baby

STORYLINE:

In the mountainous regions of Northeast India, towns can thrive or fail depending on the quality of their roads. The World Bank Group is helping construct new roads to boost trade and improve lives.

In northeast India, good roads are rare. Most are like this; rutted with potholes, flooded by rain, making travel messy and tough. But a recently built highway is transforming life in the town of Thenzawl. What was once a seldom used road is now an important transport artery.

All that new traffic means new business bringing travelers to restaurants and stores hungry for customers.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalzuava, restaurant owner:
“My restaurant is called the Rinzawl Hotel. I started it in 2010, because the World Bank road opened. My wife and family work here now.”

Lalzuava says before the highway was built he was a farmer – barely eking out a living in the remote countryside.

Eighty-six kilometers of newly paved road now links his town with the regional capital.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalzuava, restaurant owner:
“Since the World Bank road came, there is a huge difference in my income. It has gone up by 50 percent. Now we have a car, a house. We wear better clothes.”

Mizoram is one of seven landlocked states in this often overlooked region. 45 million people live in the area, poorly connected to the rest of India and the coast by other countries.

To get to a sea port, goods must make a 1500 kilometer trek to the Indian port of Kolkata.

Even travel between nearby towns can take hours. Without good transportation, there’s little commerce or manufacturing. Jobs are scarce.

Thirty-year-old Lalpartlani walks 3 kilometers each way to farm her parcel of land outside the remote village of North Kanghmun. It can be a long, tiring trip.

But the real problem is not being able to sell her produce. She raises more mangos and other crops than her family can consume – but it’s difficult to get the surplus to the state capital only 30 kilometers away. The one road linking the village to larger towns in the north and south is only paved and maintained in small sections.

Especially in the monsoon season, landslides and flooding stop all traffic from getting through.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalpartlani, farmer:
“A good road would be a big benefit to us. More transport trucks could come here. Now, we have to pay a big fee to get our crops to the capital.”

These problems are a thing of the past for Lalthazuili, who owns a weaving shop along a newly paved portion of road in the town of Thenzawl.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalthazuili, weaver:
“Thenzawl has always been famous for its traditional weaving. Hand looming is very profitable. It's a good source of employment, even for those who are illiterate.”

Before the road she had to make the long trip up to the capital to find buyers for her bolts of woven cloth.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalthazuili, weaver:
“Now with the new road, it's easy to send things to sell there. Also, we now have our own shop right here. Because there are more people coming to our town now to buy things.”

Business is so steady now, Lalthazauli can hire others to do the weaving and help out with the store.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalthazuili, weaver:
“From just my earnings we can buy everything the household needs.”
In North Kanghmun, people wait for a new highway to link their town as well.

Lalpartlani hopes a new road can transform the economy here, so family and neighbors aren’t forced to leave.

SOUNDBITE (Mizo) R. Lalpartlani, farmer:
“If there is a good road to our village, we would not have to migrate to other places just to make a living. As long as there is some type of employment or a way to sell our crops, none of us would ever leave.”

It may be the most unexpected benefit of improving highways here: better roads out of Mizoram, can actually help people stay home.