The much-appreciated reality show Green Kerala Express is entering its second and final stage. At a time when reality shows are facing a lot of criticism, Trivandrum Doordarshan’s Green Kerala Express received a lot of appreciation for being the first social reality show with Grama Panchayats and Municipalities as its contestants. The programme has been launched by Doordarshan in partnership with the Local Self Government Department and the Kerala State Planning Board.

           As the first stage of the show comes to a close, 15 Grama Panchayats have been selected to go to the second and final stage. Only 10% of the marks would be decided by SMS votes, in contradiction to other reality shows where votes carry more weight. “We do not get any income from the SMS votes. It is only Rs.2 per SMS,” said an  official   in Doordarshan.

        The first stage of the show was launched in March 2010 with 140 Grama Panchayats and 10 Municipalities. Production teams from C-DIT visited 152 local self governing bodies and prepared reports for evaluation of the panchayats. The jury members included Dr. KP Kannan, Dr. Vineetha Menon, Dr. RVG Menon, and other eminent personalities from various fields.

        For the second stage, the 15 grama panchayats would be visited from June 19 to June 23. The panchayats would also make presentations from June 28 to June 30 at Trivandrum. The first prize winner will get Rs.1 crore, the first runners-up would get Rs.50 lakh and the panchayat in the third place will get Rs.25 lakh. The remaining 12 panchayats would get Rs.10 lakh each.